Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 41 - PUBLIC HEALTH (§§ 41-1-1 — 41-149-NEW-003) › Chapter 137 - MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CANNABIS ACT (§§ 41-137-1 — 41-137-67) › Section 41-137-37 - Local ordinances

(1)
A municipality or county may enact ordinances or regulations not in conflict with this chapter, or with regulations enacted under this chapter, governing the time, place, and manner of medical cannabis establishment operations in the locality. A municipality or county may establish penalties for violation of an ordinance or regulation governing the time, place and manner of a medical cannabis establishment that may operate in the municipality or county.
(2)
No municipality or county may prohibit dispensaries either expressly or through the enactment of ordinances or regulations that make their operation impracticable in the jurisdiction. The main point of entry of a medical cannabis establishment shall not be located within one thousand (1,000) feet of the nearest property boundary line of any school, church or child care facility. A medical cannabis establishment may receive a waiver to this distance restriction by receiving approval from the school, church or child care facility and by applying for a waiver with its respective licensing agency, provided that the main point of entry of the cannabis establishment is not located within five hundred (500) feet of the nearest property boundary line of any school, church or child care facility.
(3)
A dispensary, cannabis research facility or cannabis testing facility may be located in any area in a municipality or county that is zoned as commercial or for which commercial use is otherwise authorized or not prohibited, provided that it being located there does not violate any other provisions of this chapter. A cannabis cultivation facility and/or cannabis processing facility may be located in any area in a municipality or county that is zoned as agricultural or industrial or for which agricultural or industrial use is otherwise authorized or not prohibited, provided that it being there does not violate any other provision of this chapter. A cannabis cultivation facility and/or cannabis processing facility may be located in any area in a municipality or county that is zoned as commercial or for which commercial use is otherwise authorized or not prohibited, provided that the municipality or county has authorized the entity to be located in such area and that it being there does not violate any other provision of this chapter. The municipality or county may authorize this by granting a variance to an existing zoning ordinance or by adopting a change in the zoning ordinance that allows for those entities to be located in specific commercial areas.
(4)
A municipality or county may require a medical cannabis establishment to obtain a local license, permit or registration to operate, and may charge a reasonable fee for the local license, permit or registration, provided that this fee is consistent with fees charged to businesses that are not involved in the cannabis industry.
(5)
No medical cannabis dispensary may be located within a one-thousand-five-hundred-feet radius from the main point of entry of the dispensary to the main point of entry of another medical cannabis dispensary. If the sole basis of denial by the licensing agency in refusing to issue the medical cannabis dispensary a license to operate is that the dispensary fails the distance requirement of this subsection (5), then the licensing agency may refund all or part of the license application fee in Section
41-137-35(5)
to the applicant.
Added by Laws, 2022, ch. 303, SB 2095,§ 19, eff. 2/2/2022.