Drug Policy Watch · State Brief 2026

Mississippi

Snapshot (structured)

Adult-use cannabis: Illegal. Recreational possession remains a criminal offense. Two 2026 legalization bills (SB 220, HB 1267) died in committee. MJ Herald, MS State Cannabis
Medical cannabis: Legal and operational since 2023 under the 2022 Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act; roughly 66,000 to 67,000 active patients by end of 2025. NORML, WLBT
Home grow: Not permitted, for medical or recreational. MPP
Intoxicating hemp / hemp THC: Banned. Delta-8, delta-10, HHC and other intoxicating hemp-derived isomers are treated as Schedule I controlled substances (HB 1547). MJ Herald 50-state, Burning Daily
Psychedelics: Illegal (Schedule I). No decriminalization. An ibogaine research measure (HB 314) was signed into law March 2026. Psychedelic Alpha, Marijuana Moment
Broad decriminalization: Partial. A limited civil-penalty scheme exists for small first-offense possession; broader decrim bills died in 2026. MS State Cannabis, ACLU-MS HB 1280
Harm reduction: Fentanyl test strips legalized 2023 (HB 722). Syringe service programs not clearly authorized statewide; status unconfirmed. Fox News
Governor (party): Tate Reeves (Republican), term-limited, leaves office after 2027. Magnolia Tribune
Legislature control: Republican. GOP holds a House supermajority and a Senate majority (Senate supermajority lost after the November 2025 special redistricting elections). MS Free Press
Citizen ballot initiatives allowed: No, currently suspended. The Mississippi Supreme Court voided the initiative process in 2021; restoration efforts again failed in the 2026 session. Mississippi Today, Ballotpedia
Enclosure pressure score: 4/5

Cannabis

Adult-use cannabis is illegal in Mississippi. In the 2026 session, two adult-use legalization bills failed to advance: SB 220, which would have removed cannabis from the controlled-substances schedule, and HB 1267, which would have legalized and regulated cannabis for adults 21 and older. Most criminal-justice cannabis bills, including legalization, decriminalization expansion, and expungement, died by the February 2026 committee deadlines, many without a hearing. MJ Herald, AOL/Yahoo

Medical cannabis has been legal since the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act passed in 2022 (sales began in 2023). By the end of 2025 the program had roughly 66,041 active patients, reported as over 67,000 heading into 2026. Patients may purchase up to 3 ounces per month (and up to roughly 3.5 grams of concentrate per the per-product framework; the monthly limit is built on a Mississippi Medical Cannabis Equivalency Unit system). Qualifying conditions include cancer, epilepsy, PTSD, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn's disease, among others. NORML, WLBT, MPP summary

Home grow is not permitted under the medical program, and there is no recreational program under which to grow.

Market structure: There is no statutory cap on the number of business licenses. License types include cultivation, processing, dispensaries, transportation, disposal, testing, and research. Vertical integration is allowed, with anti-concentration limits: an individual may not hold more than 10 percent equity in more than five dispensary licenses, nor more than a single cultivation license or single processing license. The state has roughly 190 licensed dispensaries (about 175 active). Cannabis is regulated jointly by the Mississippi State Department of Health (cultivation, processing, testing, transport, disposal) and the Mississippi Department of Revenue (dispensaries). MPP summary, Leafly dispensaries, Cannabis Promotions, MS DOR

Key 2026 actions: The Legislature passed two patient-friendly medical bills, HB 895 and HB 1152, both with veto-proof margins, but Governor Reeves vetoed both on March 26, 2026 (see Active legislation). The Legislature did not override the vetoes during the regular session. Marijuana Moment, WLBT veto

Hemp

Mississippi has one of the most restrictive intoxicating-hemp regimes in the country. The state classifies THC and its isomers (including delta-8, delta-10, and HHC) as Schedule I controlled substances, reportedly via House Bill 1547, leaving effectively no legal gray area for intoxicating hemp-derived products. Industrial hemp and non-intoxicating CBD remain permitted. Note: the exact bill number and year for the THC-isomer scheduling action are reported by secondary sources (Burning Daily, Area 52) and should be treated as unconfirmed pending a primary statutory cite. Burning Daily, Area 52, MJ Herald 50-state

