Thursday, September 21, 2023

Watson says state won’t appeal Medical Marijuana ruling

By Geoff Pender

Mississippi Today

Secretary of State Michael Watson said the state will not ask the Mississippi Supreme Court for a rehearing after its decision that struck down the voter-passed Initiative 65 medical marijuana program and voided the state ballot initiative process.

Watson in a statement Thursday said that he “strongly considered” asking for a rehearing, but concluded based on case law and the margin of the court’s decision that doing so “would simply delay the inevitable.”

“Rather than giving a sense of false hope and spending taxpayer dollars to no avail, I strongly encourage the governor to reconvene the Legislature in an effort to quickly preserve the will of Mississippians …,” Watson said.

The high court on May 14, in a 6-3 split decision, ruled in favor of Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, who filed a challenge to Initiative 65 just days before voters approved it on Nov. 3.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.