A voter-approved initiative to legalize medical marijuana in Mississippi has been overturned by the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the court ruled in favor of a Mississippi mayor who filed a legal challenge against the 2020 measure<\/a>, nullifying its certification by the Secretary of State. The lawsuit was unrelated to the merits of the reform proposal itself, but plaintiffs argued that the constitutional amendment violated procedural rules for placing measures on the ballot.<\/p>\n While the court acknowledged that a \u201cstrong, if not overwhelming, majority of voters of Mississippi approved Initiative 65\u201d to legalize medical cannabis in the state, Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler\u2019s (R) petition was valid for statutory reasons.<\/p>\n Madison\u2019s challenge cites a state law stipulating that<\/a> \u201csignatures of the qualified electors from any congressional district shall not exceed one-fifth (1\/5) of the total number of signatures required to qualify an initiative petition for placement upon the ballot.\u201d But that policy went into effect when Mississippi had five congressional districts, and that\u2019s since been reduced to four, making it mathematically impossible to adhere to.<\/p>\n The secretary of state and other officials pushed back against the lawsuit and argued that a plain reading of the state Constitution makes it clear that the intention of the district-based requirement was to ensure that signatures were collected in a geographically dispersed manner\u2014and the result of the campaign met that standard.<\/p>\n But in the court\u2019s 6-3 ruling released on Friday, the justices said that their hands were tied. The legislature or administration might be able to fix the procedural ballot issue, but it had to follow the letter of the law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find ourselves presented with the question squarely before us and nowhere to turn but to its answer,\u201d the decision states. \u201cRemaining mindful of both the November 3, 2020 election results and the clear language in section 273 seeking to preserve the right of the people to enact changes to their Constitution, we nonetheless must hold that the text of section 273 fails to account for the possibility that has become reality in Mississippi.\u201d<\/p>\n In sum, a Census-driven change in the number of congressional districts in Mississippi \u201cdid, indeed, break section 273 so that, absent amendment, it no longer functions,\u201d meaning there\u2019s no legal way to pass a constitutional ballot initiative in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether with intent, by oversight, or for some other reason, the drafters of section 273(3) wrote a ballot-initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress. To work in today\u2019s reality, it will need amending\u2014something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe grant the petition, reverse the Secretary of State\u2019s certification of Initiative 65, and hold that any subsequent proceedings on it are void,\u201d the court ruled.<\/p>\n One justice who dissented<\/a> said that the district-based requirement is arbitrary as it concerns Mississippi elections. While the federal government defines the state as having four congressional districts, the state Constitution \u201clays out the five districts,\u201d and \u201cthere have been zero changes to the five districts\u201d as far as the state\u2019s laws are concerned.<\/p>\n In any case, this marks a major defeat for cannabis reform activists in the state who collected more than 214,000 signatures for their initiative. Sixty-eight percent of voters approved a general ballot question on whether to allow medical cannabis, and 74 percent signed off on advocates\u2019 specific measure in a separate question.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mississippi Supreme Court just overturned the will of the people of Mississippi,\u201d Ken Newburger, executive director for the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, said in a press release. \u201cPatients will now continue the suffering that so many Mississippians voted to end. The Court ignored existing case law and prior decisions. Their reasoning ignores the intent of the constitution and takes away people\u2019s constitutional right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a sad day for Mississippi when the Supreme Court communicates to a vast majority of the voters that their vote doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Today the MS Supreme Court ruled against the state\u2019s ballot initiative process, killing the medical marijuana program 74% of Mississippians voted to pass. This is devastating for not only patients, but voters as a whole. Below is our statement: https:\/\/t.co\/jrDoJM3K16<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/AR3xuId3xR<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association (@medmarijuanams) May 14, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Under the voter-approved initiative, patients with debilitating medical issues would have been allowed to legally obtain marijuana after getting a doctor\u2019s recommendation. The proposal included 22 qualifying conditions such as cancer, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, and patients would have been able to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana per 14-day period.<\/p>\n There was an attempt in the legislature to pass a bill to legalize medical marijuana<\/a> in the event that the court overruled the voter-approved initiative, but it failed to be enacted by the session\u2019s end.<\/p>\n The Mississippi State Department of Health told WJTV that it will cease work on developing medical cannabis regulations in light of the court ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the agency has certainly learned a lot in the process of putting together a successful medical marijuana program, and we stand ready to help the legislature if it creates a statutory program,\u201d Liz Sharlot, director of the Office of Communications for the department, said<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the latest state Supreme Court setback to affect cannabis reform efforts.<\/p>\n Last month, the Florida Supreme Court dealt a critical blow to marijuana activists<\/a> working to legalize marijuana in the state\u2014killing an initiative that hundreds of thousands of voters have already signed and forcing them to start all over again if they want to make the 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n While a Nebraska campaign collected enough signatures to qualify a reform initiative in 2020, the state Supreme Court shut it down following a legal challenge. It determined that the measure violated the state\u2019s single-subject rule<\/a>, much to the disappointment of advocates.<\/p>\n In South Dakota, the fate of an adult-use legalization initiative that voters approved last November is also in the hands of the state\u2019s Supreme Court<\/a>, where a sheriff is challenging its constitutionality based on a single subject rule as well.<\/p>\n Opponents to a Montana marijuana legalization measure that was approved by voters have also filed lawsuits contesting the voter-approved initiative<\/a> for procedural reasons, arguing that its allocation of revenue violates the state Constitution. While the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case last year, it did not rule on the merits and left the door open to pursuing the case in district and appeals court, which plaintiffs then pursued.<\/p>\n Read the Mississippi Supreme Court ruling on the medical cannabis initiative below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Mississippi Supreme Court m\u2026<\/a> by Marijuana Moment<\/a><\/p>\n Congressional Bill Filed To Protect Marijuana Consumers From Losing Public Housing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel<\/a> and Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Mississippi Supreme Court Overturns Medical Marijuana Legalization Ballot That Voters Approved<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A voter-approved initiative to legalize medical marijuana in Mississippi has been overturned by the state Supreme Court. On Friday, the court ruled in favor of a Mississippi mayor who filed a legal challenge against the 2020 measure, nullifying its certification by the Secretary of State. The lawsuit was unrelated toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47700,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47699\/revisions\/47700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Mississippi Supreme Court Overturns Medical Marijuana Legalization Ballot That Voters Approved<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"