Federal exposure and the November 12, 2026 deadline: Congress approved a measure that bans most hemp-derived THC products nationwide, with the federal change taking effect November 12, 2026. Because Mississippi already bans intoxicating hemp at the state level, the federal change largely reinforces rather than upends Mississippi law. The practical local effect is therefore limited compared with permissive states, though it may affect any residual non-intoxicating or low-dose products and interstate commerce. MJ Herald 50-state, Area 52

Recent state action: An employment-law analysis (March 2026) flags continuing confusion for employers around delta-8 and THC products and drug testing, indicating the topic remains active even under the ban. No 2026 bill loosening the intoxicating-hemp ban is confirmed as having passed. Employment Law Insights

Psychedelics

Psychedelics, including psilocybin, are illegal in Mississippi and classified as Schedule I. The state has not adopted decriminalization or a therapeutic-access framework for psilocybin.

2026 bills: HB 314, an ibogaine research measure, was signed into law on or about March 26, 2026. Reporting indicates it directs a state research consortium to coordinate with and use the same drug developer as a lead consortium in another state (reported as Texas). This is a research-coordination measure, not decriminalization or patient access. Psychedelic Alpha, Marijuana Moment, Psychedelic Passage

Broader drug policy

Decriminalization: Mississippi has a long-standing limited civil-penalty scheme for very small first-offense cannabis possession, but possession otherwise remains criminal, and broader decriminalization stalled in 2026. HB 1280 (2026) would have reduced penalties for possession and transfer of marijuana, cutting the maximum sentence for 30 grams or less from three years to eighteen months and the maximum fine from $3,000 to $1,500, with a proposed effective date of July 1, 2026; it did not pass. ACLU-MS HB 1280, MS State Cannabis

Harm reduction: Mississippi legalized fentanyl test strips when Governor Reeves signed HB 722 on March 15, 2023 (effective July 1, 2023), passing 117-3 in the House and 50-0 in the Senate. Naloxone access exists in practice, though specific 2025-2026 statutory expansions were not confirmed in this research. Syringe service programs (needle exchanges) are not clearly authorized statewide; their current legal status is unconfirmed and Mississippi's paraphernalia law has historically been a barrier. Federal FY2026 appropriations continue to bar federal funds for purchasing needles or syringes (with carve-outs for fentanyl test strips and adulterant test kits), which constrains program funding nationally. Fox News, Faces and Voices of Recovery, LawAtlas SSP

Sentencing and expungement: Mississippi allows expungement of a first or second misdemeanor marijuana-possession conviction after a waiting period (commonly cited as two years for the misdemeanor possession path), and generally allows expungement of one conviction five years after completing all sentence terms. There is no automatic record-clearing for cannabis offenses; expungement is petition-based. Cannabis expungement-expansion bills died in 2026. Collateral Consequences Resource Center, MS State Cannabis

Overdose and treatment policy: Mississippi participates in national opioid-settlement and treatment funding streams; specific 2026 treatment-policy enactments were not confirmed in this research.

Political landscape

Governor: Tate Reeves (Republican), term-limited; his term ends after the 2027 election. He used vetoes liberally in 2026, including the two medical-cannabis expansion bills. Magnolia Tribune, Mississippi Indy

Party control: Republicans control both chambers. The GOP holds a supermajority in the 122-member House and a majority in the 52-member Senate. The Senate supermajority was lost after the November 2025 special redistricting elections, in which Democrats flipped two Senate seats and one House seat. A later U.S. Supreme Court action reversed the redistricting order tied to that change. MS Free Press

Key committees: Medical-cannabis bills routed through the House Business and Commerce Committee (HB 894, HB 895), House Public Health and Human Services Committee (HB 1034), and House Government Drug Policy Committee (HB 865). Specific committee chairs are unconfirmed in this research. MJ Herald

