New Mississippi laws change how patients access physician-administered drugs, add a community health worker program to the Mississippi State Department of Health, authorize the direct shipment of wine and ban diversity, equity and inclusion statements in public schools.

Here’s an overview of some of the new laws that took effect in Mississippi on July 1.

Protecting Patients’ Access to Physician-Administered Drugs Act

Five years ago, Mississippi House Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer when he noticed that some insurance companies required other patients to purchase their prescriptions from specific pharmacies in the insurance network. Sometimes, a patient would have to get their medicine shipped from out of state instead of being able to pick up their prescription at the pharmacy in the hospital or clinic where they had been treated, he said.

“There are all kinds of risks with that—whether or not the drug stays the right temperature, or whether or not there is enough of the drug or too much of the drug. Or is it handled properly? Or does it get delivered on time?” Yancey told the Mississippi Free Press on June 26.

While the lawmaker was able to obtain his medicine at the same hospital where he received treatment, he said he sympathized with patients who had different insurance providers and had hurdles obtaining prescriptions.

The lawmaker wrote House Bill 17 to protect patients’ access to physician-administered drugs so that they can choose whether to get medicine from their local treatment center or from the pharmacy the insurance company suggests. Yancey said the law prevents insurers from adding fees if patients do not purchase prescriptions from a specific pharmacy.

Though Gov. Tate Reeves did not sign H.B. 17, it became law because the legislation received a two-thirds majority vote from both the Mississippi House and Senate. 

New Community Health Worker Program

Community health workers are residents who provide simple medical and health care for their communities, including preventative, promotional and rehabilitative care, without the education required to be a nurse or doctor.

The Mississippi State Department of Health will now establish a community health worker certification program to help Mississippians gain better access to health care under House Bill 1401. The new law says no one may work as a community health worker in Mississippi without MSDH certifying the worker.

Mississippi House Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, said she signed onto the bill because she wanted to improve Mississippi’s maternal health outcomes. She said she especially wanted to help Black women have access to care because Black women in Mississippi die at disproportionate rates during pregnancy and birth compared to women of other races.

“Every emergency may not necessarily require that a woman go to the hospital, so what a community health worker can do in the interim is to provide that specialized, one-on-one care that they need,” Summers told the Mississippi Free Press on June 24.

Community health workers not only help pregnant people but can also assist any member of the community. The workers can assess a patient and give them short-term care or recommend that the patient go to a hospital or see a licensed doctor. Having community health professionals helps bridge the gap between health care and accessibility in rural areas of Mississippi, Summers said.

Ban on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion        

Educators in Mississippi public schools will not be able to create, teach or promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs under House Bill 1193. The new law also prohibits Mississippi public schools, state-accredited nonpublic schools and state-supported institutions of higher learning from requiring diversity statements or training in hiring, admission and employment processes.

The bill’s author, Mississippi House Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, said his legislation does not ban free speech or prohibit schools from teaching about slavery.

“We’re not going to restrict anyone’s freedom of speech because that’s guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America,” Hood said on Feb. 5 when introducing the legislation on the House floor. “There’s also an exception with this bill in regard to any violations of free speech. That’s not what it’s about. What it’s about is these institutions that are requiring these kinds of divisive concepts as part of an admissions process or being part of that school. Basically, we’re outlining what the divisive concepts are. We’re not going to mistreat anybody on the basis of race, sex, color, gender—any of those things that I outlined. So students are free to do what students want to do.”

Plaintiffs have argued that the new anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law violates the First and 14th Amendments in a federal lawsuit against the governing boards of Mississippi’s public schools and institutions.

The ACLU of Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice, Badat Legal and Quinn, Connor, Weaver, Davies & Rouco LLP, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on June 9.

“Nowhere is it more important to confront our history and our present-day realities than in Mississippi. When our teachers are afraid to teach, and when our students are banned from learning, we cannot progress as a state, a country, or a society,” said Amir Badat, a civil rights and racial justice attorney based in Mississippi, in a June 9 press release.

Tax Reform

Mississippi will gradually eliminate its income tax while reducing the grocery tax and raising the gas tax under a new law. In addition to cutting grocery and income taxes, House Bill 1 will also prevent liabilities from growing in the Public Employees’ Retirement System by reducing benefits for future employees.

