JACKSON — A group has filed a petition seeking a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in Mississippi.
Petition organizer Kelly Jacobs told The Clarion-Ledger the group, Mississippi for Cannabis, is hoping to place an initiative on the November 2016 election ballot.
The group filed the petition Monday with the Secretary of State’s satellite office in Hernando.
“Now we are waiting for official approval from the Mississippi Secretary of State, and the Attorney General which will include a ballot initiative number and the official format for the collection of signatures,” said Jacobs.
If the Secretary of State’s office and attorney general’s office approve the petition, it would be then up to petition organizers to collect the approximately 110,000 signatures needed within 12 months to get the petition on the ballot. Voters would then have to approve the measure for it to become law.
Jacobs said the ballot initiative proposal would legalize cannabis for adults to own as much as they wish, to use as they wish, just like alcohol or cigarettes. However, it must be kept from minors.
“We want to legalize marijuana and decriminalize it,” Jacobs said. “It’s an adult discussion we should be having.”
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