BATON ROUGE, La. — Significantly more Louisiana residents will have access to medical marijuana under a major expansion of the state’s therapeutic cannabis program that Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law.
The law changes take effect in August.
They’ll allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana for any patient they believe it would help, and remove restrictions on which doctors can recommend cannabis.
The House and Senate agreed to the bill in the regular session that ended June 1. The House voted 75-16 for the measure, while the Senate agreed in a 28-6 vote.
The Democratic governor announced Monday evening that he had signed the bill into law.
In August 2019, Louisiana became the first Deep South state — and one of more than 30 states nationwide — to dispense medical marijuana, four years after state lawmakers agreed to give patients access.
Louisiana already allows cannabis to treat diseases and disorders such as cancer, seizure disorders, epilepsy, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson’s disease.
Read more at wwltv.com
