Good Mornin’! Good Mornin’!
It was a good run for UNC in March Madness and I ‘preciate y’all not tar and feathering me for making up that little April Fool adventure with Mike Sibley last week. Yes, it seems fiction could have been fact and the Tarheels needed Sibley to run that Picket Fence play in the final seconds. I know he wouldn’t get caught watching the paint dry and would’ve tied the game. Perhaps we’ll revisit that in a screenplay.
In the meantime, on a more serious note, and no April Fool here, with the Mississippi Legislature’s 445-page Senate Bill #2095, The Mississippi Cannabis Act, cities and counties have until May 3rd to opt out. If they opt out, it will give cities, counties, towns and any other hamlet, time to consider any and all options they may have.
You may want to have a plan of action when all these medical MaryJane folks come to town with all their smoke and mirrors, promises and big money. I’ve lived in a few places where these caravans of cannabis arrive with big hopes but end up bending rules, antagonize other businesses and buy up elected officials, allegedly, who seem to keep voting for ways to help the MaryJane business over the shouts of their constituents.
These entities can always opt in later once ordinances and regulations have been gone over and tweaked should medical cannabis establishments find their way to your town.
My personal opinion is that you don’t want a medical marijuana facility near you. Anywhere near you. It’s still a drug that the Federal Government says is illegal. The 1971 Controlled Substances Act lists marijuana in the most dangerous category. The same as cocaine and heroin because of its supposed potential for abuse and lack of medical applications. Isn’t there enough of a drug problem with those two already? Not to mention the lethal drugs being cut in and laced into illegal drugs. Do you really want to invite more trouble to town?
It's 445-pages of information. That’s a lot of hoops to jump through and regulations to maneuver. Heck, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer is only 274 pages and look how much trouble he kept getting into. Huck Finn was 366 pages. William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom is 384 and as I remember, lots to keep up with. Can you imagine what may be hidden in 445-pages of legislation?
But 36 states plus the District of Columbia allow either full legalization for adult use or wide scale medical use, putting them at odds with federal law. Congress so far has been unable to present a solution.
My vote, opt-out now. Just because somebody made it legal doesn’t mean its necessarily right or something you should take part in. Opt-out, do some homework, make provisions and then look at the 445-pages of non-Hemingway style prose the legislature has laid before us.
Like Nancy taught us, “just say ‘no’ to drugs.”
