The odds of medical marijuana legislation surviving the Louisiana Legislature with the spurs of the sheriff’s lobby dug into the bill were bad, the bill’s sponsor said.
But something happened over the last year that prompted the powerful Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association to not only lift its opposition — but to speak favorably during a debate on the bill Wednesday (April 29) about the benefits of making the drug available for Louisiana patients who need it. Legislation legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries in Louisiana then got the full backing of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, and it now heads to the full chamber for consideration before moving the House.
“That was the difference maker,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, of the testimony from sheriffs’ association.
Unless something changes — Mills guesses Senate Bill 143 has an 80 percent chance of getting the legislative approval required to authorize doctors to start writing prescriptions. The committee approval was the bill’s first critical test and it’s largest hurdle.
The Louisiana Legislature already legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 1991, but there’s no mechanism in current law that allows for the legal dispensing of the drug. Doctors can legally prescribe it, patients can legally use it, but they don’t have a middleman. Mills’ legislation gives legal authority to the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy to set rules regulating a tightly constrained dispensary system.
Patients suffering from a few, certain diseases could soon obtain a prescription for marijuana in few, certain forms. If the bill becomes law, medical marijuana would not be smokable, for example, but in oils or pill forms. It would also be restricted for use by patients suffering from glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia and for those undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
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(Will Louisiana be the Next State to Legalize Medical Marijuana? – Weed Finder™ News)