The LSU Board of Supervisors approved a resolution on June 24 allowing LSU AgCenter to begin growing medical marijuana under Senate Bill 143.
University Vice President for Agriculture William Richardson said it’s unlikely production will begin in 2016, but plans are underway and production could be up and running by 2017.
Richardson said he decided to pursue the proposal after considerable soul searching. With 47,000 4-H students across the state, setting the right example and remaining in-line with the values taught to the 4-H students was a top priority, he said.
Richardson said he was convinced of the plant’s medicinal value after hearing testimonials from several individuals currently utilizing the drug. Though technically legalized in both 1978 and 1991, current use of medical marijuana in Louisiana is illegal.
“It doesn’t cure anything, but it will definitely improve the quality of people’s lives,” he said. “I’m thoroughly convinced of that.”
The University’s growth of the plant will be strictly regulated, Richardson said. The growing facility will not be located on or adjacent to campus, and University undergraduate students will not be allowed to work in the facility.
No University or state funding will be allotted to support the growth program, he said. Instead, the program will be run through a foundation separate from the University and funding will be acquired from third parties.
The plants will be grown indoors to prevent contamination from pesticides that can occur with outdoor growing, Richardson said. Ensuring the safety of the products and patients is a top priority, he said.
Richardson and his team are currently reviewing warehouse facilities in the Baton Rouge area and already have several properties in mind as potential growth sites. The selected building will likely be between 20,000 to 50,000 square feet, but there’s flexibility depending on the estimated production output needed, he said.
Security on the site will be extensive, Richardson said. Employees will submit to thorough background checks and will likely be required to change out of their personal clothes after entering the building. The marijuana plants will be monitored by security cameras, and each plant will be barcoded and the products weighed and inventoried, he said.
Current production is limited to oil, in the form of lotions, capsules, sprays, transdermal patches and other delivery methods approved by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, he said. Richardson said he hopes the Board will consider the possibility of expanding into edibles, as younger children may be resistant to pills or other treatments.
Patients will not need a medical card to gain access to the products, according to Senate Bill 271. The bill, an amendment to SB 143, was signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards in May and allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana products to approved patients instead of issuing a formal prescription. The patients can then purchase the products from a state licensed dispensary.
The bill also expanded who can benefit from the medical marijuana legalization. SB 271 expanded the covered disease states to include patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, wasting syndrome, seizure disorders and spasticity, Crohn’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.
While more people can now gain access to the eventual product, determining how that product and its revenue will be handled is another hurdle University officials will be assessing in coming months.
“I’m not about to put two of my student workers in a van delivering marijuana to places and bringing back $30,000 in cash,” Richardson said.
The Board of Pharmacy will oversee the product’s distribution and a third party distributor may need to be contracted to transport the medical marijuana from the growing facility to the state licensed dispensaries. Armored transport vehicles will also be used as necessary.
If the program is heavily funded through cash transactions, the AgCenter will have to assess where the money will be handled, he said.
Richardson said national banks have been concerned about banking regulations when dealing with the cash-heavy industry in Colorado because of the drug’s illegal status nationally. Several state banks have already expressed interest in handling the money, Richardson said.
The amount of revenue generated by the sale of the medical marijuana is hard to predict, Richardson said. The income to the University could be significant or could fall well below expectations, he said. Regardless, a certain amount of the products’ revenue will cover program expenses, while other percentages will be paid to investors and the Commissioner of Agriculture, Richardson said.
Richardson said his team is hoping to have some of these questions answered during a visit to Advanced Grow Labs in West Haven, Connecticut next week.