OXFORD, Miss. (WJTV) – A bill that establishes a medical cannabis research facility at the University of Mississippi has been signed into law.

The university, located in Oxford, is home to the National Center for Cannabis Research. It operates as the leading federal cannabis research facility in the country.

Senate Bill 2888 will allow researchers to collaborate with state and federal partners to dive even deeper on the health impacts medical cannabis can have on patients.

“The state has had a medical cannabis program now for a little over a year. There’s over 30,000 patients. A lot of folks they don’t want to obtain these products for the euphoria or the intoxicating potential. They actually don’t want to have that as part of their plan. And so when they buy these products, they are looking for the therapeutic benefit. And so that’s where we can really help to tease out what formulation, what ratio of different cannabinoids. We can analyze that data to see what’s working, how those products are working, how could we maybe improve some of these outcomes,” said Robert Welch, director of the National Center for Cannabis Research.