A New Orleans lawmaker files the first in a package of bills meant to make recreational marijuana use legal in Louisiana. District 99 Democrat Rep. Candace Newell says her House Bill 17 applies to state regulation of cultivating cannabis for recreational use…:
”We want to have a handle on who’s growing it, so we know where it’s coming from…and you’re just not willy-nilly growing it in your back yard.”
Newell’s bill would authorize the Department of Agriculture to create & issue up to ten cannabis production facility licenses, require applicants to undergo criminal background checks and establish fees for production permits. She says other states are seeing revenue windfalls after legalizing recreational cannabis…:
“Just as alcohol. You have a license to sell alcohol. If you don’t have a license you can’t sell it. The same will be with recreational marijuana…if I can get this bill passed.”
HB12 is one of a three-bill package Newell says she will file…:
“I’ve separated the three bills. It’s legalization, regulation (in HB17) and taxation. So each bill does its own thing.”
Louisiana has already legalized medicinal cannabis, and has expanded the program to allow more treatment options, smokable cannabis flowers (instead of cannabis edibles and oils) and to allow more cannabis “pharmacies” to operate. Newell says this is the next logical step for Louisiana.
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