Don’t get confused. Coast medical pot supporters urge voters to choose Initiative 65.
Paul Robinson of Gulfport lost his youngest daughter, Jenna, to epilepsy more than four years ago.
Her condition was refractory, meaning that medicine didn’t help. Robinson believes there’s one thing that could have: medical marijuana.
“I do believe Jenna would be here if medical marijuana were available,” Robinson told the Sun Herald.
Robinson joined other Coast supporters of Initiative 65, a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana in Mississippi, on Wednesday morning in Gulfport to make their case. Initiative 65 would allow doctors to certify patients to obtain marijuana for a range of health conditions, including cancer, chronic pain, and epilepsy. It will go before voters on Nov. 3.
They urged voters to reject Alternative 65A, a competing amendment drafted by legislators after Initiative 65 made the ballot. 65A would restrict marijuana access to patients with a terminal illness, and it would cap the number of businesses licensed to manufacture and sell marijuana. Other details, like when the program would start, are undefined in 65A.
Jamie Grantham, communications director of Medical Marijuana 2020, said Initiative 65 would create a real medical marijuana program for Mississippians, and Alternative 65A would not.
“Alternative 65A is an effort to confuse voters and dilute the vote so that neither measure passes,” Grantham said.
Speakers at the press conference, held at the Almanett Hotel, also included Ocean Springs Mayor Shea Dobson, Harrison County Republican Party executive committee member Barbara Allen, and Biloxi psychiatrist Sharon LaRose.
With less than two months to go before Election Day on Nov. 3, the pro-medical marijuana group Mississippians for Compassionate Care is racing to convince voters to support Initiative 65 and understand how to vote for it instead of Alternative 65A. To pass, Initiative 65 must receive a majority of the votes cast for and against it, as well as at least 40% of all votes cast in the election.
Grantham cited a survey showing 81% of Mississippians support medical marijuana, but she’s concerned that the two similarly worded proposals will confuse voters.
Getting Initiative 65 on the ballot was a long and complicated process that supporters say they aren’t eager to repeat.
“65 needs to pass on Nov. 3,” Grantham said. “It absolutely must pass on Nov. 3.”
Another poll, conducted by Millsaps College and released in 2019, showed 67% of respondents supported legalizing medical marijuana. That survey found that support is particularly strong among Black voters and Democrats. All of the speakers at the press conference were white, and several emphasized that they are conservative.
Last month, opponents of Initiative 65 held a press conference in Pascagoula. Speakers included Ed Langton, a representative of the state Board of Health, as well as Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell and Pascagoula-Gautier School District Superintendent Wayne Rodolfich.
They said Initiative 65 would expand access to marijuana for everyone, not just people who are sick, by making it more widely available. They also said it would increase the burden on law enforcement.
On Tuesday, former Gov. Phil Bryant released an op-ed saying Initiative 65 is based on lies “from BIG MARIJUANA just like the lies BIG TOBACCO used to tell us.”
Mayor Shea Dobson told the Sun Herald he sees an increase in crime in the wake of legalized medical marijuana as unlikely, and that police should focus on violent crimes instead of low-level drug offense enforcement.
“I challenge anybody to give me an example of a domestic dispute where it’s more likely someone is using medical marijuana than alcohol,” Dobson said.
Dobson, like several other speakers at the event, said that legalizing medical marijuana aligns with conservative, Republican values.
“If you support the free market and getting government out of healthcare, you need to support the free market and get out of healthcare,” he said.
Dobson said he has had conversations with elected officials at the state and local level but thinks they’re reluctant to publicly express support because they “don’t want to rock the boat.” Dobson is the only sitting mayor on the steering committee for Medical Marijuana 2020.
Wednesday’s press conference was at times emotional, as speakers recounted stories of sick people who could have possibly benefited from medical marijuana.
Barbara Allen, a Harrison County Republican Party leader, described her treatment for stage 3 ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy left her so nauseous that she went 17 days without eating. A number of small studies have shown that marijuana can reduce nausea in cancer patients.
Allen said that she believes if she had had marijuana, she could have eaten during her treatment and recovered more quickly afterwards.
“I fully believe that God saved me to do his work, and that this is part of his work,” she said.
Robinson described his daughter Jenna as a “passionate dancer” and athlete and a “tremendous practical joker.”
He said he understands opponents’ concerns, but thinks they don’t know firsthand what it means to be desperate to find something to help a person you love.
“It’s not about you,” he said of opponents of medical marijuana. “It’s about the patient. Give doctors this tool in their tool box.”
