Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Create Marijuana Legalization Regulatory Framework

Louisiana lawmakers have approved a bill to create a regulatory framework for marijuana legalization, building upon the state’s 2021 decriminalization law.

Members of the House Health and Welfare Committee passed the measure from Rep. Edmond Jordan (D), with amendments, in a unanimous 10-0 vote on Wednesday.

The proposal wouldn’t legalize cannabis, per se. The plan is to have the broader reform implemented in three parts: passing the regulatory measure this year and then working to advance separate bills to allow adult possession and tax marijuana sales next year.

Getting the regulatory measure through the conservative legislature would represent a significant win in the state, however, and set lawmakers up to better define what their program might look like in the coming session.

The legislation as revised would establish an adult-use cannabis program under the Louisiana Department of Health. There would be no caps on the number of dispensaries that regulators could approve, and a previous cap on the number of cultivators was removed as part of an amendment on Wednesday.

Adults 21 and older would be able to buy up to one ounce of cannabis per day. And they could also apply for a permit to cultivate up to six plants for personal use, with a max of 12 plants per household. There would be a $75 annual fee for the home grow permit.

“This is a very simple bill,” Jordan told the committee on Wednesday. “It is for the adult use of cannabis. It sets up the retail side with dispensaries and how we would do that.”

Watch the committee discuss the bill, around 3:41:40 into the video below:

“We can’t bury our heads in the sand and think that people aren’t going to get access to cannabis,” he said. “They’ve gotten access to it since the beginning of time and are going to continue to do that. The question is: How do we make it safe? How do we regulate it? How do we tax it? How do we make money off of it, frankly?”

Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that the regulatory bill means “citizens in Louisiana will be able to know where their representatives stand when it comes to ending prohibition.”

As it stands in Louisiana, possession of up to 14 grams (or half an ounce) of marijuana is decriminalized, punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time.

Last year, former Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) also signed into law a measure that was designed to streamline expungements for people with first-time marijuana possession convictions.

Whether current Gov. Jeff Landry (R) will be willing to sign into law any legislation moving the state toward adult-use legalization is another question. While his Democratic predecessor approved more incremental steps and acknowledged legalization as inevitable, he consistently said the state would not legalize under his tenure.

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Seven in 10 Louisianans support legalizing recreational marijuana possession for adults—and nine in 10 back medical cannabis legalization—according to a survey released last year.

While marijuana legalization has stalled in the Louisiana legislature, there have been efforts to end prohibition and tax cannabis sales that have moved without being enacted.

For example, a comprehensive legalization measure and complementary cannabis tax bill from Rep. Richard Nelson (R) advanced through committee before the tax proposal was rejected on the House floor in 2021, torpedoing the broader measure’s chances.

Lawmakers have also taken several steps to reform other cannabis laws and build on the state’s medical marijuana program in recent sessions.

In 2022, for example, the former governor signed a slew of marijuana reform bills, including one key measure that would expand the number of medical dispensaries that can operate in the state and another to prevent police from searching people’s homes over the smell of cannabis.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.