Behind closed doors, the eight-person Mississippi medical cannabis office is trying to keep up with its workload. A Mississippi Today investigation revealed severe disorganization at the Health Department office in charge of managing Mississippi’s new medical marijuana program. Agents rarely visit cultivation sites, application backlogs run into the hundreds, and communication delays with licensees frequently last for weeks.
The millions of dollars they invested and the tens of thousands of dollars in fees they paid to the state worry business owners who feel dissatisfied, unheard, and that all could be lost. Grower Joel Harper said of the new marijuana office: “The state threw them to the wolves.” They need to have spent the cash to hire experts, even an outside consultant.
Instead, they are sending out people with no prior knowledge of cannabis into the world of cannabis. Few employees at the center are tasked with implementing a sizable program without the people to do so effectively. The messages they receive from the office when they do receive them, are often incomplete or inconsistent, particularly when it comes to how the cultivators should build their agricultural infrastructure.
If they hear anything back at all, that is. Mountains of unprocessed paper already fill the office. According to copies of the office’s documents that Mississippi Today was able to get, 277 work permit applications were still pending processing as of the second week of January. Potential cannabis employees cannot begin working without permits.
The approval status of another 995 patients for dispensary cards had not yet been communicated. According to the documents, over 40 other physicians and 30 businesses had their own applications stalled. Liz Sharlot, a spokesman for the Department of Health, acknowledged the backlogs in a statement to Mississippi Today.
In order to establish more effective procedures, she stated, “we are working with the MMCP (Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program) license director and the team.” An employee of the health department told Mississippi Today that nothing was done to train new hires on the law and the sector, despite the office’s recent growth from four to eight employees.
The worker talked under the condition of anonymity out of concern about the consequences. When Mississippi Today first revealed the backlogs in October, the health department stated that it was attempting to fill an additional 25 positions. That has not yet occurred. The Health Department employee claimed that former office head Kris Jones Adcock is mostly to blame for the disarray.
The Health Department declined to comment on whether it intended to hire more people or what instruction its current employees had on medical marijuana. The worker declared, “The citizens of Mississippi deserve better.
Adcock worked three jobs concurrently for the health department during a five-week period: the position in charge of cannabis, the head of an office for domestic violence, and a promotion to the assistant senior deputy, a position that covered the entire department.
Concerning any impacts managing three posts may have had on her capacity to oversee the cannabis office, the Health Department didn’t answer inquiries. Adcock presently serves as the senior deputy’s assistant senior deputy, which is his sole departmental position.
The office’s attorney, Laura Goodson, was named acting director by Adcock two weeks ago. The worker for the Health Department added that Adcock fostered a tone of hurried procedures and absentee leadership, leaving the marijuana office in cleanup mode.
