Mississippi Marijuana Laws: Penalties, Medical Use, and Expungement

Mississippi’s marijuana laws treat small amounts of recreational cannabis as a fine-only offense, punish larger amounts as felonies, and allow registered medical patients to buy limited quantities from licensed dispensaries. The state launched its medical cannabis program in 2022. Recreational use remains illegal at any amount, and federal law adds exposure that state rules can’t cancel out.

Penalties for Possession

If you’re caught with 30 grams or less and have no recent prior convictions, the penalty is a fine of $100 to $250. Arrest isn’t automatic. An officer can issue a summons instead, provided you show valid identification and sign a written promise to appear in court.

A second conviction within two years is a misdemeanor: a $250 fine, up to 60 days in county jail, and mandatory drug education. A third or later conviction within that same two-year window raises the ceiling to a $250–$1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.¹

For first and second convictions in this lowest tier, the court forwards your record to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, but the file is kept private and nonpublic. It exists only so courts can track repeats within the two-year window, and it does not appear on background checks. Each conviction in this tier is automatically expunged two years after the date of conviction.¹

Once you cross 30 grams, the penalties jump sharply and the convictions carry lasting criminal records:

More than 30 grams but under 250 grams: up to a $1,000 fine and one year in county jail, or up to a $3,000 fine and three years in state custody.
250 to 499 grams: two to eight years in prison and a fine up to $50,000.
500 grams to under 1 kilogram: four to sixteen years and a fine up to $250,000.
1 kilogram to under 5 kilograms: six to twenty-four years and a fine up to $500,000.
5 kilograms or more: ten to thirty years and a fine up to $1,000,000.

At 31 grams you move from a fine-only citation to possible state prison time. The line is hard.¹

Sale and Distribution

Selling, distributing, or possessing marijuana with intent to distribute is charged separately from simple possession, and the penalties are steeper at every weight. Even a sale of 30 grams or less can bring up to three years in prison and a $3,000 fine. Above that:

More than 30 grams but under 250 grams: up to five years and a $5,000 fine.
250 to 499 grams: three to ten years and a fine up to $15,000.
500 grams to under 1 kilogram: five to twenty years and a fine up to $20,000.

Prosecutors decide between a possession charge and a sale charge based on evidence like packaging, scales, large amounts of cash, or messages suggesting sales.¹

Medical Cannabis: Who Qualifies and How Much You Can Have

Mississippi’s medical cannabis program requires a written certification from a practitioner registered with the Mississippi State Department of Health. Eligible practitioners include physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and optometrists. The practitioner must have a genuine ongoing relationship with you and must diagnose you with a qualifying debilitating condition listed in the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act.²

Qualifying conditions include cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and spinal cord disease or severe injury. Conditions whose treatment produces chronic pain, severe nausea, or seizures may also qualify.³

After certification, you apply through the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program (MMCP) online portal with proof of state residency. The nonrefundable fee is $25, reduced to $15 for Medicaid participants. Disabled veterans and disabled first responders with proper documentation qualify for a full fee waiver. The department aims to review completed applications within 10 days, and once approved, your digital patient identification card is available within five days after that.⁴

Purchase and Possession Limits

All medical cannabis transactions are measured in Mississippi Medical Cannabis Equivalency Units (MMCEUs). One MMCEU equals 3.5 grams of cannabis flower, 1 gram of concentrate, or 100 milligrams of THC in an infused product.⁵

Resident cardholders can purchase up to 24 MMCEUs within any rolling 30-day period across all dispensaries combined. The maximum you may have in your possession at any time is 28 MMCEUs. There is no possession limit on nonconsumable products like ointments, suppositories, soaps, and lotions.⁶

Dispensaries use real-time tracking software to enforce these limits, so splitting purchases across locations won’t get around the cap.

Caregivers and Out-of-State Patients

If you can’t visit a dispensary yourself, you can designate a caregiver to obtain medical cannabis on your behalf. The caregiver applies through the MMCP portal with a notarized Designation of Caregiver Form. For minor patients, a parent or guardian signs the designation.⁷

If you hold an active medical cannabis card from another state, you can apply for a nonresident card up to 30 days before arriving in Mississippi. Nonresident cards are valid for 15 days, with lower limits: no more than 6 MMCEUs per week, 12 MMCEUs in a 15-day period, and a possession cap of 14 MMCEUs.⁶

Rules Patients Still Have to Follow

A medical card is not a general permission slip. Several significant restrictions apply to every cardholder.

