Business owners looking to enter the medical marijuana industry will have another place to set up shop after the Marion Board of Aldermen on Tuesday voted to allow cannabis businesses in the town limits.
Tuesday’s vote overturns an earlier decision by the board to opt out of the state’s medical marijuana program.
Mayor Larry Gill said the board had some concerns about the program that couldn’t be answered prior to the deadline to opt out. Now, with the program firmly established, he said the board feels more comfortable moving forward.
“When we opted out it was so many uncertainties and the board just wanted to wait,” he said. “They said we would revisit it, and now we’re at that time where we’re revisiting it.”
The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, which was passed by the state legislature in 2022, gave counties and municipalities up to 90-days from the bill being signed to opt out of allowing cultivation, processing and/or distribution of medical cannabis. The deadline was 30 days shorter than the 120-day window given to the Mississippi Department of Health and Department of Revenue to develop rules and regulations for the cannabis program.
Both the Town of Marion and Lauderdale County voted initially to opt out of the program citing uncertainty on the burden the rules, which were still being written, would place on the local governments. Both governments had also made plans to revisit their decisions when more information was available.
Gill said Tuesday the board had the opportunity to look at ordinances developed by other municipalities and talk with leaders from other areas about implementing a medical marijuana ordinance.
“We’ve seen some of the ordinances that other towns and cities have adopted,” he said. “Now we were able to draft our own and mirror some of those with our own stipulations.”
Alderman Stacy Blalock said she is pleased the town has been able to come up with a clear, easy to understand ordinance that will guide would-be business owners looking to establish a cannabis business in Marion.
“I like the way things were worded,” she said. “It was clear, concise and set up in a way that’s easy to understand.”
Gill said the November 2022 election, in which voters overturned the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors’ decision to opt out, also played a role in guiding the town’s decision. With both the county and the City of Meridian open for the cannabis industry, Gill said Marion had nothing to gain by staying out.
“There’s nothing that stops people from setting up right outside of us,” he said. “We wanted to be in a position where we do have an opportunity. We don’t want to be where we get nothing from it, and everyone around us does.”
