{"id":24522,"date":"2018-03-16T16:18:41","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T00:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/03\/16\/decrim-among-four-pot-bills-filed-in-louisiana-this-week\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T00:59:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T08:59:23","slug":"decrim-among-four-pot-bills-filed-in-louisiana-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/03\/16\/decrim-among-four-pot-bills-filed-in-louisiana-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Decrim Among Four Pot Bills Filed in Louisiana This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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Cannabis decriminalization may be coming to the bayou, as four cannabis bills have already been filed for Louisiana\u2019s legislative session that started this week.<\/p>\n

Representative Edward Ted James filed two of the\u00a0bills<\/a>. One to\u00a0decriminalize the personal possession<\/a>\u00a0of up to one ounce of marijuana, and the other to\u00a0expand access the state\u2019s forthcoming medical marijuana program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Currently, in Louisiana, things can get pretty rough for simple pot possession. If you\u2019re caught with up to 14 grams, so anything between a joint and a half ounce, you\u2019re looking at up to 15 days in jail. There is also an additional fine that could top out at $300, not to mention lost income and any additional court fees. Over a half ounce? Then things get even wilder, with someone caught in possession of 15 grams of marijuana or more looking at up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0HB 611<\/a>\u00a0is successful, this would all change to a $100 dollar fine for up to one ounce. It would also specifically address that a person is not subject to arrest while also limiting the state\u2019s ability to impose any additional penalty on a person for possessing a small amount of marijuana or having cannabinoids. In Louisiana\u2019s eyes the move would prohibit these civil violations from being considered a state or federal drug offense, a parole violation, or grounds for denying student financial aid, public housing, and other programs.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with Cannabis Now, James explained how cannabis reform got onto his plate as a lawmaker and how long he\u2019d been eyeing the decrim push.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of New Orleans adopted a local ordinance last year and here in Baton Rouge, our city council adopted an ordinance as well,\u201d James said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the two largest cities in the state that have moved on it so I figured it was something we should do statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n

We asked James his thoughts on the bills overall, his hopes for the legislative session and how he thought his colleagues would respond. One of the big things he\u2019s doing to garner support are amendments to the bill that dedicates part of the revenue to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we\u2019re dealing with in Louisiana is a huge budget deficit so my plan is to make it not only about the decriminalization but also make it a fiscal bill to help law enforcement with some of the issues they\u2019ve been having,\u201d said James. \u201cBut traditionally, Louisiana is always last to do things progressively. I mean it took us many many years to even get medical cannabis passed. I\u2019m not looking for it to fly through the legislature but the polling looks really good, especially in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and most of the major cities. I\u2019m hoping my colleagues are open to the discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates are applauding the effort while noting how bad the situation currently is.<\/p>\n

\u201cLouisiana would be wise to expand upon a policy that is already in effect in their largest city, New Orleans, and approve statewide marijuana decriminalization as a first step towards legalization,\u201d\u00a0NORML<\/a>\u00a0Executive Director Erik Altieri told Cannabis Now on the news of the group of bills being filed in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Altieri says it is immoral to continue to arrest over 17,000 citizens a year for nothing more than the simple possession of marijuana and to continue to burden state taxpayers with the cost of that enforcement, which totals over $45 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, these arrests are disproportionately oppressing people of color in the state,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile African Americans constitute only 30 percent of the state\u2019s population, they account for 60 percent of all marijuana possession arrests, despite usage rates being similar to that of all other demographics. State lawmakers need to put an end to this failed, discriminatory policy and pursue more sensible solutions. Approval of this bill would be a great place to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

We asked James if he felt his bill would have an impact on the severe racial disparity in Louisiana policing highlighted by Altieri.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill will certainly reduce the number of African Americans, particularly males, that are sitting in jail for low-level drug offenses,\u201d James said. \u201cThe research tells us, especially in here in Baton Rouge, that marijuana use is not independent to the black community but we see all across the country that most of the arrests are happening in poor communities of color. So we\u2019re hoping we will address not only\u00a0decriminalizing, but also destigmatizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second bill to be filed,\u00a0HB 579<\/a>, would bring a lot of new medical patients into the fold. Currently, the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners and the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy are only allowed to prescribe and distribute cannabis for 10 medical conditions that include cancer, epilepsy, and AIDS. HB 579 would add glaucoma, severe muscle spasms, intractable pain, and PTSD.<\/p>\n

Another bill,\u00a0HB 627<\/a>\u00a0would expand the state\u2019s medical marijuana program specifically around autism. The bill would cover folks suffering at various points on the autism spectrum to help limit self-harming behavior.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, Representative Edmond Jordan\u2019s\u00a0HB 274<\/a>\u00a0lays a lot of groundwork for the future of cannabis in Louisiana. Current law is tied completely to the effective enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act. If Jordan\u2019s bill passed it would remove those criminal penalties for marijuana sales and distribution, provided that the state legislature is constructing a system of regulation for the legal sale and distribution of marijuana and the establishment of a sales tax. So technically speaking, there will never be \u201clegal cannabis\u201d in Louisiana in the future without a sales tax by law given the current language of the bill. You can never plan too far ahead!<\/p>\n

TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0do you support cannabis reforms in Louisiana?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post Decrim Among Four Pot Bills Filed in Louisiana This Week<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Cannabis decriminalization may be coming to the bayou, as four cannabis bills have already been filed for Louisiana\u2019s legislative session that started this week. Representative Edward Ted James filed two of the\u00a0bills. One to\u00a0decriminalize the personal possession\u00a0of up to one ounce of marijuana, and the other to\u00a0expand access the state\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,94,90,1986],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24523,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24522\/revisions\/24523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}