A bill in the Louisiana Senate that would help doctors prescribe medical marijuana was approved by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 143, sponsored by Sen. Fred Mills (R.-Parks), would put the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy in charge of administering the medical marijuana program. The state’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry, in turn, would oversee cultivation.
Following recommendations by law enforcement, medical marijuana would be available only in “medical form.” This excludes “raw or crude” and smokeable forms of cannabis.
After being amended in committee, the bill’s list of qualifying conditions were limited to glaucoma, chemotherapy cancer treatment symptoms, or spastic quadriplegia. The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners would be charged with submitting new qualifications to be considered by the state legislature.
In his arguments for the bill, Mills, who is himself a pharmacist, stated that medical marijuana was legalized in Louisiana in 1991. However, medical marijuana use under the bill was required to be in “accordance with FDA and DEA administrative guidelines.” The new bill would strike this provision from the 1991 law.
Sources:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/42740/medical-marijuana-bill-advances-louisiana/
Photo Credit: Antrell Williams
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