The Louisiana State Legislature convened its 2023 session on April 10, 2023.

2022 was a successful year, with the Louisiana Legislature passing legislation limiting warrantless searches of a person’s place of residence based on the smell of cannabis, legalizing cannabis paraphernalia for medical patients, providing employment protections for some state workers who are medical patients, allowing nurse practitioners to recommend medical cannabis, allowing reciprocity for out of state medical patients to possess and purchase medical cannabis and restructuring the administration of the medical cannabis program.

During the legislative off-season, MPP’s Kevin Caldwell chaired a state task force on employment protections for medical cannabis patients. The recommendations were sent to the state legislature for consideration.

While working longer term on legalization, we hope to see several interim cannabis policy reforms move forward in 2023:

• HB620 would set up the tax structure for adult- use cannabis sales once they are legalized and regulated. It would allocate those revenues including supporting efforts to move Louisiana courts from a fee and fine based system for funding and early childhood development.
• HB286 would expunge first-time possession records. This is an integral part of addressing the inequities of cannabis enforcement.
• HB351 would protect medical patients in terms of workers compensation and unemployment insurance.
• HB467 would allow medical cannabis cultivator licensees (LSU and Southern) to contract with more than one contractor and increase the statewide number of medical cannabis dispensaries to 30.

Unfortunately, a broader bill to legalize adult-use cannabis died in committee (HB 24) A complete look at all cannabis policy related bills is available here.

Cannabis reform continues to pick up steam in Louisiana. You can let your legislators know you support legalization. (Find your legislators.) Let your voices be heard in Baton Rouge!

Louisiana decriminalizes small amounts of cannabis

On June 14, 2021, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed Rep. Cedric Glover’s decriminalization bill — HB 652 — into law!

This law will save thousands of Louisianans from being incarcerated for small amounts of cannabis. The penalty for possessing up to 14 grams (or 0.49 oz.) of cannabis was reduced to a fine of up to $100. For those unable to pay, the court must use its discretion for alternatives, such as community service or installment payments.

Possession of up to 14 grams is now enforced by a summons (like a traffic ticket) not an arrest. HB 652 does not reduce penalties for possessing over 14 grams or for possession with intent to distribute or sales of any amount. Those penalties remain harsh.

Louisiana was the incarceration capital of the United States until recently. While the legislature reduced several penalties over the years, many continued to be jaw-droppingly harsh and tear families apart. 

We are grateful to everyone who has worked so hard for humane cannabis policies in Louisiana, including Louisiana Progress  and CommonSense NOLA, whose trailblazing local decriminalization efforts laid the foundation for statewide reform; and Sensible Marijuana Policy for Louisiana, who have been key to medical cannabis progress and broader reform over the years.

New Orleans pardons past, present, and future cannabis tickets

On August 5, 2021, the New Orleans City Council approved a package of three ordinances to move the city as close as it can legally get to legalizing cannabis possession.

Beginning on September 15, the ordinances — sponsored by Council President Helena Morena — will pardon about 10,000 cannabis possession convictions and pending charges. New Orleans had previously reduced the penalty for cannabis possession to a fine-only offense.

Anyone who receives a summons for cannabis possession under the new ordinances will have it immediately forgiven, with no action needed from the court or the ticketed individual. However, smoking cannabis in public will be a ticketable offense under the Smoke-Free Air Act.

Congratulations to our allies at CommonSense NOLA, Council President Morena; and everyone else who worked so hard to enact these measures!

Medical cannabis program improving; governor signs bill to legalize raw, flower cannabis

Louisiana’s medical cannabis program started as perhaps the most restrictive in the nation, leaving behind most patients and modes of administration. The legislature has made significant improvements, but the law still has problematic limitations.

Louisiana’s medical cannabis law initially prohibited inhaled and flower cannabis. However, on June 21, 2021, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ signed SB 391 into law, allowing whole-plant (flower) and smoking. Banning flower drives up costs, making medical cannabis inaccessible to most low-income and middle-income patients, and can result in cannabis businesses not being economically viable.

Louisiana’s list of qualifying conditions also began as unduly restrictive. In 2020, however, the legislature passed and Gov. John Bel Edwards signed HB 819, which allows doctors to recommend medical cannabis for any medical condition the physician “considers debilitating to an individual patient” that the physician is qualified to treat. It also added several qualifying conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain associated with sickle cell anemia or fibromyalgia.

HB 819 was sponsored by Rep. Larry Bagley (R), who had been opposed to medical cannabis until he heard from constituents who found it relieved their pain. Now, he has become a champion.

His turnaround shows the dramatic impact constituent stories can have on their lawmakers. Considering reaching out to your state legislators about other marijuana policy reforms you care about.

One way Louisiana’s law remains among the most restrictive in the nation is the inadequate supply of cannabis:  Louisiana has only two state-licensed cultivators — Louisiana State University and Southern University — and the state has authorized only nine locations to dispense medical cannabis.

Find out more about the program here.

Polling shows Louisiana voters support legalization

The people of Louisiana are ready to rid their state of the overly harsh penalties currently imposed for cannabis offenses. A March 2021 poll found 67% of Louisianans support legalizing cannabis. Only 24% said using or possessing cannabis should be illegal.

Louisiana’s largest city has listened to voters: In 2016, the New Orleans City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to decriminalize cannabis possession in the city. Encouragingly, officers are by and large abiding by the ordinance (rather than arresting under state law), and statistics show plummeting arrests. Shreveport and East Baton Rouge followed suit, and in 2021 the legislature decriminalized simple possession statewide. 

But decriminalization doesn’t fix most of the harms created by prohibiting cannabis.Ask your legislators to make cannabis legal for all adults. The legal cannabis industry can create thousands of jobs, hundreds of small business opportunities, and tens of millions of dollars in state tax revenue. It would also remove the #1 pretext for unnecessary police-civilian interactions — the supposed odor of cannabis — while giving consumers access to a safe, tested product. Let your lawmakers know that legalizing and regulating cannabis is essential for both the economy and for racial justice.

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