Conference <\/a> of State Legislatures.<\/p>\nTo get Initiative 65 on Mississippi’s statewide ballot, organizers gathered signatures from the five congressional districts that the state used during the 1990s. They did that based on legal advice issued years ago by the state attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler filed a lawsuit days before the election, contending that the signature-gathering requirement is mathematically impossible with four congressional districts. She opposed Initiative 65 because it limits a city\u2019s ability to regulate the location of medical marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city is pleased that the Supreme Court followed the plain language of the Mississippi Constitution and recognized that, unfortunately, the current voter initiative process is broken,\u201d Butler said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday.<\/p>\n
Ken Newburger, executive director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, said the justices overturned the will of the voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients will now continue the suffering that so many Mississippians voted to end,\u201d Newburger said.<\/p>\n
State attorneys said Mississippi has two sets of congressional districts \u2014 one set used for congressional elections and one set used for other purposes. An attorney for Butler argued that the only purpose of a congressional district is to have boundaries for electing U.S. House members.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Michael Randolph said during last month’s hearing that seven bills have been filed over the years to update Mississippi\u2019s initiative process to remove confusion about signatures coming from old or new congressional districts, and legislators have not made the change.<\/p>\n
Legislative leaders have not said clearly why they have not updated the initiative process in the 20 years since Mississippi lost a congressional district. The problem with five districts versus four has existed first with Democrats in control at the Capitol and now, for many years, with Republicans in control.<\/p>\n
People are gathering signatures for several other proposed initiatives, including one to authorize widespread early voting and another to expand Medicaid.<\/p>\n
Justices on Friday did not mention two other ballot initiatives that Mississippi voters approved in 2011, after the state dropped from five congressional districts to four. Initiative 27 requires people to show government-issued photo identification before voting. Initiative 31 limits the use of eminent domain \u2014 the practice of governments taking private property for other uses.<\/p>\n
During the legislative session that ended in April, the Senate tried to create rules for a state medical marijuana program, but the House defeated the effort. Republican Sen. Kevin Blackwell said the proposal was a backstop to have a program in place in case the Supreme Court invalidated Initiative 65. But supporters of Initiative 65 balked at the proposal, saying they saw it as an attempt to usurp what voters approved.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http:\/\/twitter.com\/EWagsterPettus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) \u2014 Mississippi will remain in the minority of states without a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court on Friday overturned an initiative that voters approved last fall \u2014 a decision that also limits other citizen-led efforts to put issues on the statewide ballot. At the heart of the ruling is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":1624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"Emily Wagster Pettus","published":"2021-05-14T09:39:35","updated":"","_infotelid":"CP1586561362","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,381,567],"tags":[],"region":[309,310,311,312],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in420","category-topnews","category-world","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/324\/mississippi-justices-toss-voter-backed-marijuana-initiative\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Mississippi justices toss voter-backed marijuana initiative","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/324\/mississippi-justices-toss-voter-backed-marijuana-initiative\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/324\/mississippi-justices-toss-voter-backed-marijuana-initiative\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/20210514140548-609ec6ad6192ddc445fc93b8jpeg.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/20210514140548-609ec6ad6192ddc445fc93b8jpeg.jpg"},"articleSection":"iN420","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iN420","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2021-05-14T16:39:35Z","datePublished":"2021-05-14T16:39:35Z","dateModified":"2021-05-14T23:39:35Z"},"rendered":"