The City of Madison has opted out of medical marijuana and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler has cited protecting the community as the largest reason why the city did so – even including that medical marijuana may in fact harm rather than help residents.
“Did you know that the bill contains a requirement that every registration card contain ‘a notice of potential harm caused by medical cannabis,” Hawkins Butler said. “Did you know that the most recent rules proposed by the health department prohibit a cannabis establishment from any advertising that ‘makes any health, medicinal, or therapeutic claims about cannabis or cannabis infused products’? Think about how you normally obtain a prescription that is subsequently filled at a pharmacy and compare it to the process that marijuana will be produced and obtained through this Bill.”
Hawkins Butler said when they started building the City of Madison over 40 years ago, they looked at what other cities were doing – what worked and what didn’t. What were the challenges for high growth areas? She said this is no different, and she has had the opportunity to see how medical marijuana programs have operated in other states and increased criminal activity and illegal growth and distribution that follows medical marijuana production. She said she has observed states move to recreational use because the underregulated and under-controlled programs grew to a point they could no longer be managed.
“I personally spoke to the former Mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb,” Hawkins Butler said. “He has said that he wished they could take their vote back.”
Although Executive Director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association Ken Newburger said these cities are missing out on opportunities and going against what the people of Mississippi voted in favor of, the mayor said she has heard from Madison residents that what they voted for originally was not what they thought they were voting for with medical marijuana.
“I have heard that Mississippi overwhelmingly supported ‘medical marijuana’,” Hawkins Butler said. “I do not believe this to be true. The ballot language said, ‘Should Mississippi allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions, as certified by Mississippi licensed physicians, to use medical marijuana?’ Voters were not asked how they felt about people acquiring marijuana at any number of dispensaries. Voters were not asked how they felt about a dispensary or grow facility being located only 500 feet away from a school or daycare. Voters were not asked how they felt about someone obtaining ‘medical marijuana’ without a prescription or from a pharmacy, as with any other medicinal product.”
Hawkins Butler said when it comes to protecting a community, she has to consider the big picture and how any business will affect the community.
“What we are seeing in other states does not give me reason to believe that this is right for Madison,” Hawkins Butler said. “Madison is a family community – built with care. We are Mississippi’s Safest City. Protecting our community is our priority.”
It has been argued that medical marijuana can bring a lot of revenue to cities, and Newburger said cities are missing out on opportunities of the capital expenses of investments by these businesses in their cities.
“Statewide, we anticipate somewhere around $350 million of annual revenue sales at the end of a mature market, which is somewhere four to five years in the future,” Newburger said.
He said that revenue won’t necessarily change for the state even with cities opting out because that business can go elsewhere in the state. He said the number of patients won’t change, and those patients aren’t going to leave the state anymore to get access to medical marijuana when they can go to the next city over. The cities will just lose out on that income.
However, Hawkins Butler doesn’t feel that she will be missing out on economic opportunity by keeping medical marijuana away from Madison.
“Municipalities receive a small portion of sales tax collected – approximately one penny for every dollar,” Hawkins Butler said. “The money to be made is to benefit the industry – not the city. Consider that a dispensary would need to sell $1,000,000 for the city to receive $10,000 of sales tax. Based on our research showing the increase of criminal activity in states with similar programs, to include human trafficking, dangers that come with all-cash businesses, and other drugs smuggled with the marijuana, this math does not equate to a positive for the city.”
As far as whether or not Madison officials would consider opting back in at a later date, Hawkins Butler didn’t give a direct answer.
“We don’t go along just to get along and never have,” Hawkins Butler said. “Time will tell if this Bill and the Mississippi ‘Medical Marijuana’ Program are what many may believe it to be.”
