By November, the LSU AgCenter expects to have grown the first legal medical marijuana crop in the history of the state. In a very conservative state with historically harsh drug laws, this marijuana crop shows just how far the state has progressed, but also how far it has to go.
In 2015, the Louisiana legislature authorized the AgCenter to begin growing marijuana. Due to budget cuts and lack of funding, the project did not start until 2017, when GB Sciences, a national marijuana company, provided private funding for the project.
The expansion of medical marijuana is crucial to funding for research. Perhaps if state laws allowed private citizens to have their own pot-growing operations, funding would not be an issue. With an opioid epidemic plaguing the nation, funding for marijuana research and development should be a higher priority.
In other states where medical marijuana is legal, the benefits are plentiful for everyone in the process. Growers sell marijuana products to dispensaries that provide jobs, and patients conveniently receive their medicine. The state government regulates the process and generates revenue through sales tax. In 2017 alone, Colorado, a state that has legalized recreational marijuana, collected upward of $247 million in taxes and fees revenue from marijuana sales.
Instead of only allowing two places for marijuana to be grown and arresting people with their own marijuana crops, the Louisiana legislature should legalize and regulate marijuana just like alcohol and tobacco. Many parts of Louisiana are rural areas where farmers could grow their own cannabis and sell it to dispensaries while the government receives money through taxes.
Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, partially due to how harshly non-violent marijuana offenses are enforced. If recreational marijuana was legal, the state would see a decrease in crime, all while receiving more money in sales taxes and have more funding for research.
The AgCenter’s medical marijuana program shows great progress, but GB Sciences will receive 90 percent of sales revenue because they are paying for most of the project’s expenses. The University should prioritize research over profits, but in doing so, it risks the amount of funding it will receive in the future.
The Louisiana legislature added post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of illnesses that qualify patients to receive medical marijuana. The list should add mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and anger issues.
The program will allow pharmacies to sell products that are not smokable, but in liquid droplet form called tinctures. This is perfectly okay as long as the dosages are easy to determine. But the number of pharmacies selling the tinctures is very limited, thus limiting the patients’ access to medicine.
The University is one of only two places in the state allowed to grow cannabis, and doctors have long lists for people desiring to become marijuana patients. Dr. Victor Chou, a Baton Rouge doctor licensed to prescribe medical marijuana, said he has a waiting list of 300 patients.
The AgCenter said it is pursuing medical marijuana primarily for research, but if the program was used for profits, the program would provide more opportunities for expansion in the marijuana field.
Even though medical marijuana use is only legal for a very limited number of patients with specific ailments and illnesses, the research being done at the AgCenter provides critical information on which strains are the most appropriate for certain conditions.
The Louisiana legislature should consider legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, as it would help raise tax revenues, solve some of the state’s budget issues, promote healthy business and provide access to a substance that is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.
Max Nedanovich is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Mandeville, Louisiana.