Alabama And Louisiana Are Enacting Or Extending Medical Marijuana Programs. What About Mississippi?
Last November, 74% of Mississippi voters approved adopting a medical marijuana program. For some, like 25-year-old Austin Calhoun, the decision felt like a ticket back home.
Calhoun spent most of his senior year of high school bedridden due to Lyme disease. He met with 20 local doctors to try and find relief for his symptoms but eventually made the decision to move to Colorado in 2015 so he could get a medical marijuana prescription to help keep his ailments — like seizures, chronic nausea and vomiting, and arthritis — under control.
Photo Courtesy Of Austin Calhoun
(L-R) Brad Calhoun, Austin Calhoun and Angie Calhoun of Puckett, Mississippi.
“I started making arrangements to sell my house,” Calhoun said after hearing about the voters’ decision. “Around May, I decided it was time for me to just come back home and be with my family.”
In May, however, Mississippi’s State Supreme Court struck down the voter-approved medical marijuana initiative, ruling the program void due to the state’s initiative process being outdated.
Alabama and Louisiana have both implemented or extended their own medical marijuana programs recently. But while some in Mississippi feel both states got the momentum to pass their legislation due to their efforts, Mississippi is now back at square one.
Lawmakers are hopeful to have a new bill drafted by the end of summer.
Read the full story from our partners at Mississippi Public Broadcasting here.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., WWNO in New Orleans and NPR.
What do eggs, Grok and Greenland have in common? They’re all quiz-worthy! Are you?
See if you can get a perfect score for once.
Jodie Foster plans more French roles after ‘A Private Life’
Jodie Foster has spoken French since she was a child. But it's only now that she's taken on a lead role scripted almost entirely in the language of Molière, for A Private Life.
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is ‘Game of Thrones’ for the haters
There are no dragons, no maps and no internecine family trees in this Game of Thrones prequel about an underdog knight and his would-be squire.
FEMA is getting rid of thousands of workers in areas recovering from disasters
Thousands of employees whose contracts end this year will lose their jobs, FEMA managers said at personnel meetings this week. The cuts could hobble the nation's disaster agency.
With limited political power, Minnesota Democrats navigate resistance to Trump
From public pleas to lawsuits, Minnesota's Democratic leaders are trying to stop the surge of federal agents on their streets.
House Republicans are investigating Jan. 6. NPR fact-checked the first hearing
A Republican-led congressional subcommittee is leading a new investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Do their claims add up?
