Louisiana House Passes Bill to Expand Medical Marijuana Program

Patients in Louisiana’s medical marijuana program would be able to smoke raw cannabis, rather than rely on the more processed forms of marijuana currently available, if the Senate agrees to a bill that easily won House passage on May 3.

The House voted 73-26 with little debate for the expansion proposal from Houma Rep. Tanner Magee, the House’s second-ranking Republican.

Louisiana’s dispensaries sell medical marijuana in liquids, topical applications, inhalers and edible gummies. But they are barred from offering raw marijuana in smokable form. Magee’s bill would legalize that as well for medicinal purposes, starting in January.

The raw, smokable marijuana plant is cheaper to produce and sell because it involves less processing.

A separate bill that already has won House passage would apply the state’s 4.45% sales tax to smokable medical marijuana products, with the tax revenue earmarked to transportation projects. That legislation awaits debate in the Senate.

The bill is filed as House Bill 391.