Reform champions and opponents: - Reform-leaning: Rep. Lee Yancey (R) pushed patient-access and potency bills (HB 894, HB 895). Rep. Kevin Felsher (R) pushed hospital access for terminally ill patients (HB 1034). Rep. Omeria Scott (D) pushed rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III (HB 865). Sen. Jeremy England (R) leads the ballot-initiative restoration effort (SCR 518). MJ Herald, Mississippi Today - Opponent: Gov. Tate Reeves (R) vetoed both medical-expansion bills (HB 895, HB 1152), citing, for HB 1152, the out-of-state-resident access provision. Magnolia Tribune veto

Ballot initiatives

Mississippi does not currently have a working citizen-initiated ballot-measure process. The Mississippi Supreme Court invalidated the initiative process in 2021 on technical grounds (the five-district signature formula could not function after the state dropped to four congressional districts), in the same case that challenged the voter-approved medical-marijuana initiative. For the fifth straight year, lawmakers tried to restore it in 2026. Sen. Jeremy England's SCR 518 would have created a statute-only initiative process (not constitutional amendments) requiring signatures from 10 percent of registered voters, roughly 170,000. The measure advanced in the Senate but House and Senate negotiators again failed to reach final agreement, so no restored process is in place and no citizen-initiated cannabis measure can currently qualify for the ballot. Mississippi Today restore debate, Mississippi Today advance, Meridian Star, Ballotpedia

Equity and expungement

Social-equity licensing: Mississippi's Medical Cannabis Act does not include a notable social-equity licensing carve-out comparable to programs in other states. License access is gated primarily by capital, with high cultivation fees and a residency-style framework (Mississippi has had in-state ownership and residency requirements for cannabis licensees). The anti-concentration caps (no more than 10 percent equity in more than five dispensaries, one cultivation, one processing license) limit single-operator dominance but do not function as equity provisions. MPP summary, Mr. Cannabis Law

Expungement: Petition-based, not automatic. A first or second misdemeanor marijuana-possession conviction can be expunged after a waiting period, and one conviction can generally be expunged five years after completing the sentence. People with multiple or felony-level drug convictions, and those who cannot navigate the petition process or afford counsel, are effectively excluded. 2026 bills to expand cannabis expungement died. CCRC, MS State Cannabis

Market and barriers

Hard numbers (medical program): - Patients: roughly 66,041 active at end of 2025, reported as over 67,000 entering 2026. WLBT - Dispensaries: about 190 licensed, roughly 175 active. Leafly - Taxes: a 5 percent cannabis excise tax on cultivator-to-dispensary sales plus the standard 7 percent state sales tax at retail. Excise revenue rose from about $1.64 million (CY2024) to $2.18 million (CY2025); cannabis sales-tax revenue rose from about $6.18 million to $9.00 million over the same period. MS DOR taxation, Meridian Star revenue - License fees (reported ranges, verify against current MSDH/DOR schedules): dispensary application/license around $25,000; cultivation annual fees scaling roughly from $2,000 (micro, up to ~1,000 sq ft canopy) to as high as $100,000 (top cultivation tier). Cannabis Promotions, CannDelta - License caps: no statutory cap on the number of licenses. MPP summary - Capital/residency: high cultivation fees plus historical Mississippi residency/ownership requirements raise the capital and local-tie barrier to entry; exact current residency terms unconfirmed in this research. Mr. Cannabis Law

Enclosure read

Who is fenced out: recreational consumers (no legal adult-use market), home growers (no cultivation rights for anyone), the entire intoxicating-hemp retail sector (banned outright, so independent vape and smoke shops lose a product line federal law had arguably permitted), and out-of-state or under-capitalized would-be operators facing steep cultivation fees and residency-style ownership rules. People with prior cannabis convictions are fenced out of clean records because expungement is petition-based and reform bills died. The public is also fenced out of direct policymaking: the citizen ballot-initiative process remains suspended, which is precisely the mechanism voters used to win medical cannabis in 2020 before the courts voided it.

Who is consolidating: the existing licensed medical operators benefit from no license cap (which prevents a hard oligopoly) but also from a banned hemp-THC competitor class and the absence of adult-use, meaning the medical channel is the only legal intoxicant pathway and incumbents capture it. The Department of Revenue and Department of Health hold tight regulatory control.

