Republican State Rep. Richard Nelson of Mandeville has never smoked a cigarette, much less used marijuana. Yet he’s asking his colleagues to vote for his bill to legalize marijuana for all adults, along with a companion bill to collect taxes from it. What attracted him most to the issue is simple: money. Money, he says, that’s currently going to drug dealers in the black market. “You can take it out and put it into legitimate businesses with legitimate jobs and make it safer for the consumers make it safer for everybody. And then at the top of that, you can raise $200 million a year or so in tax revenue that you can use to do significant good,” Nelson said. The Louisiana House of Representatives is poised to vote on his bill as early as next week. It’s not the first time a marijuana legalization bill has been debated at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. But it’s the first time it’s advanced out of a committee for a vote from a full chamber. Nelson is realistic about the chance for legalization this year: his bill faces tough political opposition, but he says public opinion in the state has tipped in favor of the legal sale of marijuana and the upside for the state’s strapped budget is difficult to ignore. Even so, this year’s political progress on the issue in Louisiana is “groundbreaking,” according to John Davis, the president of Wellcana, which produces medical marijuana in Louisiana through a public-private partnership with the LSU AgCenter. It also falls in line with growing public support for legalization: A UNO poll conducted just this week found 55 percent of those polled support legalizing marijuana for all adults. Nelson also cited a study from pollster John Couvillion that showed nearly two-thirds of Louisiana residents polled supported legalizing marijuana, with support from Democrats and Republicans.Nelson, who also cited polls showing public support for legalization, said he received more than a thousand emails in support of his legalization in recent weeks, and about four against it. Political hurdles But his bill faces steep political hurdles: The influential Louisiana Sheriff’s Association and Louisiana District Attorneys Association both oppose the bill and spoke out against it. Warren Montgomery, district attorney for St. Tammany and Washington parishes, cited multiple studies that reviewed the detrimental effects of legalized weed.Louisiana Family Forum, another influential lobbying group that describes itself as a “voice for traditional families,” also opposes it. The group’s president Gene Mills called it a “bad idea,” and worried about access children would have to marijuana if adults can legally buy it.“We ought to just say no to a new way for people to ruin their lives,” Mills said. Gov. John Bel Edwards has not said if he would support the bill even if gets the needed votes in the Louisiana Legislature.“The governor will thoughtfully review the bill if it comes to his desk. He is interested to see it in its final form,” said Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for Edwards’ office. ‘Crawl before you walk’Welcanna’s medical marijuana hit the market in August 2019. It took years to set up a system to grow and distribute it after state lawmakers voted in 2015 to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes. Last summer, a change in state law opened the door for any doctor to recommend the drug to any patient. It also allowed different forms of the product, like gummies and vapes, to be sold at the state’s nine dispensaries. Since then, Davis said, there’s been a 50% increase in medical marijuana patients and an 80% in the number of doctors recommending it. Davis said the state’s medical marijuana program has set up Louisiana to “crawl before you walk,” toward legalization. He believes the infrastructure is there to support legalization, if there’s political will to make it happen. “We have been indoctrinated since the 70s. And even earlier that marijuana is bad, and that has no redeeming qualities,” he said, adding that the tide seems to be changing as Louisiana residents come to know a loved one or friend who has benefited from medical marijuana. “I get calls, people thanking me, it’s very humbling, saying thank you for making this available. My quality of life has changed. People testifying at the capitol, PTSD, veterans, military veterans testifying, how this has helped them get off of opioids,” Davis said. Nelson says if marijuana is legalized, he favors a less restrictive growth and distribution market with which other states have had success. Disparate enforcementThe racial disparity in the enforcement of marijuana is another reason to support his bill, Nelson said. A 2020 ACLU report found Black people were 3.4 more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Louisiana, though the study found Black and white people use it at similar rates. A separate analysis by New Orleans City Council consultant Jeff Asher found 86% of summonses issued for pot possession in 2020 in New Orleans were for black people, who make up 60% of the population. The New Orleans City Council president supports legalization to stop the disparate enforcement, she said. “If we appropriately tax it, we can reinvest in communities that have been impacted by this over enforcement of these drug charges, and build up those communities,” she said. Race for revenue According to the Marijuana Police Project, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have opted for legalization so far, including eight states in just the last year and a half. The states that have started collecting taxes on it have raised a total of more than $7 billion in revenue. Oregon, a state with a population comparable to Louisiana’s, took in $158 million in revenue from adult-use sales last year, alone. In five years since it was legalized and taxed, the state has raised nearly half a billion dollars.Nelson said if the federal government decriminalizes marijuana before Louisiana, the state will have to compete with every other state because sales would be able to cross borders. Those with tax systems already in place will be at an advantage.“Every year, $200 million a year, that I think that would solve a lot of… problems over time that we, right now, we’re just losing,” Nelson said. Nelson says if the legislature doesn’t pass his bill this session, he can’t bring it up again until 2023, since tax bills won’t be considered next year. Since 2023 is an election year, political hurdles may be even steeper, he says, though public support is likely to continue to rise.
