While medical marijuana was originally set to be available to patients in Mississippi by the end of the calendar year, there might be a slight delay in the process.
Ken Newburger, executive director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association (MMA), says it’s possible that marijuana will not have been tested at that point.
“A couple of companies have done their first harvest. A couple are in the process of doing it,” Newburger explained on The Gallo Show. “But the real thing is, will it be tested? Because our testing companies have to go through a very rigorous validation process, and they’re going through it right now. And so we’re thinking maybe at the end of December, but early quarter one is when we’ll see it first, and then quarter two is when we’ll see a bigger spike.”
As of now, there are only two licensed testing facilities in Mississippi, and everything made available to patients will have to be tested before a dispensary can sell it.
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Nevertheless, Newburger says two additional testing companies are getting their licensing requirements together, and two more are behind them. In total, the MMA expects to have anywhere from six to eight testing facilities total by the end of 2023.
Once all of the anticipated testing facilities are up and going, the process of getting medical marijuana into dispensaries for patients will speed up.
The full interview with Ken Newburger can be watched below.
