Medical Cannabis.. growers show case their flowers at inaugural ‘Hall of Flowers’ event

Local medical cannabis dispensary companies and cultivators came together Sunday afternoon to network and discuss cultivation techniques. Dispensary companies were able to see and smell the medical cannabis they could potentially buy. That is not something they are typically able to do. State law requires that any medical cannabis sold in Mississippi be packaged in an opaque and light-resistant container. This means dispensaries typically have to purchase cannabis from growers without ever seeing the product. Currently, when purchasing medical cannabis, the only thing you see are percentages. “I think we need to kind of do a little more education to get away from that because there is a lot of flower out there that may not be 25-30% THC. That’s really helpful to the patient and has different medicinal effects that they may never encounter because they are just looking at numbers on paper,” Joel Case, with cultivation company Suite 1620, said. Organizers and business owners believe allowing medical cannabis products to be viewed beforehand could help more people trust in the health benefits, even when overdose deaths are common from illegal drug sales. “We’re seeing every other day somebody dying of fentanyl overdoses or accidentally thinking they’re taking a Perk 30, or smoking this or smoking that when it’s really just something nasty, or something horrible, or something that’s going to kill you,” Michael Watson, with Fire Craft Cooperative, said. Yasmin Hayes is part owner of Borneo Bud and hosted Sunday’s event. She and other industry professionals say medical cannabis can be a healthy alternative to addictive medications. “There is this stigma that medical cannabis is something that it isn’t, but it was provided by doctors,” she said. “You have to have a card to go into the store. There is a program, and there are alternative, holistic medicines available.” That stigma is not as common in other states. Duran Jackson, with Hippocratic Growth, began his medical cannabis career in Colorado and told WLBT 3 on Your Side the culture was different there. “I got used to being so open with it being in Colorado. It’s everywhere in Colorado, so I still had that mindset when I came back to Mississippi, and everyone is still hush-hush about it,” Jackson said. Those in the industry are happy with the progress that has been made and hope it continues to grow in a positive direction. All medical cannabis at Sunday’s event was for viewing purposes only. Organizers hope to continue events like this in the future and eventually open the door for patients to come.