The Louisiana Legislature will once again look at medical marijuana in its upcoming session in April.
Rep. Dalton Honore, D-Baton Rouge, prefiled the bill legalizing marijuana distribution for medical purposes. The state passed a law in 1991 allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana but distribution is not protected.
Doctors can prescribe the herb, but patients don’t have access to it, like in other states.
A similar bill was introduced last year but it did not get past the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. More than 20 other states and Washington, D.C. have legalized medical marijuana.
Mass communication freshman Charles Wheat said if it works for other states, it’s time for Louisiana to give it a shot.
“I’ve seen how well it’s worked in other states like Colorado and California,” Wheat said. “I have friends with family who have moved to Colorado because of cancer-related problems and they’ve said it helps them.”
The proposed law allows patients suffering from glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia and chemotherapy-related symptoms to take medical marijuana to alleviate their conditions. The bill also establishes the Therapeutic Marijuana Utilization Review Board as the rulemaking body for administering the drug.
Producers, distributors and prescribing physicians would need to get a license from the state, according to the bill’s abstract.
About 80 percent of Louisiana residents support medical marijuana legalization, according to the University Public Policy Research Lab’s 2014 Louisiana Survey.
Wheat said it’s time for lawmakers to stop standing behind disproven research.
“It’s a ‘we don’t want it here, but we don’t have the propaganda behind us anymore’ message,” Wheat said. “They can’t say that anymore.”
Marijuana is effective in reducing pain for HIV patients, especially when combined with opiates, according to a 2007 study by integrative medical specialist Donald Abrams. It is also used to treat nausea.
Coastal environmental science freshman Jacob Nunez said the drug definitely has medical benefits, but it’s still addictive.
“It has harmful effects,” Nunez said. “It depends on the person. It helps people with anxiety, but it’s highly addictive.”
The Louisiana Sheriffs Association opposed last year’s bill, but English senior Brian Lafourcade said the state should close the loophole.
“If you’re going to do one thing, you should do the other,” Lafourcade said. “Politicians make stupid laws like that all the time. It’s just so stupid.”