Healthcare
Mississippi Now Accepting Applications for Medical Weed Cards
The governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, signed off on the new law earlier this year.
The new medical cannabis program in Mississippi opened up to applicants last week, four months after the state’s Republican governor signed the measure into law.
Beginning last Wednesday, qualifying patients in the state may submit applications to obtain a medical cannabis card.
According to local television station WLOX, “licensing for medical cannabis dispensaries only will begin July 1 through the state Department of Revenue.”
Via the state’s Department of Health, the following conditions may qualify a patient for participation in the program: cancer; Parkinson’s disease; Huntington’s disease; muscular dystrophy; glaucoma; spastic quadriplegia; positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); hepatitis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); Crohn’s disease; ulcerative colitis; sickle-cell anemia; Alzheimer’s disease; agitation of dementia; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); autism; pain refractory to appropriate opioid management; diabetic/peripheral neuropathy; and spinal cord disease or severe injury.
In addition, a patient may qualify if they have “a chronic terminal or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following”: cachexia or wasting syndrome; chronic pain; severe or intractable nausea; seizures; and severe and persistent muscle spasms including, but not limited to, those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
The law is the result of a 2020 ballot initiative that was approved by Mississippi voters, but that vote proved to be only a prelude to what has been a messy road to implementation. Last year, the state’s Supreme Court struck down the ballot initiative, saying it violated the state’s constitution.
That set the stage for Mississippi lawmakers to write their own medical cannabis program.
In late January, after more than a year of disagreements on the finer details of the law, members of the state Senate and House of Representatives finally produced a compromise bill that was sent to the desk of GOP Gov. Tate Reeves.
Throughout the process, Reeves had expressed his preference that purchasing limits for medical cannabis patients be set to 2.7 grams a day. The bill approved by lawmakers in January, however, allows patients to purchase as many as 3.5 grams up to six days a week.
It passed with a veto-proof majority, forcing the hand of Reeves, who signed the bill into law in February.
“The ‘medical marijuana bill’ has consumed an enormous amount of space on the front pages of the legacy media outlets across Mississippi over the last three-plus years,” Reeves said in a statement after signing the measure.
“There is no doubt that there are individuals in our state who could do significantly better if they had access to medically prescribed doses of cannabis. There are also those who really want a recreational marijuana program that could lead to more people smoking and less people working, with all of the societal and family ills that that brings,” he continued.
Reeves added that he had “made it clear that the bill on my desk is not the one that I would have written.”
“But it is a fact that the legislators who wrote the final version of the bill (the 45th or 46th draft) made significant improvements to get us towards accomplishing the ultimate goal,” the governor said.
Reeves did, however, note certain aspects of the bill of which he did approve, including a rule that a “medical professional can only prescribe within the scope of his/her practice,” that the physician must “have to have a relationship with the patient,” and that a prescription requires “an in-person visit by the patient to the medical professional.”
“I thank all of the legislators for their efforts on these improvements and all of their hard work. I am most grateful to all of you: Mississippians who made your voice heard,” Reeves said at the time. “Now, hopefully, we can put this issue behind us and move on to other pressing matters facing our state.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/mississippi-now-accepting-applications-for-medical-weed-cards/
Education News
AIIMS Gorakhpur Reservation Controversy: FIR Alleges Fake OBC Certificate Used Despite ₹80 Lakh Income
A major controversy has emerged at AIIMS Gorakhpur after allegations surfaced that reservation benefits were misused to secure a postgraduate medical seat. A criminal case has been registered against former AIIMS Gorakhpur Executive Director Dr. G.K. Pal and his son, Dr. Oro Prakash Pal, over the alleged use of a forged Other Backward Class (OBC) Non-Creamy Layer certificate for admission to an MD course.
The case has triggered widespread debate within medical and administrative circles, raising serious questions about transparency and oversight in admissions to premier medical institutions.
FIR Filed on Court’s Direction
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the AIIMS police station following directions from Chief Judicial Magistrate Tvishi Srivastava. According to the complaint, the alleged offence took place on August 30, 2024, when forged documents were purportedly used to obtain an MD seat under the OBC reservation quota.
Sources indicate that the matter was subsequently brought to the attention of the Union Ministry of Health, prompting internal reviews and administrative action.
Alleged Income Far Above Eligibility Threshold
Central to the allegations is the claim that Dr. G.K. Pal and his wife Parvati Pal have a combined annual income exceeding ₹80 lakh. Under existing reservation rules, families with such income levels are not eligible for OBC Non-Creamy Layer benefits.
Following the emergence of the controversy, Dr. Pal was first removed from his position at AIIMS Gorakhpur and later relieved of responsibilities at AIIMS Patna. He is currently posted at JIPMER Puducherry. With the registration of the FIR, officials suggest that further legal and departmental action may follow, depending on the outcome of the investigation.
Complaint Highlights Systemic Concerns
The complaint was filed by Ashutosh Kumar Mishra, a resident of Divyanagar in the Cantonment area. He alleged that the events related to the case occurred between January and September 2024. The complainant argued that misuse of reservation provisions by individuals in senior positions undermines the integrity of public institutions and erodes trust in the medical education system.
The case has reignited concerns over whether verification mechanisms for reservation certificates are robust enough, particularly in high-stakes admissions.
Impact on Medical Community
The allegations have sent shockwaves through the medical fraternity. Experts believe that if the claims are substantiated, the case could prompt a broader review of admission procedures and lead to stricter scrutiny of category certificates across institutions like AIIMS.
Authorities have stated that all relevant documents will be carefully examined before taking further steps. The outcome of the investigation is expected to have far-reaching implications for accountability and compliance in medical admissions.
Questions Await Answers
As the probe continues, several key issues remain unresolved: whether reservation norms were deliberately violated, how verification processes failed, and whether similar cases may surface in the future. For now, the focus remains on the investigation and its potential consequences.
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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