The author of legislation that would legalize recreational marijuana says the House will vote on his bill Tuesday afternoon.
Mandeville Republican Representative Richard Nelson said he’s optimistic he now has the votes needed to send this bill to the Senate and does not plan on delaying that vote again.
“The vote on decriminalization I think was kind of indicative of how attitudes are changing and I think was kind of indicative of the kind of groundwork we have laid with the legalization question,” said Nelson who added that agreeing to limit personal possession to two and a half ounces and removing language allowing people to grow pot at home helped win over some skeptical lawmakers.
The Sheriff’s Association still opposes the legislation, but Nelson said they don’t represent the views of all Louisiana law enforcement officers.
“A lot of individual law enforcement boots on the ground officers, lots of them have told everybody, not just me but all the other legislators, many of them have come forward and said look we are tired of chasing potheads let’s go after the bad guys,” said Nelson.
Lawmakers will be voting on both legalization and taxation instruments.
This vote comes as a JMC Analytics poll of nine south and central Republican-held legislative districts shows strong support for legalization. Pollster John Couvillon said support for legalization ranged from 64 to 84 percent.
“I see these polls as a further amplification of the statewide polling that was conducted back in March,” said Couvillon referring to a March poll that showed 67 percent of Louisianans favored legalizing recreational marijuana.
Couvillon said in those south and central Louisiana districts he found even evangelicals and older voters backed legalization.
“Those groups are strongly in favor, just not to the nearly unanimous extent that Democrats and younger voters are,” said Couvillon.
The poll surveyed voters in five Greater New Orleans media market districts, two Lafayette and Lake Charles media markets, one in the Baton Rouge media market, and one in Alexandria.
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