Town hall meeting on marijuana initiative set in Jackson

The group gathering signatures to legalize marijuana in Mississippi has scheduled a town hall meeting Friday at the Eudora Welty Library in Jackson to answer questions about its ballot initiative and the petition will be available for signatures.

The ballot initiative, if approved, would allow the use, cultivation and sale of cannabis and industrial hemp for persons 21 years or older.

Mississippi for Cannabis will try to collect more than 107,000 signatures of registered voters to get the ballot initiative measure on the November 2016 ballot. The group's town hall meeting is scheduled from 2-3 p.m. on Friday at the downtown library.

Kelly Jacobs, sponsor of the initiative ballot effort, said the group has until Oct. 2, 2015, to collect the needed signatures to get the measure on the November 2016 ballot. If not, they have until Dec. 29 to gather sufficient signatures of registered voters to get the measure on the November 2017 ballot.

"If the ballot initiative gets the necessary signatures and is approved by voters in a referendum, it would make it legal for adults to possess cannabis in unlimited quantities, to use as they wish, just like alcohol or cigarettes. However, it would have to be kept from minors.

"We want to legalize marijuana and decriminalize it," Jacobs said. "It's an adult discussion we should be having."

There are those who support legalizing marijuana and those who are opposed.

Joyce Ann Paden of Amory, said "I strongly believe that Mississippian's can benefit from legalizing Cannabis. I do not use cannabis in any form; however for government to tell me that I can only medicate my ailments with man-made chemicals that they approve instead of leaving the judgment to me, for that, I am fighting for my right to make my own decisions without someone dictating what is best for me."

Former Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director Marshall Fisher, who is now the commissioner of Department of Corrections, said he will vote no if the initiative is placed on the ballot. He said it will lead to drug addiction.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at jgates@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7212. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.