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A Louisiana bill to allow patients to access smokable medical marijuana products is heading to the governor\u2019s desk, while separate legislation to decriminalize low-level possession of recreational cannabis is also pending final action in the legislature.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives gave final approval to the medical flower proposal<\/a> in a 76-17 vote. The chamber passed an earlier form of the legislation<\/a> last month, but the Senate amended it, meaning House lawmakers needed to concur in order to get it to Gov. John Bel Edwards (D).<\/p>\n It would mark a significant expansion of the state\u2019s current program if signed into law. As it stands, patients are able to vaporize cannabis preparations via a \u201cmetered-dose inhaler,\u201d but they cannot access whole-plant flower and smoking is not allowed.<\/p>\n A companion House-passed bill<\/a> to tax medical cannabis flower is advancing through the Senate. The body approved a floor amendment last week to extend the state\u2019s general sales tax and steer the resulting revenue to infrastructure projects and utilities, but it was recommitted to committee before a final vote on the legislation was held. On Wednesday, the body\u2019s Finance Committee approved an amended version of the bill and returned it to the floor.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Senate is also set to soon take up a separate decriminalization proposal<\/a> that would make it so possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis<\/a> would be punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time. The House approved the measure<\/a> by a vote of 67-25 last month.<\/p>\n These developments come weeks after an effort to more broadly legalize marijuana in the state stalled<\/a> in the House.<\/p>\n \u201cHouse Bill 652 seeks to address a problem that I think many of us have recognized over the years,\u201d Rep. Cedric Glover (D) sponsor of the successful decriminalization measure, said at a committee hearing last week, adding that while opinions on full marijuana legalization vary, there\u2019s widespread acceptance that low-level possession should not lead to incarceration or felony convictions.<\/p>\n \u2014 Edwards said in a radio appearance last month that while full marijuana legalization hit a roadblock this year, he does believe it \u201cis going to happen in Louisiana eventually<\/a>.\u201d He also spoke about the decriminalization and medical cannabis flower bills as examples of reform\u2019s general momentum.<\/p>\n The actions on various cannabis-related legislation comes as a new poll shows that constituents in some of the most firmly Republican districts in the state support legalizing marijuana.<\/a><\/p>\n When it comes to legalization, while advocates generally expected resistance from Edwards, who has repeatedly expressed opposition to the reform, he did say in April that he has \u201cgreat interest\u201d in the legalization proposal<\/a>, and he pledged to take a serious look at its various provisions.<\/p>\n Last year, the legislature significantly expanded the state\u2019s 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\u2019s used under current law.<\/p>\n Edwards\u00a0signed the measure in June 2020<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0it took effect weeks later<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two other recent polls\u2014including one personally commissioned by a top Republican lawmaker\u2014have found that\u00a0a majority of voters are in favor of legalizing cannabis<\/a>\u00a0for adult use.<\/p>\n California Senate Approves Bill To Legalize Possession Of Psychedelics Like Psilocybin And LSD<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Louisiana Bill To Legalize Smokable Medical Marijuana Heads To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Louisiana bill to allow patients to access smokable medical marijuana products is heading to the governor\u2019s desk, while separate legislation to decriminalize low-level possession of recreational cannabis is also pending final action in the legislature. The House of Representatives gave final approval to the medical flower proposal in aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":48043,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48042"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48044,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48042\/revisions\/48044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Louisiana Bill To Legalize Smokable Medical Marijuana Heads To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"