Advocates for medical marijuana are pushing to have it legalized in Mississippi. MPB's Jasmine Ellis reports.
Supporters of medical marijuana say it will help Mississippians with conditions such as chronic pain, Post-traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson's disease. Jamie Grantham is communications director for the Medical Marijuana 2020 Campaign. The Campaign is working to collect more than 86,000 verified signatures to get the initiative on the November 2020 ballot in Mississippi. Grantham says medical marijuana has changed countless lives in other states.
"Hearing the patients' stories and seeing the positive beneficial effects and the changes in the lives of the patients, the families of the patients' lives, I want the people of Mississippi to have that same access that patients in other states have," said Grantham.
Legalizing the drug would create more problems for the general public than it would solve says Ken Winter. He is executive director of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police. Winter says he thinks for the most part members of the association would oppose the legalization of medical marijuana.
"And primarily the same reason that we're looking at the legalization of marijuana period," said Winter. "We have no way of gauging what level would impair someone. The technology isn't there yet. That creates a lot of problems for law enforcement."
A total of 33 states have approved the use of medical marijuana according to the Medical Marijuana 2020 Campaign. The Campaign has to collect the signatures by September 6 of this year.