Justification for 4/5: Adult-use is illegal, home grow is banned, intoxicating hemp is fully prohibited, psychedelics are Schedule I, expungement is petition-only, and the citizen-initiative escape valve is closed, with a governor actively vetoing even modest medical expansions. The state is heavily fenced. It is not a 5 because a functioning, uncapped medical market with anti-concentration limits does exist and is growing, leaving a real, if narrow, legal lane.

What to watch next

Veto-override math: whether the Legislature revisits HB 895 / HB 1152 in a future session or special session; both passed with veto-proof margins but were not overridden in the 2026 regular session. WLBT
HB 314 ibogaine research implementation and any follow-on psychedelic-research coordination. Marijuana Moment
November 12, 2026 federal hemp-THC ban effective date and any Mississippi conforming action (limited local effect given the existing state ban). MJ Herald 50-state
Ballot-initiative restoration: whether SCR 518-style efforts return; restoration is a prerequisite for any future citizen cannabis measure. Mississippi Today
The 2027 open-seat governor race (Reeves term-limited; Andy Gipson, Shad White, Lynn Fitch among names mentioned), which will shape veto risk for cannabis bills. Magnolia Tribune
Next regular session: the Mississippi Legislature convenes in January 2027 for its next regular session (the 2026 regular session has adjourned). Mississippi Today session

Regulators

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), Medical Cannabis Program (MedCann): licenses cultivation, processing, testing, transportation, and disposal; patient and practitioner registration. MedCann
Mississippi Department of Revenue (DOR): licenses dispensaries and administers cannabis taxation. MS DOR
Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce: industrial hemp oversight (non-intoxicating). Status as primary hemp regulator noted generally; specific 2026 authority unconfirmed in this research.
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and local law enforcement: controlled-substances enforcement, including intoxicating hemp and psychedelics.

Federal exposure (2026)

Mississippi is a medical-only cannabis state, but the federal lever set most likely to actually touch its operators is rescheduling. The DOJ/DEA order signed April 22, 2026 and effective April 28, 2026 (91 FR 22714) moved FDA-approved cannabis drugs and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III while leaving recreational cannabis on Schedule I. Because Mississippi's market is medical-only, its licensed cultivators, processors, and dispensaries fall inside the category that gains relief from Internal Revenue Code Section 280E, the provision that denies normal business deductions to sellers of Schedule I and II substances. With no statutory cap on the number of licenses, that 280E relief flows to a comparatively wide field of in-state operators rather than a fixed oligopoly, improving margins across the existing licensed base. The caveats are important: Schedule III does not legalize cannabis, does not authorize interstate commerce, and does not by itself cover state-licensed businesses as a federal compliance matter. The broader DEA rescheduling hearing opened June 29, 2026 and may slip to 2027, so the contours of the medical carve-out could still shift. [DOJ/DEA April 2026 order, federal context as supplied]

The November 12, 2026 hemp cliff reinforces rather than upends Mississippi law. The FY2026 agriculture appropriations rider (Sec. 781, Rep. Andy Harris R-MD) narrows hemp to a total-THC standard of roughly 0.4 mg THC per container, recriminalizing an estimated 90 to 95 percent of intoxicating hemp products nationally effective November 12, 2026. The H.R.7010 delay was not enacted, and the 2026 Farm Bill (H.R.7567, unconfirmed sponsor) keeps the ban. Mississippi already treats delta-8, delta-10, HHC, and other intoxicating hemp THC isomers as Schedule I controlled substances at the state level, so the practical effect of the federal change here is to close any residual interstate or online supply lane that Mississippi consumers might have reached around the state ban, and to remove the federal-legality argument that hemp retailers nationally had leaned on. Mississippi loses little additional ground because the state already fenced this sector; the federal action simply hardens an existing wall. [FY2026 appropriations Sec. 781, federal context as supplied], MJ Herald 50-state

