JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Patients have started buying medical marijuana in Mississippi, nearly a year after the products were legalized in the state.
The Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association said in a news release Thursday that the first purchases happened Wednesday at The Cannabis Company in Brookhaven and at two dispensaries in Oxford — Hybrid Relief and Star Buds.
“We have been working since 2018 to get medical marijuana in the hands of patients in Mississippi, and it’s surreal to see it finally come to fruition,” Ken Newburger, executive director of the association, said in the release. “This is only the beginning. More and more businesses will be harvesting, testing, and getting their products on the shelves in the coming months.”
WLOX-TV reported that more than 1,700 patients are enrolled in Mississippi’s medical marijuana program. Among them is Tom Goldman, who said he has Parkinson’s disease and chronic knee pain.
Goldman told the TV station that the Mississippi State Department of Health activated his medical card and alerted him by email Sunday.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for so long – smoking marijuana legally,” Goldman said. “I thought I would be dead before this day showed up.”
A majority of Mississippi voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in November 2020. The state Supreme Court…