Read our story on the changes for more details.

Ban Sexual Grooming of a Child

Any person over the age of 21 who grooms a child by knowingly engaging in communication to coerce the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct, human trafficking or sexual servitude could be found guilty of committing a felony. Punishment for the crime ranges from spending anywhere from two to 10 years in prison and paying a fine of up to $10,000 under House Bill 1308.

If the person convicted of grooming the child was in a “position of trust or authority” over the child, they could spend between five to 10 years in prison and pay up to a $20,000 fine under the bill. The legislation defines a person who is in a “position of trust or authority” over a child as a child’s teacher, counselor, doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, minister, priest, physical therapist, chiropractor, legal guardian, parent, stepparent, aunt, uncle, scout leader or coach.

“There is a provision in here that permits the court to register the individual as a sex offender. It’s not a requirement to register as a sex offender. The court would consider each case on a case-by-case basis to determine whether or not a sex offender registration is warranted,” the bill’s author, Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, said on the Mississippi House floor on Feb. 13.

Polling Place Closures

Since 2020, the Mississippi Free Press has reported on hundreds of precinct closures and changes, including some that happened mere weeks before an election. In 2023, the Mississippi Free Press reported on how Hinds County officials moved two Jackson polling places just hours before voters headed to the polls for that year’s party primaries after realizing that they were not accessible for disabled voters, likely in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Months later, in February 2024, Mississippi House Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Jackson Democrat, introduced her first attempt at passing legislation to prevent last-minute polling place changes. The bill earned approval in the House that year, but it died in the Senate.

This year, it passed with no lawmakers opposed in the form of House Bill 1419, which says Mississippi election officials will no longer be able to change or close polling places within 60 days of an election except under certain circumstances. 

Gov. Tate Reeves signed it into law on March 12 and it took effect on July 1.

In February 2024, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors voted to close and merge voting precincts in West Jackson and Hinds County—areas in the district Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, represents. She said she did not want the board to make voting less accessible for citizens by combining and closing polling places because many of her constituents walk or take public transportation to go vote. 

“And the precincts within West Jackson, if they had moved forward with that action, was going to, in my opinion, perpetuate voter suppression for the voters in my community,” she told the Mississippi Free Press on June 24.

The board voted in April 2024 to revoke its decision to merge or close precincts.

Summers said she strengthened the legislation for the 2025 session by working with the Mississippi House and Senate Elections Committee chairmen as well as the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. 

Direct Wine Shipping

Mississippians can now purchase wine from out of state and get it delivered to their doorsteps under Senate Bill 2145. Mississippians could get up to 12 cases of nine-liter wine bottles per household yearly under the new law.

Licensed out-of-state wineries would need to apply for a direct wine shipper’s permit from the Mississippi Department of Revenue to participate in the program. Wine made or sold in Mississippi does not qualify for the program under the legislation.

“These wines never have to go through our ABC warehouses, so the costs associated with that do not apply. So this is revenue directly to the state,” the bill’s author, Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, said when introducing the legislation on the Senate floor on Feb. 13.

Alcoholic-Beverage Permits

A person convicted of certain felonies may be able to obtain an alcoholic-beverage permit from the Mississippi Department of Revenue 10 years after completing all sentencing requirements under a new law.

The person must not have felony convictions of “crime or violence or a violation of state or federal controlled substance laws,” Senate Bill 2143 says.

Cigarette and Vape Directories                

Retailers and manufacturers must register all cigarette and vape products with the Mississippi Department of Revenue to sell tobacco products in Mississippi under House Bill 916. Manufacturers and retailers must obtain an annual certification with DOR under the new law.

DOR will create separate directories for cigarettes and vapes. If a tobacco product is not on the registry, a retailer cannot sell it in Mississippi.

“We have really what I would call an epidemic in the State of Mississippi with convenience stores, c-stores, gas stations, other stores of the like selling products that we don’t know where they came from. Some of these products come in from overseas, they’re not properly regulated, they haven’t been reviewed by the proper regulators on the federal level,” the bill’s author, Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said when introducing the bill on the House floor on Jan. 29.

