As marijuana reform failed in California, experts say it’s unlikely Louisiana residents will legally puff, puff, pass anytime soon.
Proposition 19, a marijuana legalization bill in California, failed to pass with only 46 percent at the polls Tuesday, and Louisiana has much less support for drug reform, according to University associate political science professor Robert Hogan.
“The chances of [marijuana law] changing here is extraordinarily remote,” Hogan said. “The political system here does not lend itself to things like that.”
Hogan said Louisiana’s laws are unlikely to change because voters in Louisiana do not have the right to put a state law, like Proposition 19, on the ballot.
“In California they need a certain number of signatures to get something on the ballot, and if it’s passed, it becomes state law,” Hogan said.
In order for a marijuana legalization law — either full-legalization or just legalization for medical purposes — to happen in Louisiana, a member of the Legislature would have to introduce a bill, the bill would have to pass both houses of the State Legislature, and the governor would have to sign it.
Politicians in a conservative state like Louisiana are unlikely to take those risks, Hogan said.
Noah Mamber, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group based out of Washington, D.C., said he thinks legalization of marijuana on a national level will come, although Louisiana may be one of the last states to implement it.
“We’re going to change laws across the country,” Mamber said. “Will Louisiana be part of the first wave of changing marijuana laws? Most likely not.”
Mamber criticized the Legislature’s decision to quickly ban Spice, which has been referred to as “synthetic marijuana,” instead of reforming marijuana law.
“The proper response to Spice is to pass a tax-and-regulate law for marijuana so that people don’t have to use Spice. Marijuana is safe,” Mamber said.
Mamber said the best news to come out of Louisiana recently for pro-legalization activists is that new bills — like HP311 — that increase marijuana penalties or are targeted at marijuana users did not pass this year in the Legislature.
“That was a ridiculous bill that tried to require drug offenders to carry a scarlet letter, a modified driver’s license,” Mamber said.
Even though penalties in Louisiana did not increase, the state had the fifth-highest marijuana arrest rate in the country in 2007, according to a report from marijuana activist Jon Gettman.
Louisiana had 18,535 marijuana arrests in 2007, and 2,660 of those were in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to the report.
If marijuana laws in Louisiana are ever going to change, student involvement will be vital, Mamber said.
“We’re going to continue to grow, and we’re going to change the demographic of society,” Mamber said. “Once they become the majority and the supporters of a failed prohibition become the minority, polls and legislatures will be more supportive of marijuana reform.”
 
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]