Proposal to legalize marijuana hits snag due to delayed public notice

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A publishing error will delay a new proposal to make smoking marijuana in Mississippi legal wherever cigarette smoking is allowed.

Initiative 77 would let voters decide whether to legalize cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana.

It would also authorize a 7% sales tax on the products and allow marijuana smoking wherever tobacco smoking is permitted. It proposes to replace Initiative 65, the medical marijuana ballot measure that voters approved in November.

It proposes to replace Initiative-65, the medical marijuana ballot measure that voters approved in November.

The Secretary of State’s Office says an initial notice about the initiative did not appear in all the newspapers as required by law because of an error by an affiliate of the Mississippi Press Association.

Its affiliate, Mississippi Press Services, distributed the notice to many newspapers for them to publish, but it missed five newspapers on the list.

Layne Bruce, executive director of MPA and MPS, said in the release that the organizations regret the error.

“We will work diligently to avoid this kind of oversight in the future,” Bruce said.

At the secretary of state’s request, the notice about Initiative 77 will be published in the five omitted newspapers by May 13.