Seafood Country of Origin Labeling Requirement

Wholesalers, processors, retailers and food-service establishments must provide country of origin labeling for crawfish and seafood under a new law. House Bill 602 says that people and businesses that sell seafood must not falsely claim that seafood is domestic, whether verbally, on a menu or on a sign.

In 2024, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, a historic seafood restaurant in Biloxi, Miss., admitted in federal court to selling foreign, frozen seafood and passing it off as “fresh Gulf seafood.” 

Mississippi Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Gulfport, helped pass the legislation on the Senate side. He said he wants to boost the public’s awareness of local seafood by working on marketing.

“I think everyone acknowledges that we want to make a little bit better effort to try to coordinate labeling with a marketing effort to create that demand for local seafood,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on June 27.

Related

From 2009 to 2024, home values increased by $60,327 more in states where recreational cannabis is now legal than where it is still illegal, according to a new report from Clever Offers, a website for home sellers.

In 2024, the typical home in a recreational marijuana state was worth $447,635 — about 39% or $126,731 more than in non-recreational states ($320,904).

States with legal recreational cannabis have seen home values climb by $222,958 over the past 15 years, compared to $162,631 in states where it is illegal — a $60,327 difference.

Of the states with the highest home value increases since 2009, all but one, Idaho, have legalized cannabis in some form:

1. California ($492,520 increase in home values since 2009)
2. Hawaii ($446,247)
3. Washington ($342,414)
4. Massachusetts ($340,127)
5. Colorado ($336,774)
6. Utah ($320,372)
7. Idaho ($300,309)
8. Nevada ($296,493)
9. Oregon ($275,826)
10. New Hampshire ($273,238)
11. Arizona ($273,055)

Conversely, nine of the states with the lowest home value growth over the past 15 years have not legalized recreational cannabis, with Illinois being the only recreationally legal state on the list:

1. Louisiana ($46,820)
2. West Virginia ($67,214)
3. Mississippi ($69,036)
4. Arkansas ($94,646)
5. Oklahoma ($100,226)
6. Iowa ($102,538)
7. Alabama ($103,466)
8. Illinois ($103,955)
9. Kentucky ($106,230)
10. North Dakota ($108,117)

Similarly, homes in states where medicinal marijuana is now legal are currently worth about $390,117 — about 18% more than homes in states where cannabis is illegal ($329,850).

From 2009 to 2024, medicinal states’ home values climbed by $22,185 more than illegal states’ home values ($194,813 vs. $172,628 growth, respectively).

Had Ohio, Minnesota, and Delaware — the latest to legalize — done so when the first states, Colorado and Washington, did, their projected home values could be $96,890 higher on average today.

Officials at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) say the federal agency’s recent decision to halt its longstanding orders of research marijuana supplied by the University of Mississippi is the result of a cost-cutting directive from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

But the move, NIDA said, isn’t expected to interrupt the availability of cannabis for government-approved research.

A recent executive order—titled “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative”—led to the Department of Health and Human Services conducting “a comprehensive review of all existing contracts to identify opportunities for cost reduction,” NIDA representatives said in an email to Marijuana Moment.

“As a result of this initiative, no new task orders for cannabis cultivation have been issued,” the email explained. “That said, the NIDA Drug Supply Program maintains an existing inventory of cannabis and cannabis-derived products, which remain available for approved research.”

NIDA’s email also clarified that while the agency has not issued new orders for research cannabis, its “contract with the University of Mississippi to grow cannabis for research remains in place,” active until 2028.

The agency does not contract with other growers, it confirmed in a follow-up email.

“The NIDA-supported marijuana cultivation contract is only with the University of Mississippi,” it said.

While the University of Mississippi for decades held a monopoly on the production of research cannabis, there are now seven Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-approved “bulk manufacturer marihuana growers.” The DEA in recent years has slowly expanded the pool of institutions eligible to produce and provide marijuana for research purposes amid calls by politicians and public health experts to more intensively study the drug.

In the wake of NIDA’s recent halt of its orders, some other DEA-approved cultivators are warning that future marijuana research could be at risk.

Nevertheless, NIDA exclusively contracted Ole Miss to provide marijuana for its Drug Supply Program (DSP), which allows researchers working on federally approved studies to obtain cannabis for free.

