The medical marijuana industry is slowly starting to grow within Yazoo County as cultivation facilities and a dispensary location prepare to begin their operations.
Many residents remain on the fence about the new business presence within the local community. Some are concerned over security in the areas these operations will be located. But there are others who feel it might make for a booming business.
The Yazoo Herald takes a look at the community’s newest industry.
The medical marijuana stance began in Mississippi in 2018 when, according to the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, advocates joined forces in the hopes of providing patients of certain conditions to have access to medical marijuana. In November of 2020, the concept was brought before voters through Initiative 65, in which about 74 percent of Mississippians voted to establish a medical marijuana program. Within Yazoo County, 74.47 percent of voters were in favor of Initiative 65.
Flash forward two years to February 2022, state legislators passed the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, which Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law. Currently, according to the MMMA, medical marijuana is being grown within the state, patients are getting cards and the first sales are anticipated soon.
The first open discussion of the medical marijuana market within Yazoo County occurred last summer in July 2022 at the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors meeting. Owners of Magnolia High Growers appeared before the county board concerning their cultivation facility in the Benton area.
According to the Mississippi Department of Health’s public registry of medical cannabis establishments, Magnolia High Growers is owned by Roger Simmons, Jasbir Singh and Kanwaljit Singh. The facility is located at 109 Dixon King Road, at the former site of a plastic factory, in the Benton area. The owners appeared before the county supervisors to assure the board that their facility would be properly secured, as required by the state.
“We are trying to control that out there the best that we can,” Simmons said, during his first meeting with county leaders. “We are putting teams in place because we don’t want to cause any drama.”
Simmons added that the business would employ about ten to 15 people.
Supervisor David Berry questioned whether there had been any opposition to the growing facility from the residents in the area.
“Not a soul,” Simmons replied. “We have had no complaints from anybody. We have told everybody that we are going to control it. You are not even going to know that we are there.”
However, when the facility owners appeared before the county board a second time, Berry said he had heard of some reservations from neighboring residents in the area.
“This is my district,” Berry said. “All those people who live behind you are my friends, my neighbors, some are even my cousins. I asked you when you first came if you had any complaints. You told me then you didn’t. Since word got out, they have been flowing in, and they are scared. I ran a business out there for 42 years. They would break in just to get a six pack of beer and cigarettes. This has got all these people worried about people looking, trying to find a way to break into this facility.”
Simmons said the facility would have an advanced security system with alarms, cameras and 24-hour surveillance.
“We basically went into the building and built another building inside of it,” Simmons said. “It is double secured. On the growth side of the building, there are three processes or doors that you have to go through. It is going to be very secure because we don’t want to lose any of our product. We will have a security system with alarms and cameras. There will be cameras inside the building and outside. We will have people who will monitor this 24 hours a day, probably in India. But we are putting everything in place to eliminate any problems we may have. We are putting a lot into this building to make sure it is what we need.”
Simmons said they have already invested about $1.2 million dollars into the facility and anticipate spending $200,000 more. Also, he added that the facility is strictly a growing site, not retail. It will not be open to the public, only to employees who have passed the necessary background checks.
The county leaders said they did not have a problem with the facility, but they did request a secure fence be installed around the site in addition to the current security functions.
According to the Mississippi Department of Heath’s public registry of medical cannabis establishments, another license was also approved in the Bentonia area for a micro-cultivation facility. The registry lists Living Farms Soils LLC, which is located on Old Dover Road.
Within the Yazoo City limits, the Planning and Zoning Board heard from Simmons and Singh as well concerning a medical marijuana dispensary on Jerry Clower Boulevard. According to public records, a special exception was approved for the dispensary to be located at 1212 Jerry Clower Blvd., located inside a former physical therapy clinic in a shopping center.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen accepted the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation, approving the dispensary’s location during its December board meeting with no opposition.
