Oxford Business Receives License to Become Medical Marijuana Dispensary

By Alyssa Schnugg

News editor

alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The city of Oxford has possibly its first state-licensed medical marijuana dispensary.

Hybrid Relief received its privilege license on Monday from the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Bureau of Enforcement.

The Hybrid Relief dispensary will be located off West Jackson Avenue behind the Hemp Ville CDB store.

Both Hybrid and Hemp Ville are owned by Tony Barragan and investors.

The location had previously housed Joysticks Gamers Lounge, which was a temporary “holder” business until the Medical Cannabis Act was passed.

“We started construction on what is currently Joysticks for our dispensary with a full commercial kitchen to manufacture our own edibles and other products in 2021; however, after the Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, we had a lease to abide by so we created Joysticks to pay the rent.”

The Mississippi Senate approved SB 2095 – the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act. Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on Feb. 2.

Hemp Ville CBD has been open for more than three years. Barragan said he knew Mississippi would soon have a medical marijuana program and began training his employees for what was to come in the medical marijuana industry.

“CBD is very similar to the cannabis plant in many ways with the exception of the THC levels,” Barragan said. “We feel very confident that what we have learned in the past three and a half years will be very useful when it comes to first-time patients in the medical marijuana industry.”

Barragan said he and his team will help teach patients about the different strains of cannabis and what strains work best on what ailments; how to administer the products; different methods of ingestion and how to dose accurately as well.

“All of these things will make for a better first experience for new patients,” Barragan said.

Barragan received a special use permit from the city of Oxford on July 21.

Along with the dispensary, Barragan and his investors have built a 19,000-square-foot cultivation facility that includes an extraction room for extracting solventless cannabis oil.

Barragan said he expects his product to be ready around December or January; however, Hybrid Relief will sell cannabis grown by other cultivators.

Doctors and dispensaries started applying for licenses in June. Patients must visit a local physician to obtain a certification that they have a qualifying medical condition and then they can apply for the Medical Cannabis Program online.

Click here for an online Cannabis Program Portal User Guide.

“We at Hybrid Relief, along with many other supporters, have been working diligently since 2020, and to see this actually come to pass is a very victorious feeling for me and I’m sure every other entrepreneur in this industry,” Barragan said, “but mainly for the patients who have been waiting a very long time for the opportunity to treat their ailments using medical marijuana.”