New Louisiana Law Expands Medical Marijuana Program

Louisiana’s medical marijuana program will offer raw, smokable cannabis to its patients, and the state will tweak its calculations for state income taxes as more than two dozen new laws take effect Saturday with the start of the new year.

Most of the new laws were passed in the regular legislative session that lawmakers wrapped up in June. Voters approved the income tax changes in the fall after lawmakers sent the measure to the ballot for consideration.

The expansion of Louisiana’s medical marijuana program under the law sponsored by Houma Rep. Tanner Magee, the House’s second-ranking Republican, is expected to offer state residents a cheaper form of cannabis to treat their medical conditions.

The state’s dispensaries have been selling medical marijuana in liquids, topical applications, inhalers and edible gummies. The legislation taking effect in January adds raw marijuana in smokable form to that list of products already available for sale. Because it involves less processing, raw marijuana is anticipated to be less expensive for patients.

Lawmakers have steadily widened the rules for Louisiana’s medical marijuana program since enacting the dispensing framework in 2015.