Coast mayor backs Mississippi’s medical marijuana campaign, hosts event

The Mayor of Ocean Springs, Shea Dobson, will soon be hosting an event to begin gathering signatures and support for a potential ballot initiative for the 2020 election. Mississippi's Medical Marijuana 2020 will need over 86,000 signatures from registered voters to make it on the ballot for the general election. By educating people and acknowledging modern scientific research campaign officials hope to let people know that "Marijuana is not a scary thing that people have been made to be afraid of." Officials say that like many other states there is great potential in helping tens of thousands of patients with debilitating conditions and still have control of a tightly regulated system. If the initiative is legalized a doctor would be able to find the best prescription for each patient and then allow a state regulated cannabis shop to fill that script with tested medication.

“The benefits are crystal clear,” Dobson said.

“It will help people with medical problems such as cancer, PTSD and anxiety, and will be good for Mississippi because it will make money for the state.”

Founders of the medical marijuana campaign say legalizing marijuana for medical use could help patients with debilitating medical conditions. Making marijuana legal for medicinal purposes would allow doctors to write prescriptions that would be filled by licensed facilities regulated by the Mississippi State Department of Health, according to the Medical Marijuana 2020 website.