Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Vigorous debate in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and before the full upper chamber has sharpened the focus of a bill that would enable medical marijuana to be prescribed in Louisiana.
That's how sponsor Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, sees things. Mills next will take Senate Bill 143 to the House Health and Welfare Committee, perhaps in a week. It's a committee on which he served while a House member, and Mills expects to get a full and fair hearing for his legislation there.
Mills said last week that his office has been flooded with calls from people afflicted with illnesses that might benefit from SB 143, as well as calls from their families. Medical marijuana has been legal in Louisiana for more than two decades, but the mechanisms of how to deliver marijuana to patients - who grows it, what forms it comes in, how it is stored and distributed and prescribed - have never been addressed. That's made prescribing medical marijuana impossible in Louisiana.
Mills' bill would correct that. Although some senators in committee and in the full Senate have expressed some hesitance about the bill - some see it as a gateway for legal drug use - more have appreciated the medicinal effects; the bill has cleared first the Senate committee and then the full Senate chamber, 22-13.
Along the way, the bill has undergone substantial changes, including:
-Prescribed marijuana would not be smoked, but rather taken in another form, perhaps a pill.
-The state Agriculture Department would be in charge of production of medical marijuana, and would grow it at only one location.
-Dispensing pharmacies - at this point, there would be 10 - must meet certain financial requirements.
-The bill would bear a "sunset" provision, Jan. 1, 2020, when lawmakers would review its effectiveness. If they don't think the law is working, they would correct it or end it.
- The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy - Mills, by training a pharmacist, once headed that group — would adopt rules about dispensing medical marijuana no later than Dec. 1, 2016.
Those changes have strengthened the bill, narrowed its focus and made it more acceptable to more people, Mills said last week. He said senators asked good questions at the committee and full Senate hearings, and he appreciated the input, even from those who eventually opposed the bill.
Calls Mills has received since the bill passed in his Senate committee have been "95 percent positive"; in some cases, callers have urged him on, in others, they've asked if their specific malady could be added to the list of those that would be eligible to be treated with medicinal marijuana.
Along the way, Mills has accumulated allies for his bill. When he first introduced the bill during the 2014 session, it was defeated in committee. But an appearance in favor of Mills' bill by Alison Neustrom, the daughter of Lafayette Sheriff Mike Neustrom, changed some hearts when it came to the legislation. Alison Neustrom has since died of pancreatic cancer.
Mike Ranatza of the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association was so moved by the 2014 testimony that he traveled to Washington to talk with Food and Drug Administration representatives to see if there were ways the bill could be improved. Although Ranatza seemed hesitant to explicitly support Mills' developed bill this year, he sat with Mills when Mills presented his bill and spoke to the committee about how the bill had improved in the eyes of the Sheriffs' Association.
But there are skeptics from both sides. The state District Attorney Association says proof is scarce that medical marijuana actually provides the relief it promises. And those who want marijuana laws loosened, such as the group Sensible Marijuana Policy for Louisiana - SMPL - say SB 143 stops well short of where that group is aiming.
"With respect to 143, we had hoped for more," said David Brown, a former city prosecutor from Baton Rouge who is director and founder of SMPL. While SMPL is "delighted" that cancer, glaucoma and some spinal cord patients may find relief under the legislation, he said there's a long list of other maladies - Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, AIDS "wasting" and chronic spasticity disorders, among them - that could be treated as well.
Brown concedes that if SMPL had filed legislation, it would never had cleared the first committee. But he said there's plenty of clear evidence among the 24 states that permit medical marijuana that marijuana in various forms has good effects for myriad patients. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has also said marijuana can have some medicinal benefits for some conditions and symptoms.
Brown, who said he would be willing to testify on the bill, also said that SB 143 leaves "a good bit up to state agencies" and boards, such as the state Agriculture Department, which would be charged with growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the Board of Pharmacy.
