{"id":53918,"date":"2022-03-30T05:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T13:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/louisiana-lawmakers-approve-bill-to-increase-marijuana-penalties-for-children-but-not-adults\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T05:45:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T13:45:33","slug":"louisiana-lawmakers-approve-bill-to-increase-marijuana-penalties-for-children-but-not-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/louisiana-lawmakers-approve-bill-to-increase-marijuana-penalties-for-children-but-not-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Increase Marijuana Penalties For Children\u2014But Not Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think we should be criminalizing youth more harshly than adults.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Julie O\u2019Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Louisiana lawmakers may put\u00a0incarceration 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<\/a>, even for repeat offenses.<\/p>\n

Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, is seeking to modify the state\u2019s\u00a0sweeping marijuana decriminalization law\u00a0that was enacted last year.\u00a0House Bill 700<\/a>\u00a0would impose harsher penalties on children and teenagers than adults.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Those penalties would be dramatically different than the ones adults face. Under Bagley\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice forwarded Bagley\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was presented like this bill is about trying to put people in prison. It\u2019s not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, who has generally supported loosening marijuana restrictions, agreed with Bagley and said laws around minors\u2019 marijuana use needed to be tighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to rehabilitate children. This allows our courts to kind of keep them in check and put them in drug courts,\u201d said Muscarello, R-Hammond. \u201cNo judge is putting a kid in jail for six months for marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left-leaning groups and marijuana legalization advocacy organizations opposed the legislation. They suggested discipline within the school system\u2014such as suspension, expulsion or removal from sports teams and other school activities\u2014be used to help keep marijuana off campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think we should be criminalizing youth more harshly than adults,\u201d said Peter Robins-Brown, executive director of Louisiana Progress.<\/p>\n

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very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very bad idea. #lalege<\/a> #lagov<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Louisiana Progress (@LAProgressAct) March 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

People under the age of 21 can be fined $100 and lose their driver\u2019s license for up to six months if they are caught drinking alcohol,\u00a0according to Louisiana law, but they don\u2019t face jail time. Minors caught with cigarettes can be fined up to $50.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcohol, in my opinion, would be greatly more harmful than marijuana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Louisiana Illuminator.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Congressional Researchers Identify Challenges Caused By Federal Marijuana Prohibition Ahead Of House Legalization Vote<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Increase Marijuana Penalties For Children\u2014But Not Adults<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Increase Marijuana Penalties For Children\u2014But Not Adults<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe don\u2019t think we should be criminalizing youth more harshly than adults.\u201d By Julie O\u2019Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana lawmakers may put\u00a0incarceration 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 timeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53919,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions\/53919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}