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Marijuana decriminalization took effect in Louisiana on Sunday\u2014and advocates and lawmakers are working to ensure that residents know what they can and cannot do without going to jail under the new law.<\/p>\n
Gov. John Bell Edwards (D) signed the legislation in June<\/a>, and he emphasized that it was \u201cnot a decision I took lightly,\u201d but he recognized that criminalization has had significant consequences for families and taxpayers.<\/p>\n Under the law, possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis is now punishable by a $100 fine, without the threat of jail time. The governor has pushed back against the definition of the policy as \u201cdecriminalization,\u201d but that\u2019s exactly how advocates define policies that remove the threat of incarceration for low-level possession.<\/p>\n Now, the sponsor of the decriminalization bill, Rep. Cedric Glover (D), is partnering with the advocacy group Louisiana Progress on an awareness campaign to educate people about the new reform.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve already put out a FAQ on the law and will be using social media and other informational materials to inform the public while also engaging in outreach to law enforcement and legislators.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw two city council members in my hometown of Shreveport\u2014one conservative and one progressive\u2014come together to decriminalize personal-use marijuana possession there, I knew it was time to take this reform to the state level,\u201d Glover said<\/a>. \u201cCriminalizing marijuana possession is harmful to the people of Louisiana in so many ways, but it\u2019s been particularly harmful for Black and Brown communities, lower-income folks, and young people. My fervent hope is that this new law will finally bring some relief and a feeling of freedom to those communities.\u201d<\/p>\n When finding common ground leads to doing the common good. \u2014 Cedric B. Glover (@MayorGlover) August 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Louisiana Progress says lawmakers shouldn\u2019t stop at simple decriminalization and should enact broader cannabis legalization in an upcoming session.<\/p>\n \u201cMarijuana decriminalization is an important victory for criminal justice reform in Louisiana, especially for the traditionally marginalized communities that have been disproportionately criminalized under prohibition,\u201d the group\u2019s new FAQ says. \u201cBut we need to keep fighting to end marijuana prohibition altogether. Doing so could be hugely beneficial, including bringing dozens of new small businesses and hundreds or even thousands of new jobs to Louisiana.\u201d<\/p>\n If you have any questions that aren\u2019t answered on this FAQ, please drop them in the replies below, and we\u2019ll find the answer for you.<\/p>\n \u2014 Louisiana Progress Action (@LAProgressAct) August 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Meanwhile, national advocates are cheering the new law\u2019s taking effect.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a much-needed policy change for Louisiana,\u201d NORML State Policies Manager Carly Wolf said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cThe enactment of this legislation is great progress toward ending the racially discriminatory policy of branding otherwise law-abiding Louisianans as criminals for minor marijuana possession offenses when law enforcement should instead be focusing on fighting legitimate crime.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, the governor also signed a bill in June to let patients in the state\u2019s medical cannabis program legally smoke whole-plant marijuana flower.<\/p>\n \u2014 The legislation marks a notable expansion of the state\u2019s limited medical marijuana program. 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 While the governor has made clear his willingness to approve more modest reforms, he predicted that he would not be the one to sign adult-use legalization into law before he leaves office in early 2024\u2014even though he does expect the policy change to happen in his state<\/a>\u00a0at some point.<\/p>\n An effort in the legislature to pass a bill to legalize recreational cannabis\u00a0stalled in the House this session<\/a> after the chamber failed to pass a complementary measure on taxing adult-use marijuana. Edwards also said in May that he believes the reform \u201cis going to happen in Louisiana eventually<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on the march, and that certainly might happen here in Louisiana,\u201d he said last week. However \u201cI would be surprised if there\u2019s a consensus in the legislature to do that while I\u2019m governor.\u201d (Edwards is term-limited and cannot run again in 2023\u2019s upcoming gubernatorial election.)<\/p>\n In April, the governor also said that\u00a0he had \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 Louisiana 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 The developments on various cannabis-related legislation come after recent polling showed that constituents in some of the most firmly Republican districts in the state\u00a0support legalizing marijuana.<\/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 Senate\u2019s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Aims To Let Researchers Study Marijuana From Dispensaries<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Louisiana Marijuana Decriminalization Officially Takes Effect As Lawmaker Launches Awareness Campaign<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Marijuana decriminalization took effect in Louisiana on Sunday\u2014and advocates and lawmakers are working to ensure that residents know what they can and cannot do without going to jail under the new law. Gov. John Bell Edwards (D) signed the legislation in June, and he emphasized that it was \u201cnot aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49207,"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\/49206"}],"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=49206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49208,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49206\/revisions\/49208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Many thanks to Shreveport Councilmembers Tabatha Taylor and John Nickleson for leading the way and the #LaLege<\/a> for pushing it through.#Act247<\/a> #HB652<\/a> #1stDeepSouthState<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/KYb8cfmdsQ<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: Louisiana Marijuana Decriminalization Officially Takes Effect As Lawmaker Launches Awareness Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"