Jackson Jambalaya

This is just like the Lottery. People want access to legal cannabis. They may not necessarily want their preacher to know that they want it. But when it is finally legal you will see demand far exceeding expectations just like the Mississippi Lottery.

Anyone who has visited a dispensary in a state with access already knows legal cannabis is a good thing. Absolutely no worse than liquor.

But do you want it enshrined in the constitution and not able to be taxed? Because that's what Initiative 65 does.

Having moved to a state that allows legal marijuana I will tell you first hand that it is much more beneficial than alcohol. It’s cheaper, healthier, and it doesn’t cause the relationship problems that alcohol did for me. That’s my personal experience with it. I don’t drink alcohol anymore now that I have access to legal edibles. I workout more and live a healthier, pain free, life style. I admit, I was against it until I tried it. Now I swear by it.

@10:36 AM Recreational marijuana would be fully taxable. Medical marijuana, like any other therapeutic drug, would remain free of sales tax.

Vote no. This is a bunch of bullshit.

@10:46
It is a plant created by omniscient God Almighty. Cannabis requires no distillation and minimal processing besides pruning and drying. Payroll and sales tax can be collected like any edible plant matter sold in Mississippi. Why do we need any special tax besides those?

The number of stoners that think either of these = legsl pot is astonishing.

The number of people that will find some quack to prescribe it to them is as high as the number of poor people duped into the lottery hoping to escape poverty.

They call it the DEVIL WEED for a reason! No Godfearing Mississippi Baptist shall vote yes for DEVIL WEED! You will burn in the fiery crucible of hell for all eternity with Lucifer himself if you do not vote NO!

Republicans in Mississippi hate personal freedom. It is bizarre. Want to buy (cheaply) wine in grocery stores or be on a wine-of-the-month club? Not here. They want the state to run it. Want to buy some pot? Not here. They don't want you to have personal freedom. Want to buy a car on Sunday morning, the best time (for me) to buy one? Not here. They want to regulate your Sunday mornings. Goofy state.

Imagine sll of those years of lost revenue on lottery and still wanting to be one of the last states to decriminalize recreational marijuana because of some religious fear. Well guess what, we aren't all the same religion and the USA is not a theocracy.

I say let's talk about it.....but let's not amend the State constitution to do so.

@11:30, what did we expect? I see (my fellow) “right” wingers wearing masks In drive throughs and cowering In their homes because the media we called “fake news” since 2016 told them to.

If this initiative passes, and I believe it will, can someone start a petition to allow grocery stores to sell wine and liquor and abolish the ABC? We really need to drag Mississippi into the 21st century, or at least stay up with neighboring states.

This is the chance for the state to have a massive sales tax influx. Everybody that wants to smoke weed in MS already does it. None of the problems CA,CO, and other states have had with an influx of potheads will happen because there is no longer one or two states with legal weed to concentrate people willing to travel to smoke.

There is zero difference between cannabis and ANY prescribed drug.

10:36 (Bill Dees) - prescription drugs aren’t taxed in Mississippi. Medicine like advil is taxed. Under initiative 65, Marijuana is not prescribed. That would be against federal law. But unlike Advil, marijuana sales would not be taxed.

Also, the categories are so broad as to what marijuana can be used for under initiative 65 that it might as well be fully legalized. “Pain” or anything else a doctor says is ok. As we have seen with opioid pill mills, for the right amount of money, there will be doctors who give a certificate for anything.

All other businesses that rely on addition for their success (tobacco, alcohol, casinos) are taxed and controlled to protect the public. With initiative 65, marijuana will be excluded.

If you want marijuana - fully legal or medicinal - pass a law that can be changed if it needs to be. Don’t make it permanent in the constitution.

I am voting yes, and probably will never use it. Why do we have to tax everything?

"Also, the categories are so broad as to what marijuana can be used for under initiative 65 that it might as well be fully legalized. “Pain” or anything else a doctor says is ok. As we have seen with opioid pill mills, for the right amount of money, there will be doctors who give a certificate for anything."

Great. That may not be the point, but you just gave me a reason to vote 'yes'.

We don't need the government's permission to live free, we need the government out of the business altogether.

Not taxed? Then what does this passage mean? "sales fee at 7 percent: $10,000,000"

Legislative Budget Office Fiscal Analysis:
The overall cost to Mississippi for the first year is estimated to be $11,068,150. The anticipated expenses for the first year to implement a medical marijuana program is $24,068,150 (Plants – seeds to Sale: $5,000,000; Licensing, Monitoring, Inspection: $16,220,150; and Cost to Collect Revenue: $2,848,000). The anticipated revenue is $13,000,000 (User ID Cards: $2,500,000; Commercial Licenses: $500,000 and sales fee at 7 percent: $10,000,000).
The anticipated expenses for years following the first for a medical marijuana program is $15,338,000 (Plants – seeds to Sale: $5,000,000; Licensing, Monitoring, Inspection: $8,756,000; and Cost to Collect Revenue: $1,582,000).

