Mississippi nears $6M in revenue off medical marijuana licenses, fees
With the medical marijuana program still in its infancy in Mississippi, the state is already raking in revenue. Through Monday, the state has culled nearly $6 million in license and one-time application fees from dispensaries, cultivators, transportation companies, processors, and testing operations in the state, according to information posted on the state’s Department of Health website. While sales aren’t expected to begin until November, there are already 113 licensed dispensaries on file with the state’s Department of Revenue, the entity collecting fees and taxes. The Department of Health did not respond to inquiries for this story. The state has already gained $4.52 million in revenue from licensing and application fees for dispensaries through late September, and that revenue will only continue to rise once sales begin later this year. All told, just through licenses and fees, the state has collected $5.785 million. When sales do begin, medical marijuana will be subject to a 7% state sales tax. For the first year of the program, the state’s Department of Health has set up one-time fees of $40,000, which is comprised of a $25,000 license fee and a $15,000 nonrefundable application fee, for dispensary licenses. Yearly renewals are set at $25,000. Dispensary licenses are good for one year, while cultivation licenses are good for just four months, which falls just beyond the 90-day gestation period for medical marijuana plants. Transportation, processing, and disposal license are also good for just four months. For transportation licenses, there is a one-time application fee of $5,000 and a license fee of $7,500. The same fees are applied to disposal licenses. That state has brought in $905,000 for cultivation licenses, $175,000 for processor licenses, $110,000 for micro-cultivation licenses, and $12,500 for disposal licenses; $37,500 for transportation businesses; and $25,000 for testing facilities. Under the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, known as Senate Bill 2095, which was signed into law on Feb. 2, patients will be able to acquire flowers, concentrated cannabis products, extracts, and other products infused with cannabis, which includes edibles, beverages, topical products, ointments, and oils. Taxes under the law are set at 5% for cultivators when selling to dispensaries and 7% on sales at dispensaries to patients, according to the law. Medical marijuana cards will be available to qualifying patients through the Department of Health, and carry a nonrefundable fee of $25, with the exception of veterans and disabled first responders, who will have fees waived. Medicare patients will pay just $15 for a card. Qualifying conditions include cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Also, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, sickle-cell anemia, Alzheimer’s disease, agitation of dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, pain refractory to appropriate opioid management, diabetic/peripheral neuropathy; And also, spinal cord disease of severe injury, or the treatment of a chronic, terminal, or debilitating disease. Patients, according to the law, will be permitted to purchase 21 grams per week and 84 grams per month. That works out to 2.96 ounces per month, and just 0.74 ounces per week. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Richard Shelby, GOP senators blast Planned Parenthood in wake of video
Sen. Richard Shelby co-wrote an open letter to Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell castigating the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood after the release of a video that purports to show representatives discussing the illicit sale of fetal tissue or “baby parts,” as many are calling it. The letter co-signed by Alabama’s senior U.S. senator raised pointed questions about whether Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest single provider of abortion procedures, is violating federal laws prohibiting so-called “partial birth” or late-term pregnancy terminations and the “harvesting” of fetal organs. Shelby, joined by 49 of his Republican Senate colleagues, went further than that. “We believe the footage prompts important policy questions surrounding the issue of abortions permitted so late in pregnancy — sometimes later than 5 months — that an unborn baby’s organs can be identified and harvested,” the group wrote. The coterie of senators called on the federal health care bureaucracy to aid them in future investigations planned by the Republican-controlled Senate, striking the ominous tone of an upcoming legal showdown. “Congress is taking action to address these questions and we expect the Department of Health to fully cooperate with ensuing investigations — including future requests for information and hearing participation” they wrote. “To that end, we further expect the immediate preservation of any and all Department electronic and paper records that could have any relevance to any ongoing or upcoming lawful investigation.” Shelby and his co-signers also called on the DOH to conduct their internal probe on the basis that Planned Parenthood receives grants from the department. See the full text of the letter here.