Banking remains stalled. SAFER Banking has not advanced, so Mississippi's licensed medical operators continue to face limited access to mainstream banking, payment processing, and conventional lending. Combined with Mississippi's high cultivation fees and residency-style ownership rules, the banking gap raises the effective cost of capital and favors operators who can self-finance or absorb cash-handling risk. The 280E relief from rescheduling helps margins, but it does not solve the banking access problem, which is a separate federal lever that Congress has not moved. [SAFER Banking status, federal context as supplied]

Psychedelics: none of the relevant compounds are legal at the state level in Mississippi, and there is no state therapeutic-access framework. Psilocybin, MDMA, and ibogaine all remain federal Schedule I. The April 18, 2026 executive order, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/accelerating-medical-treatments-for-serious-mental-illness/] plus FDA priority vouchers fast-track FDA review, but no approval has issued yet. For Mississippi, the only realistic near-term path to legal psychedelic medicine is the federal FDA route, which is why the state's own 2026 action was confined to ibogaine research coordination (HB 314) rather than any access or decriminalization measure. The state is positioned to receive an FDA-approved psychedelic medicine if and when one clears, but is doing nothing independently to create earlier access. [April 18, 2026 EO, federal context as supplied]

Harm reduction: Mississippi is a restrictive harm-reduction state, which sharpens its exposure to the federal funding cuts. The SAMHSA guidance dated April 24, 2026 bars federal funds for fentanyl test strips, clean syringes, and sterile water, while continuing to support naloxone. Mississippi legalized fentanyl test strips in 2023 (HB 722) but does not clearly authorize syringe service programs statewide, and its paraphernalia law has historically been a barrier. The SAMHSA cuts therefore remove a federal funding stream for exactly the tools (test strips, syringes, sterile water) that Mississippi either only recently permitted or never clearly authorized, leaving state and local programs with naloxone as the main federally supported intervention. In a state with weak existing infrastructure, losing federal dollars for the rest is a meaningful contraction. [SAMHSA guidance April 24, 2026, federal context as supplied], Fox News HB 722

Fentanyl: the HALT Fentanyl Act (July 17, 2025) permanently placed fentanyl-related substances on Schedule I, aligning with Mississippi's enforcement posture and adding no friction to state policy.

Patient access and rights

This section covers what Mississippi law does and does not protect for a medical cannabis patient: use inside a hospital, and the broader rights that follow a patient into work, housing, parenting, an organ transplant list, and school. It is information, not legal advice, and it reflects the law as of July 2026. Each point links to the primary statute.

Hospital access (Ryan's Law): Mississippi has no hospital-access law. A Ryan's Law bill, House Bill 1034, passed the House 117 to 1 in the 2026 session but died in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee in March 2026 without a recorded committee vote. So no statute requires a Mississippi hospital, nursing home, or hospice to allow a qualifying patient to use medical cannabis on site. Seven states have enacted a Ryan's Law protection (California in 2021, and Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington in 2026), and Pennsylvania has a bill pending; Mississippi's 2026 bill fell short. The absence is the finding: a Mississippi patient has no enforceable right to use their medicine in a hospital today.

Broader protections: Mississippi protects a patient in one of the six areas, parenting. Miss. Code Section 41-137-15(1) protects a qualifying patient's parental and custody rights. The chapter's other clauses run the other way: its employment, housing, and school provisions protect the employer's, landlord's, and school's right to say no rather than the patient (subsection (2)), and it creates no private right of action (subsection (5)). A review found no protection for an organ transplant list or general medical care. Those gaps are the finding.

Out-of-state patients: Mississippi issues a temporary nonresident card, valid for 15 days, for a visiting patient.

The federal picture: the April 2026 federal move of state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III did not change any of this. Schedule III does not make dispensary cannabis a lawful prescription medicine and does not create any hospital-use right; only state law can force hospital access, and Mississippi's 2026 bill did not pass. The broader protections above are a creature of Mississippi law, not federal law.

Sources: Mississippi patient protections, Miss. Code Section 41-137-15.