In the wake of NIDA’s recent halt of its orders, news of which was first reported by Cannabis Wire, some other DEA-approved cultivators are warning that future marijuana research could be at risk.

Maine-based Maridose said in a July 16 press release, for example, that NIDA’s cancellation “has created uncertainty regarding the future of cannabis research.”

“While existing inventory produced under this program is currently sufficient to support immediate research needs through the end of 2025, there is no assurance that additional product will be available once those supplies are exhausted,” the company said. “This disruption could jeopardize ongoing clinical and preclinical studies, and impede progress on critical cannabis research across the country.”

Researchers conducting federally approved studies can obtain cannabis through any of the DEA-approved cultivators, though materials cost more than going through the free Drug Supply Program.

Growers like Maridose say they’re prepared to fill any unmet demand.

“Our team is committed to working with researchers to ensure uninterrupted access to high-quality materials for both current and future studies,” founder Richard Shain said in the company’s release. “While the loss of the University of Mississippi program may present short-term challenges, Maridose stands ready to help fill that gap.”

Others, however, said there was little risk that NIDA’s move would impact research. A lack of funding and regulatory hurdles as the result of cannabis’s Schedule I status—not a scarcity of research marijuana—are what’s holding back clinical studies, they said.

Sue Sisley, a researcher at the Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI), which is itself a DEA-licensed cannabis cultivator, said NIDA severing its order with Ole Miss “doesn’t affect Scottsdale Research Institute at all.”

“The bottom line is that we are growing our own cannabis and it’s ten times better than anything that’s grown at the University of Mississippi,” an SRI researcher said.

“We grow our own high-quality (comparable to real world) marijuana,” she told Marijuana Moment in an email. “We use it for our own FDA [Food and Drug Administration] studies and we grow to supply other studies. So U Miss closing down new cannabis orders is irrelevant.”

As for barriers to research, Sisley emphasized that there is “barely any new marijuana research happening,” calling the amount of funding available “minuscule compared to other areas.”

“And therefore the demand for new research cannabis is minimal,” she explained.

In fact, Sisley cheered the end of the Ole Miss order.

“This is a brilliant move by the Trump admin,” she wrote. “I applaud this administration for having the courage to finally acknowledge that there was no need to have only one federally legal supplier that was receiving millions in government money annually.”

“The bottom line is that we are growing our own cannabis and it’s ten times better than anything that’s grown at the University of Mississippi,” the researcher added, noting that SRI “just supplied 400 bottles of low-THC cannabis tincture … for a phase 1 trial examining cannabis oil treating autism.”

Sisley and others in past years have complained about the quality of cannabis grown by the University of Mississippi and supplied through NIDA, claiming that some provided samples wouldn’t even pass basic testing standards in state-legal cannabis markets. Nevertheless, a study in late 2024 by researchers at Ole Miss asserted that cannabis produced at the school was “very similar” to products found on state-legal markets.

“There’s been limited demand for NIDA supplied cannabis due to well-documented concerns about quality, consistency, and lack of suitability for pharmaceutical development.”

“The pause between NIDA and Ole Miss highlights what many in the research community have known for years,” Justin Abril, co-founder of DEA-licensed cultivator Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals, said in an email to Marijuana Moment. “There’s been limited demand for NIDA supplied cannabis due to well-documented concerns about quality, consistency, and lack of suitability for pharmaceutical development.”

“The fact that NIDA reports having excess material on hand speaks for itself,” Abril added. “Now that there are multiple DEA-licensed manufacturers online and news of the intended rescheduling, researchers finally have access to pharmaceutical grade material appropriate for investigational studies.”

Sisley at SRI said it’s time to give other growers—who haven’t had government subsidies—an opportunity to fill the demand for research marijuana.

“Let’s give these other 10 DEA licensed growers a chance to start growing research grade cannabis and taking over where University of Mississippi is now suddenly unfunded,” she said, noting that at SRI, “we’ve never had an opportunity to enjoy government money flowing month after month.”

Even leadership at Maridose, which warned that NIDA’s move could threaten future research, think the University of Mississippi order cancellation could eventually improve the supply of cannabis used for clinical studies.

