Mississippi Opt-Out Cities & Counties — Where Dispensaries Are Banned

Last verified: May 2026

The Opt-Out Mechanism

SB 2095 gave Mississippi cities and counties a one-time window to opt out of allowing medical cannabis establishments within their jurisdictions. The deadline was May 3, 2022. By that deadline, at least 28 cities and a dozen counties had opted out.

What an opt-out actually does:

• Bans dispensaries, cultivators, processors, transporters, and disposal entities within the jurisdiction.
• Does NOT ban medical cannabis use itself by registered patients within the jurisdiction. A patient living in an opt-out city can still hold a card and use product they purchased elsewhere.
• Does NOT bar a patient from possessing product within the jurisdiction.

Notable Opt-Out Cities

• Madison, Ridgeland, Brandon, Gluckstadt — Madison and Rankin counties, Jackson metro suburbs.
• Pass Christian — Harrison County, Gulf Coast.
• Horn Lake, Southaven — DeSoto County, Memphis suburbs.
• Flowood — Rankin County, Jackson metro.
• Clinton — Hinds County, Jackson metro suburb.
• D’Iberville — Harrison County, Gulf Coast.
• Picayune — Pearl River County, southwest.
• Pontotoc — Pontotoc County, north-central.
• New Albany — Union County, north-central.
• Greenwood, Leland — Delta cities.
• Marion — Lauderdale County (note: Lauderdale County voters subsequently overturned the county-level opt-out via citizen petition).

Notable Opt-Out Counties

• Tippah County — northeast Mississippi.
• Pearl River County — southwest Mississippi.
• Madison County — Jackson metro northern suburbs (allowed cultivation only).
• Several other rural counties.

The Memphis-Suburb Asymmetry

Some of the most notable opt-outs are Southaven and Horn Lake in DeSoto County. Both sit immediately across the state line from Memphis, Tennessee — meaning the most populous Mississippi cities adjacent to Memphis cannot host dispensaries. DeSoto County patients in Southaven and Horn Lake must drive to Olive Branch or Senatobia for product. This asymmetry complicates the cross-border patient calculus that Tennessee’s lack of medical cannabis already creates.

The Madison County Asymmetry

Madison County opted out of dispensaries entirely (allowing only cultivation). Within it, Madison, Ridgeland, and Gluckstadt opted out, while Jackson and Canton opted in. The result is a Jackson metro with concentrated dispensary access in some neighborhoods and total bans across other jurisdictional lines. Patients in Madison, Ridgeland, and Gluckstadt must drive into Jackson or to Canton (~30 miles north).

The Coastal Gaps

Pass Christian and D’Iberville created discontinuities in the Gulf Coast dispensary corridor. Patients in those cities must drive to adjacent opted-in cities (Bay St. Louis, Long Beach, Biloxi, Gulfport, Ocean Springs).

Reversing an Opt-Out — The Citizen Petition

Citizens in an opt-out jurisdiction may force a special election to opt back in via petition: 1,500 voters or 20% of the jurisdiction’s electorate, whichever is fewer. This creates a real reversibility mechanism that, combined with shifting patient demographics and revenue arguments, has produced at least one successful reversal.

Lauderdale County voters successfully overturned their county’s opt-out via this mechanism. Several other reversal petitions are circulating in 2026 in opted-out cities. Watch for additional opt-in transitions as the program matures and economic-impact data accumulates.

The MDOR Dispensary Opt-Out Map

The MDOR Dispensary Opt-Out Map was last updated April 1, 2024 — the published list remains the operative reference, but jurisdictions may have opted in or out since. Always verify with local clerks before planning operations or assuming a particular dispensary location is permitted.

The Map and the underlying ordinance language for each jurisdiction are accessible through MDOR’s cannabis page at dor.ms.gov/mississippi-medical-cannabis-act.

The Political Pattern

The opt-in / opt-out divide closely tracks population density and political conservatism in Mississippi. Urban and metro-suburban cities with younger, more diverse populations tended to opt in. Rural counties and exurban suburbs with older, more religiously-conservative, more Republican populations tended to opt out. The pattern is not absolute — Tupelo (a regional Republican-leaning city) opted in early, while Pearl River County (a coastal Republican-leaning county) opted out.

The pattern reflects the broader Mississippi political alignment that produced SB 2095’s tight restrictions in the first place: Republican legislators willing to support medical cannabis but uncomfortable with locally-visible retail; Democratic voters supportive of broader access; independent and pragmatic Republican voters split on the visibility-vs-access trade-off.