Despite Mississippi lawmakers’ failed attempt to ban intoxicating hemp products this legislative session, the state’s top legal adviser to government officials said those products are already prohibited in the Magnolia State.
State Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued an opinion on June 11 that Mississippi’s Uniform Controlled Substances Law forbids the sale of consumable products containing hemp derivatives that are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"Marijuana and THC are included on Mississippi’s Schedule I controlled substances list," she wrote.
Lynn said the lone exception is for products sold through licensed medical cannabis dispensaries that are regulated under the state’s Medical Cannabis Act that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law on Feb. 3, 2022—456 days after voters approved a medical cannabis initiative that the state’s Supreme Court overturned. Dispensary sales launched in January 2023.
Fitch’s opinion was in response to Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Rankin, who sought clarity on the matter after his legislation to ban intoxicating hemp products, House Bill 1502, died on the calendar when the Mississippi Legislature adjourned on April 3.
While Fitch responded, she also said that her office cannot opine on questions of federal law.
“Because the cultivation of hemp in Mississippi is legalized, licensed, and controlled by federal law, a complete response to your request is outside the scope of an official opinion,” the attorney general wrote.
Under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp was federally legalized and defined as a plant that contains no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis during a pre-harvest field test; however, the federal law does not include provisions to regulate finished goods, such as delta-8 THC gummies, THCA vapes or other products containing cannabinoids derived or synthesized from compliant hemp plants.
These intoxicating hemp products are often sold in smoke and vape shops as well as convenience and grocery stores in states such as Mississippi, where regulations evade legislation.
In Mississippi, hemp is legally grown through federal licensure under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Domestic Hemp Production Program.
Although state lawmakers passed the Mississippi Hemp Cultivation Act in 2020 to legalize the state’s hemp cultivation program, the Legislature never appropriated necessary funding to implement the program under the law—meaning the only legal option to grow hemp is through the federal program—according to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce.
As a result, hemp in Mississippi is defined by federal law: the 2018 Farm Bill.
Although Fitch wrote that the state’s Uniform Controlled Substances Law may prohibit the sale or possession of consumable hemp products that aren’t approved by the FDA, she offered a conflicting statement in her response.
“Mississippi law does not specifically address the possession or sale of products derived from the hemp plant designed for human ingestion and/or consumption,” the Mississippi attorney general wrote. “However, as implied by your questions, the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act … allows for the sale and possession of medical cannabis products, including edible cannabis products.”
In the absence of legal clarity, Yancey, a member of the House Drug Policy Committee, sponsored the now-dead 2025 legislation that had aimed to ban intoxicating hemp products in Mississippi, with an exception for certain low-THC beverages to be sold to those 21 years and older. The legislation also intended to authorize the Mississippi State Department of Health to regulate CBD products.
While some hemp-derived product manufacturers have called on the FDA to regulate the production, marketing and sale of CBD, the federal agency has often kicked the can to Congress, requesting that federal lawmakers provide funding or take the lead themselves.
While Yancey’s 2025 legislation passed the Mississippi House in an 82-27 vote, the Senate passed an amended version of the bill in a 35-16 vote; however, the bill stalled in a conference committee and was left on the table amid public pushback, in part over the allowance for hemp-derived THC beverages.
Yancey, who spearheaded the state’s medical cannabis legalization bill three years ago, said the basis of his 2025 legislation was to protect children from accessing intoxicating hemp products, SuperTalk Mississippi Media reported.
“These [products] are already being sold in the gas stations and in the supermarkets, and it will become more and more rampant across our state,” Yancey told the news outlet in April. “We had a chance to stop this.”