“The cancellation should have a positive effect on the quality of research because the cannabis obtained from other DEA manufacturers will be more analogous to what is sold to the public,” founder Richard Shain said in an email. “DOGE’s cancellation of the DSP contract makes perfect business sense,” he added, noting that “demand was decreasing and other non-government sources are available.”

Shain also said he doubted the NIDA development signaled skepticism by the Trump administration toward marijuana research generally.

“No manufacturing licenses were canceled and the government grant establishing the Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids (R3CR) was not affected,” he said, referring to another federally funded marijuana facility housed at Ole Miss. “This seems to indicate the administration support for cannabis research.”

Mahmoud ElSohly—who has long helmed the University of Mississippi cannabis cultivation and research division, contracted as part of NIDA’s Drug Supply Program—declined to offer additional reaction on the order cancellation. In past comments to Marijuana Moment, he’s challenged the claims that the school’s cannabis is of low quality.

Ole Miss “stands ready to leverage its more than 57 years of cannabis research experience to advance the field of cannabis science and meet any future needs NIDA may have.”

An Ole Miss spokesperson, meanwhile, confirmed to Marijuana Moment that “NIDA has chosen not to award the current year task order to the University of Mississippi for cannabis production.”

“The university has two years remaining on its federal contract,” added Jacob Batte, the school’s director of news and media relations, “and stands ready to leverage its more than 57 years of cannabis research experience to advance the field of cannabis science and meet any future needs NIDA may have.”

NIDA’s cancellation of the Ole Miss order comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ending a contract in May with the University of Mississippi through which the school monitored cannabinoid content such as THC and CBD in cannabis confiscated by law enforcement.

ElSohly, who also heads that program, said at the time that it was still possible his lab’s work could limp along until the federal funding resumes. But if samples stop flowing to his Mississippi lab, a decades-long history of monitoring THC levels in the illicit US cannabis supply will soon come to an end, he said.

The earlier contract cancellation came about two months after DOGE separately promoted the end of a separate grant meant to fund a study examining cannabis-use risks among LGBTQ+ individuals, non-binary people and heterosexual women.

Despite the cuts to some programs, it’s hardly the end for the University of Mississippi’s involvement in marijuana research.

“The UM School of Pharmacy will continue to play a leading role in the state and around the country in cannabis discovery, innovation and research through the National Center for Natural Products Research, the National Center for Cannabis Research and Education, and the Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research,” Batte said in the statement to Marijuana Moment.

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, hosted at Ole Miss, launched earlier in 2025.

For that project, the university partnered with Washington State University (WSU) and the United States Pharmacopoeia, with support from a grant awarded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health under NIH. Ole Miss is leading the effort’s regulatory guidance core, while WSU will handle research support and USP will focus on research standards.

Ole Miss’s National Center for Natural Products Research is housing the NIH resource center to “provide cannabis research information through an interactive website, webinars, seed funding and conferences” to empower researchers to “generate more science-backed evidence,” it said in a press release at the time.

Classifying cannabis as a Schedule I substance “traps researchers in a paradox: proving medical value requires studies, yet studies are heavily restricted.”

Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration has ramped up recruitment—recently urging people to join them on the frontlines of the “War on Drugs,” even if they currently work as a “coffee barista” or otherwise have a non-law enforcement background.

It was also recently revealed that marijuana is one of nearly two dozen “controversial or high-profile topics” that staff and researchers at the National Cancer Institute are required to clear with higher-ups before writing about, according to a leaked memo from within the federal agency.

Separately, researchers involved in a federally funded clinical trial around marijuana wrote in a recent article in the American Journal of Medicine that further study into the substance is of “critical importance” given the millions of patients and consumers in legal states, but they warned that government restrictions “stifle scientific exploration of its potential and risks.”

Classifying cannabis as a Schedule I substance, said authors from the University of Maryland schools of medicine and nursing, “traps researchers in a paradox: proving medical value requires studies, yet studies are heavily restricted.”

“As legalization outpaces science,” they added, “reform is imperative to close the evidence gap and meet society’s demands.”

Photograph via the National Institute of Standards and Technology

This story was originally published by Marijuana Moment, which tracks the politics and policy of cannabis and drugs. Follow Marijuana Moment on X and Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter.