County enacts medical marijuana ordinance
Jan. 2—Medical marijuana business owners will need to stop by the Lauderdale County permit office before submitting their license application to the state after the board of supervisors adopted a medical cannabis ordinance on December 15.
Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said the county's ordinance was built on a sample ordinance from DeSoto County. The northwest Mississippi county had put together a committee to study the medical marijuana issue and develop the ordinance's language, he said.
The ordinance requires business owners to receive an annual business permit to establish marijuana cultivation, processing, testing, disposal or dispensary businesses in unincorporated areas of the county. A $1,000 application fee is required for first-time applicants, and an additional $500 fee is required to renew a permit each year.
In addition to requirements laid out in the state medical marijuana law, Lauderdale County businesses will be subjected to additional restrictions. Any research, cultivation, testing, transportation or disposal facilities will have to be located at least 100 feet away from a property line, and no medical marijuana businesses will be allowed to open in existing subdivisions.
County Administrator Chris Lafferty said the ordinance will likely need some final tweaks to the language as the county begins to issue permits, but otherwise the ordinance was good to go.
"There are some language concerns that we need to work through," he said. "The only way to do that, I think, is to issue a couple."
Lafferty advised supervisors to encourage potential business owners to gather their documentation for their state application prior to seeking a permit at the county permit office. Although a county permit is required for business owners to complete their state application, he said having all of the information needed for a state medical marijuana business license would ensure applicants have the paperwork needed to complete the county application.
The passage of a medical marijuana ordinance comes after Lauderdale County residents voted in November to override an earlier decision by supervisors to opt-out of allowing medical marijuana businesses to set up shop in the county.
The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act gave local governments 90 days from the bill being signed into law to decide whether or not to allow medical marijuana businesses within their boundaries. The deadline was 30 days shorter than the 120 days the statute gave the Mississippi Department of Health and Department of Revenue to develop rules and regulations for a statewide medical marijuana program.
Thaggard said a copies of the new medical marijuana ordinance were available online at lauderdalecounty.org and in the Chancery Clerk's and County Administrator's offices.