"This time, I hope they get it right," he said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: How Louisiana?s medical marijuana bill has evolved
Author: Ken Stickney
Contact: kstickney@gannett.com
Photo Credit: UPI
Website: The Advertiser
That's how sponsor Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, sees things. Mills next will take Senate Bill 143 to the House Health and Welfare Committee, perhaps in a week. It's a committee on which he served while a House member, and Mills expects to get a full and fair hearing for his legislation there.
Mills said last week that his office has been flooded with calls from people afflicted with illnesses that might benefit from SB 143, as well as calls from their families. Medical marijuana has been legal in Louisiana for more than two decades, but the mechanisms of how to deliver marijuana to patients - who grows it, what forms it comes in, how it is stored and distributed and prescribed - have never been addressed. That's made prescribing medical marijuana impossible in Louisiana.
Mills' bill would correct that. Although some senators in committee and in the full Senate have expressed some hesitance about the bill - some see it as a gateway for legal drug use - more have appreciated the medicinal effects; the bill has cleared first the Senate committee and then the full Senate chamber, 22-13.
Along the way, the bill has undergone substantial changes, including:
-Prescribed marijuana would not be smoked, but rather taken in another form, perhaps a pill.
-The state Agriculture Department would be in charge of production of medical marijuana, and would grow it at only one location.
-Dispensing pharmacies - at this point, there would be 10 - must meet certain financial requirements.
-The bill would bear a "sunset" provision, Jan. 1, 2020, when lawmakers would review its effectiveness. If they don't think the law is working, they would correct it or end it.
- The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy - Mills, by training a pharmacist, once headed that group — would adopt rules about dispensing medical marijuana no later than Dec. 1, 2016.
Those changes have strengthened the bill, narrowed its focus and made it more acceptable to more people, Mills said last week. He said senators asked good questions at the committee and full Senate hearings, and he appreciated the input, even from those who eventually opposed the bill.
Calls Mills has received since the bill passed in his Senate committee have been "95 percent positive"; in some cases, callers have urged him on, in others, they've asked if their specific malady could be added to the list of those that would be eligible to be treated with medicinal marijuana.
Along the way, Mills has accumulated allies for his bill. When he first introduced the bill during the 2014 session, it was defeated in committee. But an appearance in favor of Mills' bill by Alison Neustrom, the daughter of Lafayette Sheriff Mike Neustrom, changed some hearts when it came to the legislation. Alison Neustrom has since died of pancreatic cancer.
Mike Ranatza of the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association was so moved by the 2014 testimony that he traveled to Washington to talk with Food and Drug Administration representatives to see if there were ways the bill could be improved. Although Ranatza seemed hesitant to explicitly support Mills' developed bill this year, he sat with Mills when Mills presented his bill and spoke to the committee about how the bill had improved in the eyes of the Sheriffs' Association.
But there are skeptics from both sides. The state District Attorney Association says proof is scarce that medical marijuana actually provides the relief it promises. And those who want marijuana laws loosened, such as the group Sensible Marijuana Policy for Louisiana - SMPL - say SB 143 stops well short of where that group is aiming.
"With respect to 143, we had hoped for more," said David Brown, a former city prosecutor from Baton Rouge who is director and founder of SMPL. While SMPL is "delighted" that cancer, glaucoma and some spinal cord patients may find relief under the legislation, he said there's a long list of other maladies - Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, AIDS "wasting" and chronic spasticity disorders, among them - that could be treated as well.
Brown concedes that if SMPL had filed legislation, it would never had cleared the first committee. But he said there's plenty of clear evidence among the 24 states that permit medical marijuana that marijuana in various forms has good effects for myriad patients. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has also said marijuana can have some medicinal benefits for some conditions and symptoms.
Brown, who said he would be willing to testify on the bill, also said that SB 143 leaves "a good bit up to state agencies" and boards, such as the state Agriculture Department, which would be charged with growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the Board of Pharmacy.
"This time, I hope they get it right," he said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: How Louisiana?s medical marijuana bill has evolved
Author: Ken Stickney
Contact: kstickney@gannett.com
Photo Credit: UPI
Website: The Advertiser
