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.