Louisiana becomes first Deep South state to dispense medical marijuana – though it took years of hurdles
Published 11:56 am Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Louisiana is becoming the first Deep South state to dispense medical marijuana on Tuesday, four years after state lawmakers agreed to give patients access to therapeutic cannabis.
Nine pharmacies are licensed to dispense medical marijuana across Louisiana and most are expected to open this week. Louisiana joins more than 30 other states that allow medical marijuana in some form. And though marijuana is banned at the federal level, a congressional amendment blocks the Justice Department from interfering with states’ medical marijuana programs.
GB Sciences, one of two state-sanctioned growers, will begin shipping medical marijuana to Louisiana’s registered dispensaries Tuesday morning, after state regulators recently completed final tests and cleared it for release. Hundreds of patients in Louisiana have been awaiting the start of the program after years of work by lawmakers, who created the regulatory framework in 2015 for dispensing the cannabis. There also have been regulatory disputes and other hurdles.
State Sen. Fred Mills, a pharmacist in St. Martin Parish who sponsored the medical marijuana law, never thought it would take years for patients to gain access. He said he has repeatedly received “difficult calls” from people with cancer, seizures and other debilitating conditions and their family members asking when cannabis will reach pharmacy shelves.
“The toughest thing has been not being able to give people a definitive timeline that they could make plans for,” Mills said.
Nine pharmacies are licensed to dispense medical marijuana across Louisiana. Most are expected to open this week. It joins more than 30 other states that allow medical marijuana in some form. And though marijuana is banned at the federal level, a congressional amendment blocks the Justice Department from interfering with states’ medical marijuana programs.
“We’re super-excited. The first patient will be getting medical marijuana here,” said Randy Mire, owner of Capitol Wellness Solutions in Baton Rouge, one of the nine dispensaries authorized statewide.