Analysis: the enclosure read in depth

Who is fenced out in Mississippi: recreational consumers (no legal adult-use market and rescheduling does not change this, since recreational cannabis stays Schedule I federally), home growers (no cultivation rights for anyone under the medical program or otherwise), the intoxicating-hemp retail sector (banned at the state level and now reinforced by the federal total-THC standard effective November 12, 2026), under-capitalized and out-of-state would-be operators (high cultivation fees, residency-style ownership rules, and stalled SAFER Banking that keeps capital costs high), people with prior cannabis convictions (petition-based expungement, no automatic relief, 2026 expansion bills dead), harm-reduction clients (restrictive state posture plus the SAMHSA defunding of test strips, syringes, and sterile water), and the voting public itself (the citizen-initiative process has been suspended since the 2021 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling, removing the very mechanism voters used to win medical cannabis in 2020).

Who consolidates: the existing pool of licensed medical operators. The absence of a license cap prevents a hard oligopoly, and the anti-concentration limits (no more than 10 percent equity in more than five dispensaries, one cultivation, one processing license) blunt single-operator dominance, so consolidation here is diffuse rather than concentrated in a few hands. But this licensed class is the only legal intoxicant channel in the state: adult-use is illegal, intoxicating hemp is banned, and now federal rescheduling hands this same medical class 280E relief that improves their margins. The combined state-plus-federal effect is to privilege incumbents who already hold licenses and can self-finance through the banking gap, while the federal hemp cliff strips out the one adjacent competitor class (intoxicating hemp retailers) that operated outside the licensing regime. Regulators (Mississippi State Department of Health and Department of Revenue) retain tight control over who enters and on what terms.

State-plus-federal interaction is mutually reinforcing in the enclosing direction. Federal rescheduling rewards the medical incumbents (280E relief) without opening the market to new entrants or to adult-use. The federal hemp recriminalization backstops Mississippi's existing hemp ban and closes residual interstate supply. Stalled SAFER Banking compounds the in-state capital barrier. The SAMHSA harm-reduction cuts compound an already restrictive state posture. At no point does a federal lever currently pry Mississippi open: rescheduling is medicalize-and-control, the hemp rider is enclosure, and the harm-reduction guidance is contraction. The one federal lever that points toward future access, FDA approval of a psychedelic medicine, has not yet produced an approval and would arrive on federal, not state, terms.

The contested commons counter-move is restoring the citizen ballot initiative. Mississippi voters approved medical cannabis at the ballot in 2020; the 2021 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling voided both that initiative and the initiative process itself on the technical ground that the five-district signature formula could not function with four congressional districts. For the fifth straight year, restoration failed in 2026 (Sen. Jeremy England's SCR 518 advanced in the Senate but House and Senate negotiators did not reach final agreement). Restoring a working initiative process is the single highest-leverage move to reopen the commons, because it is the mechanism that could route around a veto-prone governor and a reform-resistant legislature, exactly as it did for medical cannabis. Until it is restored, no citizen-initiated cannabis or drug-policy measure can qualify for the ballot, and the enclosure holds.

What to watch (federal-state seams): whether the DEA rescheduling hearing (opened June 29, 2026, possibly slipping to 2027) preserves or narrows the medical carve-out that gives Mississippi operators 280E relief; whether any conforming state action follows the November 12, 2026 hemp cliff; whether SAFER Banking moves in a Republican Congress (currently stalled); whether an FDA psychedelic approval lands and forces a Mississippi access question; whether the SAMHSA harm-reduction cuts prompt state or local backfill; and whether SCR 518-style initiative restoration returns in the January 2027 session.

Justification for the 4/5 enclosure score: adult-use is illegal, home grow is banned, intoxicating hemp is fully prohibited and now federally reinforced, psychedelics are Schedule I with only a research measure enacted, expungement is petition-only, harm reduction is restrictive and losing federal support, and the citizen-initiative escape valve has been closed since 2021, all under a governor who vetoed even modest medical-expansion bills in 2026. The federal layer in 2026 reinforces the enclosure on every axis except margins, where rescheduling actually helps incumbents. It is not a 5 because a functioning, uncapped medical market with anti-concentration limits does exist, is growing (roughly 67,000 patients, rising tax revenue), and now gains 280E relief, leaving a real, if narrow and incumbent-favoring, legal lane. The state is heavily fenced but not sealed.