Home cultivation is illegal for everyone, including patients. All legal cannabis has to come from commercially licensed facilities overseen by the Mississippi State Department of Health.

Using marijuana in any public space is illegal regardless of your card status, including streets, parks, public buildings, and government-maintained grounds. Having an open container of medical cannabis in public is a separate violation.⁸

When transporting medical cannabis in a vehicle, keep it in the manufacturer’s sealed container. An “open container” means any package that has been opened from its original sealed condition and from which cannabis could be readily consumed. Sealed, unopened dispensary containers are legal regardless of where in the vehicle they’re stored.⁸

The DUI statute applies fully to marijuana impairment, and it specifically states that holding a medical cannabis card is no exception. A first-offense DUI carries a fine of $250 to $1,000, up to 48 hours in jail (or attendance at a victim impact panel), and mandatory completion of a substance abuse education program within six months. Driving privileges are suspended for at least 90 days, with hardship reinstatement possibly available after 30 days.⁹

Employers are not required to accommodate medical cannabis use. Your employer can refuse to hire you, discipline you, or fire you for medical cannabis use even with a valid certification, and the Act creates no private right of action to sue over it. Safety-sensitive positions regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (commercial truck drivers, bus operators, and others subject to DOT drug testing) remain under federal rules that treat any positive THC result as disqualifying. A Mississippi card carries no weight in that process.¹⁰

Local governments were allowed to opt out of hosting cultivation, processing, sale, or distribution operations. A county board of supervisors could opt out for unincorporated areas, and a municipal governing body could opt out for the city. The Mississippi Department of Revenue maintains a map of jurisdictions that opted out of dispensary operations. Even in an opt-out area, cardholders can still legally possess their medical cannabis; the opt-out only blocks businesses from operating there.¹¹

Federal Risks State Law Doesn’t Cover

State decriminalization and medical cannabis protections stop at the boundary of federal property. Mississippi contains national forests, military installations, and other federal land where possession of any amount of marijuana is a federal offense under 21 U.S.C. § 844. A first offense carries up to one year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine. A second offense means 15 days to two years with a minimum $2,500 fine. A third or later offense brings 90 days to three years and at least $5,000.¹²

Firearms are another federal flashpoint. As of April 2026, the DEA placed state-regulated medical marijuana products into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The ATF then proposed revising Form 4473, the federal form required when purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. The previous version warned that marijuana use was unlawful under federal law “regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes.” The proposed new language drops the reference to medicinal use. The ATF was accepting public comments on the revision through July 7, 2026, so the final version of the form may not yet be in use at all dealers. Recreational marijuana users remain explicitly disqualified from purchasing firearms under federal law.

If you own or work in a licensed cannabis business, two federal issues continue to shape operations. Banking access is still limited because financial institutions must file Suspicious Activity Reports with FinCEN and comply with anti-money laundering requirements. On taxes, Internal Revenue Code Section 280E historically prevented cannabis businesses from deducting ordinary business expenses; the move to Schedule III may ease that burden for compliant Mississippi operators, though the full implications were still being worked out as of mid-2026.

Clearing a Marijuana Conviction

Convictions in the lowest possession tier (30 grams or less) are automatically expunged two years after the conviction date. You don’t need to file anything, and because the record was kept private from the start, it should never have surfaced on a background check in the first place.¹

For more serious marijuana convictions, Mississippi allows expungement of first-time felony drug convictions, including possession with intent to distribute. The process requires filing a petition in court, and eligibility depends on the specific offense, your criminal history, and whether the conviction was a first felony. Filing fees and waiting periods vary, so talking to an attorney is the practical first step if you’re trying to clear a higher-level marijuana charge from your record.

1
Justia. Mississippi Code 41-29-139 – Prohibited Acts
2
Justia. Mississippi Code 41-137-5 – Authorization to Use Medical Cannabis Requirements
3
Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program. Qualifying Medical Conditions
4
Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program. Frequently Asked Questions
5
Cornell Law Institute. 35 Miss. Code R. 11-1-114 – MMCEU
6
FindLaw. Mississippi Code 41-137-39
7
Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program. How Do I Apply to Be a Designated Caregiver
8
Mississippi Legislature. House Bill 1572
9
FindLaw. Mississippi Code 63-11-30
10
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Frequently Asked Questions
11
Justia. Mississippi Code 41-137-57 – Local Government Option
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 844 – Penalties for Simple Possession