Law Louisiana

[Baron23]

Louisiana Governor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Into Law​

The bill eliminates the possibility that being arrested for possession of small amounts of cannabis will result in prison time, which cannabis reform advocates typically demand.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed off on House Bill 652 to decriminalize small amounts of cannabis possession for personal use.
Possession of up to 14 grams will now be categorized as a misdemeanor rather than a felony. Those caught violating the law face up to a $100 fine without jail time.

Photo by Elsa Olofsson via Unsplash
“It essentially provides for the officer to write a ticket with no jail time,” Shreveport Rep. Alan Seabaugh told the Daily Advertiser about the bill, signed on Tuesday.
Only possession was revised under the legislation. Laws against distribution and unlicensed cultivation remain in effect.

Governor Signs Off Despite Cannabis Concerns​

In a Twitter statement, Gov. Edwards, who has stood out as one of the few remaining democratic governors leery of cannabis legalization, said he did not take the decision lightly. He stated that the bill passed with bipartisan support after “a robust discussion” regarding the effects of the ongoing drug war against cannabis.


The governor pushed back on the notion that the bill decriminalized cannabis, noting that small fines remain. Still, the bill eliminates the possibility that being arrested for possession of small amounts of cannabis will result in prison time — a substantial step — which cannabis reform advocates typically demand.
Gov. Edwards has additional cannabis legislation anticipating his signature, with a medical bill allowing smokable flower awaiting his decision.

 

[bulllee]

Louisiana plans to regulate, not ban, delta-8 THC​

By MJBizDaily Staff
October 27, 2021

Louisiana is set to allow hemp-derived delta-8 THC in food, a surprising step as more than a dozen states are doing the opposite and banning the isomer or limiting it to marijuana retailers.
The Louisiana position came in an email this week from the Louisiana Department of Health, which told businesses that applications are open to register for licenses to make foods containing cannabinoids.
“This includes the addition of food products containing CBD and delta-8 (THC) products,” the agency clarified.
Louisiana’s health department cited a new law that clears the path for delta-8 THC.
The law creates a new category for “consumable hemp,” which is defined as “any product derived from industrial hemp that contains any cannabinoids and is intended for consumption or topical use.”
Delta-8 THC is an isomer of the better-known delta-9 THC for which marijuana is bred.
The isomer is rare in the cannabis plant but can be easily made from extracted CBD, which has opened new market opportunities because drug laws across the country generally address only delta-9 THC.
Roughly 18 states have responded to the rise of delta-8 THC sales by banning the cannabinoid.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned in September that the cannabinoid is causing illnesses, and the Drug Enforcement Administration added delta-8 THC to its “orange book” as an intoxicant that should be classified the same as delta-9 THC.
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Louisiana has a limited medical marijuana market with only nine operating dispensaries as of earlier this year. The dispensaries are projected to hit a cumulative $25 million-$30 million in sales in this year, according to the 2021 MJBizFactbook.
The delta-8 change in Louisiana comes on the heels of the state opening the sale of smokable marijuana flower, with sales expected to begin in 2022.

 

[bulllee]

Louisiana medical marijuana market poised for strong sales after lackluster performance​

By John Schroyer, Senior Reporter
November 9, 2021


After years of struggle within one of the most restrictive frameworks in the nation, Louisiana’s medical marijuana market is poised for much stronger growth in January when its nine dispensaries will begin selling cannabis flower instead of only tinctures, topicals and portable vaporizers.
With the addition of flower and some other tweaks to the MMJ program, medical cannabis sales in Louisiana are projected to roughly double next year to around $100 million – and could get as high as $400 million by 2025 – according to new estimates from the 2021 MJBizFactbook.
The market, which was created in 2015 but didn’t launch until 2019, allows for only two cultivators and up to 10 dispensaries. The latter must be run as pharmacies, under a state law that also mandates they have licensed pharmacists on staff.
The initial qualifying-condition list for prospective patients was so tiny that only 3,000 patients were making purchases when sales began.
But in recent years, state lawmakers have approved measures that boosted sales and spurred an uptick in MMJ patients:

• In 2020, the Legislature changed the terms for qualifying conditions for patients to be allowed to purchase MMJ, so now any physician can write a recommendation for any ailment they believe will be helped by cannabis.
• Edibles and “metered-dose” vaporizers became available in late 2020, and those products immediately were popular, despite regulatory red tape that hindered both products getting to market.
• Delivery has become an option for medical marijuana pharmacies-dispensaries.

Despite those changes, the market remains among the most restrictive in the United States and licensed businesses still report obstacles to success.
Those include a lack of advertising options, slow regulatory approvals for new products and a still-small patient count compared to other MMJ markets.
As of Sept. 30, a total of 28,174 patients had received at least one MMJ recommendation since the launch of sales in 2019. But in the third quarter of this year, only 14,663 had purchased any medical marijuana.
That’s less than 0.5% of the state’s population of 4.6 million and is often contrasted with the much-larger neighboring markets of Arkansas and Florida, where more than 2% of the respective populations are registered as MMJ patients.
“Everything is building towards January,” said Omar Pecantte, the president of Green Leaf Dispensary in Houma. “There’s an expectation that our market is going to reach at least 100,000 patients.”
Sales are expected to reach between $90 million and $110 million next year, according to revised estimates from the MJBizFactbook, up from an estimated $40 million to $50 million in 2021.
By 2025, sales are projected to reach $330 million to $400 million.
Looking ahead to January, the expected rush of demand with flower sales is sparking industry concerns about product shortages in early 2022.
The general consensus is the patient count will skyrocket once MMJ flower – still the most popular and cheapest form of cannabis – is available for purchase.
But Louisiana’s two MMJ producers have insisted for months they’re well-stocked for the new year, with more than 1,000 pounds of cannabis flower in storage between the two.
Both those two companies also are expanding their production capacity.
Ongoing obstacles
During a recent Louisiana Medical Marijuana Commission hearing, business executives told lawmakers they still face major issues, ranging from monthslong waits for approvals on new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to a lack of buy-in from cannabis consumers.
“We’re not busy, so to speak, compared to other pharmacies. I usually see between 35 and 40 patients a day,” Michelle Williams, the owner of The Medicine Cabinet Pharmacy in Alexandria, told the commission.
“We’re nowhere near where we need to be.”
Williams cited the lack of advertising options under state law as one of the problems she faces, along with patient education and lengthy wait times as inventory is restocked.
Executives from the two licensed producers – Ilera Holistic and Good Day Farm – also reported they face lengthy waits from the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) for the thumbs-up on everything from product formulations to equipment usage and changes to SOPs.
Good Day Farm President John Davis stunned lawmakers when he explained that his company currently sells “deconstructed” medical marijuana vaporizers that consumers must assemble themselves at home – all because Good Day has not yet received LDAF approval to sell the fully constructed vaporizer.
By contrast, Ilera has won approval to make and sell a full vaporizer that doesn’t need home assembly.
“We give all the parts to the pharmacies, and those parts are given to the patients, and they can construct it themselves at home,” Davis told lawmakers, adding that he’s not received an answer after asking regulators when the company will be allowed to sell assembled vaporizers.
“There is no timeline,” Davis said. “We are waiting on approval from the LDAF on our” SOPs.
Danny Ford, a spokesman for the Louisiana Association for Therapeutic Alternatives, told lawmakers that all nine pharmacies-dispensaries in the state are losing out on potential business because of the supply-chain issues and lack of availability of edibles and other products.
That’s leading an untold number of cannabis consumers to cross state lines to buy in other states where cannabis is legal or to simply make purchases on the illicit market, Ford said.
“There’s still a good number of folks that make trips to other states, where there are more products, more availability, different delivery methods,” Ford said.
“We know we’re losing patient counts to other states.”
Possible expansion, product shortages?
The Louisiana market has a long way to go to catch up to its thriving MMJ neighbors, Arkansas and Florida, said Kevin Caldwell, the president of Common Sense NOLA and a longtime medical cannabis advocate.
“We want to see something more along the lines of what you see in Oklahoma for a medical program,” Caldwell said, referring to the Southwest state’s free-market approach that has led to the opening of 2,000-plus dispensaries.
“Nine dispensaries across the whole state, yeah, that’s great if you live in one of the cities. But if you have to travel 100 miles each way … how doable is that?”
Caldwell said he was disappointed with the failure earlier this year of an attempted expansion of the MMJ program through House Bill 472 to add a third licensed cultivator to help with supply.
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Good Day Farm and Ilera Holistic as well as Louisiana State University and Southern University – which hired the companies to grow MMJ on their behalf, respectively – opposed the legislation.
“In all honesty, I don’t have a lot of high hopes for January… because I’m thinking flower is going to be $500 an ounce,” Caldwell said, adding that prices are still a major issue for consumers.
For instance, Caldwell said, half-gram vape cartridges are often priced as high as $97 currently at MMJ pharmacies. By contrast, full-gram vape cartridges in Denver often sell for less than $40 and half-gram cartridges for under $30.
“That has to be some of the most expensive cannabis on the planet,” Caldwell said.
Representatives of Ilera and Good Day insisted during the recent commission hearing and directly to MJBizDaily that there won’t be a product shortage. They also stressed they’re doing their utmost to lower prices for patients.
“We’re looking forward to Jan. 1, for those explosive sales,” Chanda Macias, the CEO of Ilera, told MJBizDaily in a phone interview.
She also said she expects the patient count to get as high as 3% of the state’s population, or about 138,000.
Macias said she doesn’t see any need currently to expand the number of licensed operators in the state, in part because the patient count is still so low.
“I don’t find a need for there to be any expansion,” Macias said. “We have plenty of product available for the public. …
“We are completely ready to go, with plenty of supply. So there’s no need to expand licenses now.”

 

[Baron23]

Should Louisiana break up medical marijuana monopolies to lower prices?​

When Louisiana's first legal smokable medical marijuana was made available on Jan. 1, patients like Corbet King of Wisner were excited about the product that they believed would be a more affordable option than tinctures, oils and edibles.
After all, affordability was one of the key selling points when the Legislature passed a bill last year to add the plant's unprocessed flower to the products that Louisiana's two legal growers and nine regional pharmacies could offer to patients.
But when King and other patients arrived at their pharmacies they were surprised to find the flower product in some cases was just as costly or even more expensive, depending on the pharmacy.
"They lied to us," said King, who showed USA Today Network a price chart in which Delta MedMar pharmacy in Monroe was charging between $440 and $480 per ounce.
"Most people can't afford this."
King, who must drive an hour from Wisner to obtain his medicine, said those prices are more than double the illegal street price of weed.
It's also more than double the cost of lowest prices of medical weed in other states, according to budzu, an online site that tracks pot prices.
The cost for one-eighth of an ounce of the flower product sold by the state's nine, regional monopoly pharmacies ranged from $35 in Lake Charles to $60 in West Monroe to $80 in New Orleans, according to various reports.
State Rep. Joe Marino, a Gretna independent who chairs the Medical Marijuana Commission, said his committee will meet in February to announce recommendations for improvements to the state's medical cannabis program.
But Marino and some other legislative leaders in the House have already seen enough to know that they will support legislation to break up what are essentially the state's medical marijuana monopolies.
"I definitely believe we need to expand the program in every direction," Marino said.
"We created these restrictive monopolies to be able to get the program off the ground, but I have to believe if we had more competition it would be more affordable."



Republican Stonewall state Rep. Larry Bagley, chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee, said he will file legislation in the spring Legislative Session doing just that.
"I'm going to file bills to expand both the number of growers and pharmacies," Bagley said.
"The issues are whether the growers can produce enough product and how can we create competition to make it more affordable. My legislation will solve both problems if I can get it passed."
Louisiana's only two legal growers are the LSU AgCenter (along with its private partner Good Day Farm) and the Southern AgCenter (with its private partner Ilera Holistic Healthcare).
Current law also limits the sale and dispensing of medical marijuana to nine regional monopoly pharmacies with the option of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy adding a 10th license.
But unlike other monopolies in the state like utility companies, there is no price regulation for Louisiana's medical marijuana market.
Republican Winnfield state Rep. Jack McFarland, who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said he supports legislating some sort of "price uniformity."
"It shouldn't matter whether a patient is getting his medicine from Shreveport or Monroe or Alexandria or New Orleans," he said.

"Why should the prices be so different if they're getting it from the same growers."

McFarland also believes there should be more pharmacies.

"Additional pharmacies would improve accessibility and promote competition to lower prices," he said.

Growers and pharmacy owners note that they invested a combined millions of dollars under existing laws and question whether it would be fair to expand the program before they recoup their investments after just two years of operation.
But they're careful to tread lightly before the next Legislative Session begins.
"There are very healthy discussions to be had on all things related to the program, but we're just two weeks into the rollout of flower," said John Davis of Good Day Farm.
"Let's see how the program rolls out and figure out what is working and what adjustments need to be made."
Davis said Good Day has already positioned its operation to meet what is expected to be a significant spike in demand for flower with its new 225,000-square-foot growing facility in Ruston.
He said the Ruston facility is configured for three phases of expansion that would eventually allow it to produce 5,700 pounds of product per month, which would exceed projected statewide demand of 4,700 pounds per month in 2024.
MJBizDaily, an online publication devoted to the cannabis industry, projects Louisiana's medical marijuana sales to double in 2022 to about $100 million and rise as high as $400 million by 2025.
Danny Ford of the Louisiana Association for Therapeutic Alternatives that represents the state's nine medical cannabis pharmacies said he expects prices to drop as volume grows.
"One of the reasons the products are more expensive than in other states are because of the regulations," Ford said.
"Licensed pharmacists are still required to be on site and until recently a pharmacist actually had to be the one to check the patient out at the register."
But Marino said even if the program is expanded it would take up to three years for the expansion to go into effect, which would give growers and pharmacies more time to operate without competition and boost their bottom lines.
"I think the only ones who don't think there should be some sort of expansion are those with financial interests in the current program from the universities to their private partners to the pharmacy owners," Marino said.

 

[bulllee]

U.S. Senate candidate smokes marijuana in new campaign ad​

Adam Brewster - 2h ag

Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Gary Chambers of Louisiana released an ad on Tuesday showing the candidate smoking marijuana while promoting a pathway toward legalizing the drug.

© YouTube / Gary Chambers Jr.gary-chambers-marijuana-ad-2.png
"I hope this ad works to not only destigmatize the use of marijuana, but also forces a new conversation that creates the pathway to legalize this beneficial drug, and forgive those who were arrested due to outdated ideology," Chambers said in the ad.
Chambers, a progressive activist, finished third in a special election primary race to fill former Congressman Cedric Richmond's seat last year. He is running to challenge Republican Senator John Kennedy.
Chambers, who is Black, opens the advertisement, titled "37 seconds," with an image of him lighting a blunt and smoking it.
"Every 37 seconds someone is arrested for possession of marijuana," Chambers said in the video.
"Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people," Chambers said. "States waste $3.7 billion enforcing marijuana laws every year. Most of the people police are arresting aren't dealers, but rather people with small amounts of pot, just like me."
Eighteen states and Washington, D.C. have legalized small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-seven states have decriminalized possessing small amounts of marijuana.
Louisiana enacted a law in 2021 that decriminalizes possession of up to 14 grams of marijuana. Those who are caught will face a fine of up to $100 but no jail time. In August, New Orleans pardoned about 10,000 people with convictions or pending penalties for small amounts of marijuana possession.
"We must move toward criminal justice reform regarding marijuana arrests by pushing away the stigma and being real," Chambers said in a statement to CBS News. "Some parts of the country are fighting opioid addictions and creating millionaires and better schools from the marijuana industry. Others are creating felonies and destroyed families. I can't stand for that."
According to the ACLU, national arrest rates for marijuana possession were down from 2010 to 2018, but Black people were 3.6 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people in 2018. States that legalized marijuana had lower rates of racial disparities in mairjuana possession arrests.
A majority of Americans, 60%, have said that marijauana should be legal for recreational and medical use according to an April 2021 Pew Research survey. Another 30% of respondents said it should be legal only for medical use, while 8% said it should not be legal for any reason.
A University of New Orleans poll, also from April 2021, found Louisiana residents favor legalizing recreational use of marijuana 55%-36%.
Louisiana has a Democratic governor but leans heavily Republican. Former President Donald Trump won the state by about 28 points in 2020. Kennedy, the state's current GOP Senator, won by about 20 points during his 2016 race.
Louisiana holds a "jungle primary," meaning all candidates compete in the same primary. If no candidate receives more than 50%of the vote, the top two vote recipients advance to a runoff election. Former Navy fighter pilot Luke Mixon is also running as a Democrat.


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[Baron23]

Expanded Louisiana medical pot program drawing tens of of millions of dollars in investment​

When sales in Louisiana’s restrictive medical marijuana program began in 2019, advocates and prospective marijuana business owners worried it would be tough sledding to survive financially, given the reams of regulations attached to the program.


But the recent relaxation of many of those rules – including, crucially, the addition of more popular flower products – has rapidly drawn major investment in Louisiana’s pot industry. Now, for the few companies who have control over growing and selling the drug through exclusive state licenses, big profits seem possible.


Public records show the state’s two growers – private companies hired by LSU and Southern University, respectively – spent the most money yet on their production in 2021, with LSU’s partner shelling out tens of millions of dollars to boost its growing capabilities.


Tax data indicates sales are starting to pick up as well. The two growers pay a 7% fee on whatever they sell, and in the fiscal year that ended in July, they remitted more than $270,000, suggesting gross sales of nearly $4 million. In the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, the growers already exceeded that number. And that was before flower sales even began, meaning they will likely see huge year-over-year growth.


The private companies who grow the plant legally in Louisiana don’t comment on their finances, but it appears they’re not yet raking in profits, based on publicly available spending and revenue data. But that will likely soon change as the market hits a ramp-up phase that is expected to last two years before plateauing. By 2024, LSU’s growing partner, an Arkansas-based firm called Good Day Farm, expects Louisiana’s medical marijuana market to top 110,000 patients. That’s more than seven times the current number.


Patients have already started flocking to the program en masse since January, when flower, the smokable form of the plant that is most popular nationally, became legal with a “recommendation” from a doctor. From December 2021 to January 2022, prescriptions shot up by 77%, and the patient count rose by 45%, according to data from the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, huge increases compared to previous months. That brought the number of patients from under 11,000 to nearly 16,000.
Good Day Farm spent north of $37 million in 2021, according to a report it filed with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. That’s up tenfold from the $3.6 million it spent the year before.
The big money Good Day spent last year is largely because of its new growing facility, a mammoth 225,000-square-foot former sink manufacturing warehouse in Ruston. Company officials say they’ve committed to spending at least $45 million thanks to the law allowing flower sales.

Tucked away in the small, piney north Louisiana town that is home to Louisiana Tech University, the nondescript blue building contains immense growing space that Good Day Farm plans to eventually build out as the market grows.


In one of the grow rooms, long rows of plants with names like “Lilac Diesel” and “Lumpy Space Princess” grow for several weeks. Dozens of fans bolted on the wall circulate air, and CO2 is pumped into the rooms to make sure the plants have enough to breathe.

In the Vegetative Room, Kevin Schneider, General Manager, background, clones plants, essentially "making babies" according to Schneider, during a tour of the new, bigger, LSU medical marijuana facility run by Good Day Farm Wednesday Jan. 19, 2022, in Ruston, La.





Once they get old enough, the plants graduate to another room to bloom, where they grow the dense buds that are eventually harvested and sold to patients to smoke or otherwise consume. The 340 or so plants in the room on a recent weekday bathed in a fluorescent orange light to replicate the fall, when plants are harvested. The orange light replicates shorter days of daylight, compared to the “spring/summer” light in the previous room, said Beau Druilhet, Good Day Farm’s director of cultivation.


Workers dry the buds and clean them up before putting them into huge barrels with air vents to wick out moisture. The company had hundreds of pounds sitting in the barrels that would soon hit the market.

In the Cure Room, which has 400-800 pounds at any given time, Beau Deuilhet, Dir. of Cultivation; talks about the process during a tour of the new, bigger, LSU medical marijuana facility run by Good Day Farm Wednesday Jan. 19, 2022, in Ruston, La.

When Louisiana’s medical marijuana program began, pharmacy owners were concerned they might not be able to make any money because of the stringent rules. But as the rules have been slackened, business has boomed.


Ruston Henry, owner of the only licensed medical marijuana pharmacy in the New Orleans region, H&W Drug Store, said sales tripled or quadrupled in the first couple weeks of flower becoming available, compared to the year before. Those sales have now leveled off to about double what he was doing a year ago.


Henry said there have been some supply disruptions. He said his pharmacy was out of flower for a day or two last week but is putting more on the shelves this week.


“There are some hiccups here and there,” he said. “It’s still growing.”


Growers have told pharmacy owners to expect supply to be more steady by mid- to late March.


Darren Martin, co-owner of Willow Pharmacy in Madisonville, said the pharmacy was making about 100 marijuana sales a day this time last year. That has increased to about 300 a day now, which he attributes both to an increase in patients and to patients buying more items, now that flower and vapes are on the shelves.


“We’re doing much better than we were back then, just barely paying the bills,” Martin said.


“Now we can take care of the overhead and have some additional profit. I wouldn’t say it’s something to retire on, but we’ve been able to put some in the bank.”

Area slated for future expansion during a tour of the new, bigger, LSU medical marijuana facility run by Good Day Farm Wednesday Jan. 19, 2022, in Ruston, La.

Randy Mire, co-owner of Baton Rouge’s Capitol Wellness Solutions, downplayed shortages of flower and said business has been good. He said he’s had to hire more people to package flower and handle the increased demand.


In the legislative session that begins March 14, some lawmakers say they’ll file bills to expand the exclusive licenses to let more people get in on the rapidly growing market. It’s not clear which, if any, ideas will gain traction.


State Rep. Larry Bagley, a Republican who chairs the Health and Welfare Committee, which handles most medical marijuana legislation, said it takes more than an hour to get from his house in Stonewall to the nearest marijuana pharmacy. He said a close family member has seen great benefits since getting a prescription.


Bagley said he intends to file legislation to expand the number of pharmacies that dole out marijuana. He also wants to hand out more growing licenses, but said his legislation will authorize new growers only in 2025, when the current LSU and Southern contracts expire.


Southern’s growing partner, Ilera Holistic Healthcare, reported nearly $9 million in expenses in 2021. That’s up from less than $6 million in spending in 2020.

 

[momofthegoons]

Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Increase Marijuana Penalties For Children—But Not Adults​

“We don’t think we should be criminalizing youth more harshly than adults.”

By Julie O’Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator

Louisiana lawmakers may put incarceration back on the table for possession of modest amounts of marijuana, but only for children and teenagers under age 18. Adults would still be able to avoid prison time if caught with marijuana joints, even for repeat offenses.

Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, is seeking to modify the state’s sweeping marijuana decriminalization law that was enacted last year. House Bill 700 would impose harsher penalties on children and teenagers than adults.

Under the new law passed last year, a person convicted of possessing 14 grams or less of marijuana in Louisiana cannot be fined more than $100, arrested or thrown in prison. Bagley’s proposal would allow a person under 18 convicted of possessing 14 grams or less of marijuana once to be incarcerated for up to 15 days.

The legislation would also escalate the penalties for minors who are repeatedly caught with up to 14 grams of marijuana, which is the equivalent of 14 to 25 joints. A third conviction for that offense could result in two years behind bars, and a fourth could mean four years of lockup.

Those penalties would be dramatically different than the ones adults face. Under Bagley’s bill, people over 18 years old could still be caught repeatedly with 14 grams or less of marijuana and face no prison time at all.

The House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice forwarded Bagley’s proposal to the full Louisiana House for consideration last week after an exception was carved out for children and teenagers carrying their own medical marijuana.

Bagley said the law change is needed because K-12 schools in his community are unable to keep marijuana off their campuses. The district attorney’s office in DeSoto Parish, where Bagley lives, said it has no way of forcing minors into drug treatment through drug court without the threat of incarceration.

It would be highly unlikely for a judge to put a child or teenager in a youth detention center for possession of a small amount of marijuana, Bagley said, but he believes the possibility of incarceration can be used to push them into rehabilitative programs.

“It was presented like this bill is about trying to put people in prison. It’s not,” he said.

Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, who has generally supported loosening marijuana restrictions, agreed with Bagley and said laws around minors’ marijuana use needed to be tighter.

“We are trying to rehabilitate children. This allows our courts to kind of keep them in check and put them in drug courts,” said Muscarello, R-Hammond. “No judge is putting a kid in jail for six months for marijuana.”

Left-leaning groups and marijuana legalization advocacy organizations opposed the legislation. They suggested discipline within the school system—such as suspension, expulsion or removal from sports teams and other school activities—be used to help keep marijuana off campus.

“We don’t think we should be criminalizing youth more harshly than adults,” said Peter Robins-Brown, executive director of Louisiana Progress.



Other methods to get children and teenagers into drug treatment are available through the court system as well, said Megan Garvey with the Louisiana Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers. Family court judges can mandate that guardians and parents put children in rehabilitative programs and place minors on probation, she said.

Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, didn’t formally object to the bill moving forward in the legislative process, but he expressed reservations about the incarceration component. He questioned why the offense for being caught with marijuana as a minor would be harsher than the one for being caught with alcohol.

People under the age of 21 can be fined $100 and lose their driver’s license for up to six months if they are caught drinking alcohol, according to Louisiana law, but they don’t face jail time. Minors caught with cigarettes can be fined up to $50.

“Alcohol, in my opinion, would be greatly more harmful than marijuana,” he said.

This story was first published by Louisiana Illuminator.

 

[momofthegoons]

Louisiana Medical Marijuana Patient Employment Protections Bill Heads To Governor’s Desk​

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to take opioids for their long-term PTSD and pain management because of the high possibility of addiction to opioids.”

By Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator

The Louisiana Senate gave final passage to a bill Wednesday that would protect state employees who legally use medical marijuana.

House Bill 988, sponsored by Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, protects state employees from negative consequences if they are diagnosed with conditions for which a doctor recommends medical marijuana used in accordance with state law.

The bill cleared the Senate on a 26-8 vote. It was opposed by Republican Sens. Mike Fesi of Houma, Beth Mizell of Franklinton, Cameron Henry of Metairie, Sharon Hewitt of Slidell, Jay Morris of Monroe, Barrow Peacock of Bossier City, Rogers Pope of Denham Springs and Bodi White of Central.

The law would protect state employees from being fired and would protect prospective hires from being discriminated against for use of medical marijuana.

The bill would not apply to law enforcement, firefighters or other public safety officials.

The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy reported that there are more than 43,000 medical marijuana patients in the state. The first medical marijuana dispensaries in the state began operating in 2019.



Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, carried the bill on the Senate floor. Cathey told senators the bill would help prevent state employees from being addicted to opioids, an argument previously used when the House passed the bill.

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to take opioids for their long-term PTSD and pain management because of the high possibility of addiction to opioids,” Landry told a House committee last month. “This has proved to be a better option than them.”

Opponents of the bill, most notably Rep. Larry Frieman, R-Abita Springs, had argued then that the issue should be handled by the Division of Administration.

Jacques Berry, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Administration, pushed back on this notion. He clarified that the department has policies protecting its workers from discrimination based on medical marijuana use but cannot set policy for all agencies that employ state workers.

The House passed the bill 60-32. It now awaits signature from the governor.

This story was first published by Louisiana Illuminator.

 

[Baron23]

Louisiana Governor Signs Ten Cannabis Bills, Including Significant Medical Marijuana Expansions​

The governor of Louisiana has approved a slew of marijuana reform bills, including one key measure that would expand the number of medical dispensaries that can operate in the state and another to prevent police from searching people’s homes over the smell of cannabis.

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) announced that he signed the cannabis proposals on Tuesday. While advocates are pushing for broader reforms like adult-use legalization, they generally feel that the enactment of these pieces of legislation represent a step in the right direction.

Among the most notable signed bills is one from Rep. Tanner Magee (R) that will shift regulatory responsibility for the state’s medical marijuana program from the Department of Agriculture and Forestry to the Department of Health. HB 697 will also allow existing medical cannabis dispensaries to add new satellite retail locations.

As amended and enacted, it would effectively allow only existing businesses to qualify for additional licensing opportunities, raising concerns about the ability of new start-up entrepreneurs to enter the industry.

Magee also had a separate measure signed by the governor that would impose fees on cannabis testing facilities.

Two other pieces of legislation that Edwards signed deal with out-of-state reciprocity for medical cannabis patients. Both were sponsored by Rep. Joseph Marino (I).

One generally makes it so that people living in other states can be treated as eligible, registered marijuana patients who can purchase and possess cannabis from licensed dispensaries in Louisiana. The other provides specific legal protections against prosecution under the state’s drug laws for those out-of-state patients who participate in Louisiana’s market.


In another expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program, a bill signed by the governor that was sponsored by Rep. C. Travis Johnson (D) will allow nurse practitioners to recommend medical cannabis to patients, instead of just doctors.

HB 629 was also signed into law, and that legislation from Rep. Marcus Bryant (D) establishes that “the odor of marijuana alone shall not provide a law enforcement officer with probable cause to conduct a search of a person’s place of residence,” according to a synopsis.

The governor signed a measure from Rep. Cedric Glover (D) that would revise the state’s drug code definition of paraphernalia to exclude devices “solely used or intended for use for the inhalation of raw or crude marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinols, or a chemical derivative of tetrahydrocannabinols” for registered medical marijuana patients.

The governor also signed two hemp bills. One, from Johnson, would create a Louisiana Industrial Hemp Promotion and Research Program, which would be responsible for supporting “the growth and development of the industrial hemp industry.”

Another hemp measure, from House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R), lays out specific regulations for Louisiana’s industrial hemp program. It would do that, in part, by creating new licensing standards for hemp companies, require criminal background checks as part of the application process and prohibit the sale of smokeable hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoids in alcoholic beverages.

Rep. Laurie Schlegel’s (R) bill to prohibit people from smoking or vaping cannabis products in a vehicle was also signed by the governor.

Separate legislation on marijuana workplace protections advanced through the House and Senate and still awaits action from the governor. If enacted, it would make it so employees who are subject to drug testing could not be penalized for a positive THC alone if they’re a registered patient, though they could also continue to face punishment if they’re found to be impaired on the job.

“Not long ago, Louisiana had perhaps the harshest cannabis laws in the nation and no medical cannabis program,” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) told Marijuana Moment.

“Louisiana has made steady progress since then, and that trend continued in 2022,” she said. “We applaud the legislature and governor for enacting a half dozen bills to expand the medical cannabis program, including reciprocity and allowing more locations to dispense cannabis, along with its limitation on warrantless searches based on the smell of cannabis.”

Rep. Larry Bagley (R) had a separate bill this session that moved through a key House committee that would have increased the number of cannabis producers that could be authorized in the state, but it did not pass.

While advocates would like to see the momentum over the past few years continue and eventually lead to an adult-use legalization system in the state, that has yet to come to fruition.

Nearly six in ten Louisiana voters support legalizing marijuana, according to a poll from the University of New Orleans that was released in April.

While legalization has yet to be enacted in the Pelican State, Edwards did sign a bill last year to decriminalize possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis by making it punishable by a $100 fine without jail time. That policy went into effect last August.

Bagley also filed a bill this session to revise the state’s cannabis decriminalization law to make it so people under 18 could face incarceration over low-level possession that advanced, but wasn’t enacted.

Edwards also signed a bill last year to allow patients in the state’s medical cannabis program legally to smoke whole-plant marijuana flower.

The governor also previously said that he does think that Louisiana will inevitably legalize cannabis for adult use at some point, but he doesn’t believe it will happen before his term expires in 2024.

An effort in the legislature to pass a bill to legalize recreational cannabis stalled in the House last session after the chamber failed to pass a complementary measure on taxing adult-use marijuana.

Last year, Edwards also said that he had “great interest” in the legalization proposal, and he pledged to take a serious look at its various provisions.

In 2020, the Louisiana legislature significantly expanded the state’s medical marijuana program by passing a bill that allows physicians to recommend cannabis to patients for any debilitating condition that they deem fit instead of from the limited list of maladies that’s used under current law. The governor signed that into law.

A separate poll released last year similarly demonstrated strong voter support for marijuana legalization, even in conservative stronghold districts.

Two other previous polls—including one personally commissioned by a top Republican lawmaker—have found that a majority of voters are in favor of legalizing cannabis for adult use.

 

[Baron23]

I don't generally post articles related to hemp...well, because that is not what I think this board is about in general (though the only opinion on what this board is about is Mom's haha). But this is such an act of stupidity that I just needed to bring it to light! Fucking politicians....who got the 8th circle in Hell iin Dante Alighieri's Inferno (8th out of a possible 9!!).

Louisiana Could Pull Hundreds Of Hemp Products Off The Market With Proposed Emergency Rule​

“I’m hoping you have in mind how much these small businesses invested… That’s going to impact their business and their investment, and the trust that businesses have for Louisiana, that’s important how we handle this and how we make these companies whole.”
By Viktor Skinner, The Center Square
Hundreds of hemp products approved by the Louisiana Department of Health could become illegal under an emergency rule discussed by the House Health and Welfare Committee this week.
The situation has caused chaos in the state’s growing hemp industry, with entrepreneurs testifying the change could cost some hundreds of thousands of dollars they’ve invested in products.

LDH general counsel Steve Russo outlined nine proposed changes on Wednesday following consultation with lawmakers and industry leaders, the most controversial dealing with limits on THC and serving size.
The law limits THC—the active compound in hemp and marijuana—to 8 milligrams per serving for products like cookies, gummies, and other items. But LDH has approved hundreds of products with multiple servings in a single package, something Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzalez, said violates the law.
Schexnayder, who shepherded several hemp bills in recent years, identified almost 400 products approved by LDH that should not have been because of the multiple serving issue.

“What the legislature, the language that we did in the bill, if we followed those guidelines, I don’t think we have this issue today,” he said.
Schexnayder noted that a sweep by LDH of products that should be considered illegal uncovered 230 products, pointing to continued issues with interpreting the law.
The speaker suggested reviewing the definitions for floral hemp in the proposed emergency rule, as well as language regarding measuring devices for certain products.
“I think we can go back and work on those issues and I think we can clear up a lot of that,” he said.

Rep. C. Travis Johnson, D-Vidalia, raised concerns about the impact on businesses that have invested in products approved by LDH that would instantly become illegal under the proposed emergency rule.
“I’m hoping you have in mind how much these small businesses invested,” he said. “Louisiana has to be business friendly, and in this particular case there were errors made on our part. So when you’re making these rules…that’s going to impact their business and their investment, and the trust that businesses have for Louisiana, that’s important how we handle this and how we make these companies whole.”


“I haven’t heard any proposals to make them whole,” Johnson said.
Schexnayder noted that the changes could impact as many as 3,000 hemp businesses, another 3,000 retailers and about 70 farmers in the industry.

Numerous business leaders testified about how the proposed rules would impact both their companies and the public.
“We don’t have a problem working with regulations… We want regulation,” said Jason Garsee, owner of Str8W8 Cannabis in Monroe and president of the Gulf South Hemp Association. “But what we do have a problem is a department with certain individuals that are trying to knock the kneecaps out of every entrepreneur and business owner in this state.
“They’re average individuals. They have families. They have goals and they have dreams, and they’re being destroyed today because of all this,” Garsee said.
“I have customers coming to us daily, crying in relief because it has changed their life,” said Crystal Grayson, owner of Zorrillo Cannabis Company. “And by regressing backwards and not working together, like we need to, it’s only going to hurt the public.”