Medical Cannabis in Mississippi Faces Constitutional Challenge

Mississippi has four congressional districts. Except when it has five.

That conundrum is the heart of a case before the Mississippi Supreme Court, which hears arguments Wednesday in a suit that could derail the state’s new medical marijuana program and also affect voter identification and eminent domain laws.

A mayor is challenging the 2020 ballot initiative creating Mississippi’s medical marijuana program, claiming that a “zombie law” makes it unconstitutional.

That law requires signatures for initiatives to come equally from the five congressional districts that existed when Mississippi’s constitution was amended in 1992 to allow citizen-initiated ballot questions. Since 2001, though, ...