BATON ROUGE, LA.—The first regular session of the Legislature ended today with a compromise on a bill that would have banned edible THC products.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
It is seen as a win for those in favor of marijuana and cannabis products. According to the Louisiana Radio Network, Crescent Canna CEO Joe Gerrity led the effort to kill a bill that sought to prohibit consumable hemp product.
“The ban and the support of the Senate President, the Governor and two billionaires who are exceedingly powerful politically," Canna said. "So it really was a testament of the power of the people that we ended up not facing a total ban.”
The Republican led House and Senate did approve new age restrictions, limits on portion size and restriction on where the products can be sold including restrictions at gas stations.
Gerrity said that a lot of what he heard from the floor of the House was nonsense and that lawmakers lack a general understanding of what they are talking about when it comes to cannabis products.
Proponents of a ban say that marijuana use is a gateway drug and may lead to other more harmful drug use.
According to the Louisiana Illuminator, lawmakers chose stricter regulations over a complete dismantling. Also, the state has forced the two public universities with exclusive rights to medical cannabis farming in Louisiana to transfer their duopoly to two private companies. In the revamped hemp products proposal, House Bill 952, sponsored by Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, passed the House in a 72-30 vote and cleared the Senate 26-11 in the final hour of the legislative session Monday.
Miller’s legislation would among other things, lower the potency of recreational hemp edibles from 8 milligrams to 5 milligrams of THC per serving and ban them from convenience stores that sell fuel. THC is an acronym for tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
"No one likes it," Miller said. He said he was backing the compromise proposal because that was the commitment he made with some lawmakers who supported a competing proposal that would have criminalized all recreational THC products and dismantled the entire hemp industry.
Rep. Jason DeWitt, R-Boyce, criticized the legislation for arbitrarily banning hemp only from convenience stores that sell fuel.
We’re gonna discriminate against stores that sell fuel versus ones that do not?” DeWitt asked. “ … We gave them a permit, and we’re basically gonna put them out of business?”
Restaurants and bars that currently hold alcohol and hemp permits will be able to continue selling hemp products, but the bill will stop the state from issuing any new hemp permits for alcohol establishments.
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