As the first crop of medical marijuana nears maturity, Mississippi Department of Health officials on Thursday provided an update on where the program stands and what processes are in place to keep patients safe.

Kris Jones, Director of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program at MSDH, said her staff have been hard at work since they began processing applications in June. Currently, she said, MSDH has approved 47 cultivators, eight processors, three disposal companies, two testing facilities, four transportation entities, 138 dispensaries, 117 practitioners, 491 work permits and 406 patients.

“We are seeing increases every day in the number of practitioners, and we are seeing increases every day in the number of patients,” Jones said.

Jones said her staff have had to learn all the rules and regulations, as well as help companies understand their responsibilities under the medical cannabis act. 

“We are ironing out issues every day,” she said.

State Health Officer Daniel Edney commended Jones and her team on what they have accomplished thus far. The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act gave MSDH a 120 day window to develop regulations and design a program for medical marijuana, he said, which was a much smaller window than in neighboring Louisiana or Alabama.

“It’s been a yeoman’s task to get where we are,” he said.

Edney said the focus of his department’s program is to ensure the safety of the public and reduce “opportunities for diversion,” in which marijuana plants or products end up outside of the state’s medical marijuana program. In that regard, he said he thought MSDH had done well.

MSDH’s seed-to-sale tracking system follows plants from the moment their planted to the moment their sold or destroyed, Edney said. The system also includes remote monitoring that allows Jones’ staff to see the plants, view inventory or ensure products are appropriately tagged at any time, he said.

Jones said her team is continuing to process applications, make compliance checks and help businesses through the application process. Patients who have applied for their medical marijuana card can check the status of their application online through the MSDH website.

The first marijuana product, she said, is expected to be available near the end of the year or early in 2023.

While different issues have been identified as MDSH and cannabis companies work to build Mississippi’s medical cannabis infrastructure, Edney said he asked legislators to give the system one full year of cannabis being available before making changes.

Once the program is up and running, he said, it will be easier to see what issues are due to regulations and which need to be corrected in the state statute.