Active legislation (2026)

This list covers significant cannabis, hemp, psychedelic, and drug-policy bills from the 2026 regular session. It is not exhaustive. For the full long tail and live status, see the trackers linked below.

Beyond the live tracker

These measures are not in the live bill list below: some are not bills (executive orders, rules, referendums, or budgets), and some are proposals or prior-session measures the live tracker does not currently carry.

SB 220 Legalize cannabis by removing it from controlled-substances scheduling (Died (failed to advance by deadline))
SCR 518 Concurrent resolution to restore a citizen ballot-initiative process (statute-only; ~10% of registered voters, ~170,000 signatures) (Advanced in Senate; House/Senate did not reach final agreement in 2026)

Bill	Title/Topic	Chamber	Status	Sponsor(s)
HB 895	Medical cannabis: extend certification/ID validity to 24 months, remove 60% THC cap on tinctures/oils/concentrates, drop mandatory 6-month follow-up, extend caregiver registration to 2 years	House (origin)	Passed both chambers with veto-proof margins; vetoed by Gov. Reeves Mar 26, 2026; not overridden in regular session	Rep. Lee Yancey (R)
HB 1152	Right to Try Medical Cannabis Act: lets a treating provider petition Dept. of Health to authorize cannabis for non-qualifying debilitating or terminal illness (45-day decision window)	House (origin)	Passed both chambers; vetoed by Gov. Reeves Mar 26, 2026 over an out-of-state-resident access provision; not overridden	Unconfirmed (originated in House; NORML/Mississippi Free Press do not name a single prime sponsor in reviewed coverage) NORML
HB 894	Medical cannabis: remove THC potency limits for concentrates	House	Filed; assigned to House Business and Commerce Committee; did not become law	Rep. Lee Yancey (R)
HB 1034	Medical cannabis: allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis while admitted to hospitals	House	Filed; referred to House Public Health and Human Services Committee; did not become law	Rep. Kevin Felsher (R)
HB 865	Reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under state controlled-substances law	House	Filed; referred to House Government Drug Policy Committee; did not advance	Rep. Omeria Scott (D)
HB 1280	Reduce penalties for marijuana possession/transfer (30g or less: max 3 yrs to 18 months; max fine $3,000 to $1,500)	House	Did not pass	Unconfirmed (see ACLU-MS bill page) ACLU-MS
HB 1267	Legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis for adults 21+	House	Died (failed to advance by deadline)	Unconfirmed
SB 220	Legalize cannabis by removing it from controlled-substances scheduling	Senate	Died (failed to advance by deadline)	Unconfirmed
HB 314	Ibogaine research measure; directs research consortium to coordinate with lead consortium in another state	House	Signed into law ~Mar 26, 2026	Unconfirmed
SCR 518	Concurrent resolution to restore a citizen ballot-initiative process (statute-only; ~10% of registered voters, ~170,000 signatures)	Senate	Advanced in Senate; House/Senate did not reach final agreement in 2026	Sen. Jeremy England (R)

Sponsor and status notes: Where a single prime sponsor is not confirmed in the reviewed reporting, the cell is marked "unconfirmed." HB 894 / HB 895 sponsorship by Rep. Lee Yancey, HB 1034 by Rep. Kevin Felsher, and HB 865 by Rep. Omeria Scott are confirmed by The Marijuana Herald's filing report. SCR 518 sponsorship by Sen. Jeremy England is confirmed by Mississippi Today. MJ Herald, Mississippi Today SCR 518

Live trackers (the list above is not exhaustive): LegiScan Mississippi, Mississippi Legislature, Marijuana Moment Mississippi, MPP Mississippi.

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A planning snapshot for 2026, not legal advice. Policy moves quickly; confirm any single detail against the cited sources before acting on it. Sponsor names are given where confirmable and marked unconfirmed otherwise.

About the author. Jessica Mantonya is the founder of Drug Policy Watch and Hold in Common. She also advises operators, advocates, and funders on regulatory strategy and anti-enclosure positioning. Work with her →