Medical Marijuana Coming to Louisiana?

Medical marijuana is once again being considered in Louisiana. State Senator Fred Mills says he hopes to gain support for a piece of legislation that would allow patients access to medicinal grade marijuana to treat debilitating conditions like epilepsy and cancer.

However, as much as Mills believes in the healing therapeutic properties of marijuana, he says the bill will not allow anything like Colorado and Washington... it's going to be hard enough to gain support, he says.

“It’s not addressing the recreational use whatsoever,” Mills told The Daily Advertiser. “And if you think about what can be used for an epileptic or a glaucoma patient or a cancer patient, the present drugs that are being prescribed right now have numerous side effects that can be quite dangerous and quite addictive.”

Although medical marijuana has technically been legal in Louisiana since 1991, the legislation that was passed back then failed to indicate how marijuana was to be dispensed and purchased. Essentially, doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana, but there is nowhere for patients to get it.

Mills, who is a pharmacist, says he took interest in legalizing medical marijuana because so many patients have asked why they cannot get their hands on it even though it is legal.

As it stands, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.