A Louisiana lawmaker has introduced a bill to create an adult-use marijuana legalization pilot program in the state to determine whether the reform should eventually be expanded and permanently codified.
Rep. Candace Newell (D)—who has long championed legislation to end cannabis criminalization and filed a similar legal marijuana pilot program measure last session—is sponsoring what’s titled the “Adult-Use Cannabis Pilot Program Regulation and Enforcement Act.”
“In an effort to protect the public health, safety and welfare, it is the purpose of this Section to establish a temporary pilot program designed to test and evaluate the parameters of the implementation of a permanent adult-use cannabis program in this state,” the bill text states.
The pilot program is meant to evaluate the feasibility of a “potential permanent program” for adult-use cannabis, gain feedback and data on the small-scale trial and analyze the “outcomes and results” to determine whether the pilot program should be expanded and implemented on a permanent basis.
Under the proposal, the state Department of Health would be responsible for regulating the pilot program, including the “cultivation, extraction, processing, production, transportation, and retail sale of adult-use cannabis.”
Only existing medical marijuana dispensaries would be eligible to participate in the pilot
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