And this:
Section 6.
In addition to the fees applied to issuing identification cards and licensing medical marijuana treatment centers, the department may assess up to the equivalent of the state's sales tax rate to the final sale of medical marijuana.

Where are you right-wingers getting the idea that it's not going to be taxed?

Call me what you will. I come from the era of $15 an ounce pot and smoked my fair share of it back then and up through my college days. Fast forward to today and the end of a 30 year LEO career that I retired from this year. The first trip I made was to Colorado, bought the best I could buy and got the best nights sleep I'd had in 30 years. I went searching in attic when I got home, found my old one hitter box and put it back in service!!

Legalize it !

Smoke and mirrors my friends. Divide and conquer. Oldest tricks in the book.

If you have never used marijuana you do NOT get to have an opinion on this subject. Unlike alcohol, it is not dangerous or addictive. Unlike alcohol, it does not destroy relationships and careers. I am a 56 yr old man and I have smoked marijuana almost daily since high school. I have a family (only one wife for many years and grown children), a career, a home, a savings account etc....

Underage children with the “consent of their parents” to the physician can receive a medical marijuana card and obtain marijuana. (Section 4 (9))

300 or greater joints per month. (Section 8 (1))A person certified can receive nearly 5 ounces of marijuana or equivalent to over 146 grams a month. A family of three has 900 joints a month!
Your 2nd Amendment rights will be affected as anyone who wants to buy, possess or own a firearm or has a concealed permit can lose their right to do so if they have a marijuana card or known to use or possess marijuana. U.S. Department of Justice – ATF Bureau letters notifying of all Federal Firearm Licenses. (See links in www.stopMSpot.com or www.MississippiHorizon.org )

Has anyone heard Jamie Grantham or Spence Flatgard talk about legalization? These people couldn’t tell the truth if their life depended on it. They have to lie to get their point across. My favorite is when they try to convince on audience that the State Board of Health endorses this sham.

I'm an old fella and have never smoked the stuff. Can some of you dopers tell me what it does to you. Why do so many people smoke that crap.

I'm voting yes.

Marijuana helped my dad eat during his brief fight with pancreatic cancer.

I cannot help it if people abuse illegal drugs. Marijuana has been illegal for a long time but is still here and will be for a long time. This drug helped my dad.

11:27 that's kinda of aggravating to you, ain't it? Ha!

"But do you want it enshrined in the constitution and not able to be taxed? Because that's what Initiative 65 does."

No prescription meds are taxed. Why should this one be? Otherwise you may be right. Let the legislature handle it after we approve 65a. We just need to vote 65A - It's not important what might later be developed.

Next January or in a special session next July, Gunn and his gang of desperadoes can craft a program similar to that of the legislative design for wine and spirits. Now there's a marketing model worth repeating. And it's worked well for 56 years, right? And guess who designed it.

Gunn and his posse of titty-babies can't stand the people having a voice.

I'm almost 70, 11:27, and have never heard marijuana called 'devil weed'. You made that up like you make everything else up you shout from the pulpit on Sundays. Pull them draws outcho crack and lighten up.

You fools do not understand. When this passes the black market will thrive. About 10 percent of all marijuana sold will be taxed. The state will not make much money at all. Also driving under the influence will sky rocket and lots of people will be killed. If you make weed legal young people will get their hands on it easier. This will increase the number of addicts that use hard drugs. So go ahead Mississippi and vote for this. The price we pay will be much higher than anything I’m willing to sacrifice

If I thought there were a reasonable chance the legislature would pass a decent marijuana bill next session I would vote no. However, since I realize all the virtue signaling around this being enshrined in the Constitution is nothing more than a delay tactic to ultimately kill any chance of legal use then I would rather see it pass.

The legislature has failed the will of most Mississippians. Let them suffer the consequences.

@6:57
Your lame tired fear mongering doesn't work when we already have so many states with recreational cannabis and they have none of the negative social issues that you are lying about.

I've seen the Southpark episode.

It has all of the bad stuff tobacco has plus hallucinogens. All those anti tobacco people are now in favor of smoking dope.

2:21 says he/she smoked "almost daily" for 40 years but not addicted. HAHAHAHAHA

@ 9;53... people do NOT hallucinate while using marijuana. You come into contact everyday with people who use it and you don't even know it.

"They call it the DEVIL WEED for a reason! No Godfearing Mississippi Baptist shall vote yes for DEVIL WEED! You will burn in the fiery crucible of hell for all eternity with Lucifer himself if you do not vote NO!" Hey thumper, you the one preaching (yelling actually) on the sidewalk by the Wendy's at Old Canton and Lake Harbor?

I say, as we have lost the so called war on drugs, legalize them all and let the people decide if they want to use or not. I'm sure the State/Federal Government can figure out how to tax them.

Can we legalize over the counter decongestants also while we are at it? I shouldn’t have to go visit a doctor for a Claritin D when I get a cold. I thought Republicans were supposed to support personal freedoms?

10:45 Amen. Absolutely ridiculous. You can easily track sales by requiring that a DL be swiped and sent to the MBD. Which can monitor who and how much. Texas and LA do this.