Lauderdale County Supervisors Opt-Out of Medical Cannabis Act

A day before the state’s medical cannabis act deadline, the Lauderdale County board of supervisors met to take a vote on whether they would opt-out.

In the board of supervisors meeting this morning the results of a 3-2 vote, has the county officially opting out of the medical cannabis act for right now.

Board President Jonathan Wells voted to opt-out, one of his reasons is based on the revenue the county would be losing.

“When the county sells something outside the city limits, all that money goes back to the state, and we don't receive a portion of that bag. So, I just feel like we would be in competition with the city. And plus, they get a win out of their sales tax. They receive some of that back. So, I just think it's a good idea to just keep it inside the city. That's one of my arguments”, stated Wells.

(left to right) District 1 Jonathan Wells, District 2 Wayman Newell, District 3 Josh Todd, District 4 Joe Norwood, District 5 Kyle Rutledge

Along with Jonathan Wells, who voted to opt out, District 2, Wayman Newell, and District 3 Josh Todd voted to opt-out as well.

The city of Meridian has not decided to opt out of the act, which automatically opts them in. Wells says that the county will be looking at how the cannabis act affects the city.

“We're just going to see if it is run well and we're going to wait for the rest of the regulations to come out and be released and basically just to learn more and gather more information.”

Even though the board decided to opt-out today, they have the right to revisit the subject later and decided whether they want to stick to the decision made today or reverse it. The board stated in the meeting that they will revisit the subject in January of next year.