Republican State Rep. Richard Nelson of Mandeville has never smoked a cigarette, much less used marijuana. Yet he’s asking his colleagues to vote for his bill to legalize marijuana for all adults, along with a companion bill to collect taxes from it.
What attracted him most to the issue is simple: money. Money, he says, that’s currently going to drug dealers in the black market.
Advertisement
“You can take it out and put it into legitimate businesses with legitimate jobs and make it safer for the consumers make it safer for everybody. And then at the top of that, you can raise $200 million a year or so in tax revenue that you can use to do significant good,” Nelson said.
The Louisiana House of Representatives is poised to vote on his bill as early as next week. It’s not the first time a marijuana legalization bill has been debated at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. But it’s the first time it’s advanced out of a committee for a vote from a full chamber.
Nelson is realistic about the chance for legalization this year: his bill faces tough political opposition, but he says public opinion in the state has tipped in favor of the legal sale of marijuana and the upside for the state’s strapped budget is difficult to ignore.
Even so, this year’s political progress on the issue in Louisiana is “groundbreaking,” according to John Davis, the president of Wellcana, which produces medical marijuana in Louisiana through a public-private partnership with the LSU AgCenter. It also falls in line with growing public support for legalization: A UNO poll conducted just this week found 55 percent of those polled support legalizing marijuana for all adults. Nelson also cited a study from pollster John Couvillion that showed nearly two-thirds of Louisiana residents polled supported legalizing marijuana, with support from Democrats and Republicans.
Nelson, who also cited polls showing public support for legalization, said he received more than a thousand emails in support of his legalization in recent weeks, and about four against it.
Political hurdles
But his bill faces steep political hurdles: The influential Louisiana Sheriff’s Association and Louisiana District Attorneys Association both oppose the bill and spoke out against it. Warren Montgomery, district attorney for St. Tammany and Washington parishes, cited multiple studies that reviewed the detrimental effects of legalized weed.
Louisiana Family Forum, another influential lobbying group that describes itself as a “voice for traditional families,” also opposes it. The group’s president Gene Mills called it a “bad idea,” and worried about access children would have to marijuana if adults can legally buy it.
“We ought to just say no to a new way for people to ruin their lives,” Mills said.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has not said if he would support the bill even if gets the needed votes in the Louisiana Legislature.
“The governor will thoughtfully review the bill if it comes to his desk. He is interested to see it in its final form,” said Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for Edwards’ office.
‘Crawl before you walk’
Welcanna’s medical marijuana hit the market in August 2019. It took years to set up a system to grow and distribute it after state lawmakers voted in 2015 to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes.
Last summer, a change in state law opened the door for any doctor to recommend the drug to any patient. It also allowed different forms of the product, like gummies and vapes, to be sold at the state’s nine dispensaries. Since then, Davis said, there’s been a 50% increase in medical marijuana patients and an 80% in the number of doctors recommending it.
Davis said the state’s medical marijuana program has set up Louisiana to “crawl before you walk,” toward legalization. He believes the infrastructure is there to support legalization, if there’s political will to make it happen.
“We have been indoctrinated since the 70s. And even earlier that marijuana is bad, and that has no redeeming qualities,” he said, adding that the tide seems to be changing as Louisiana residents come to know a loved one or friend who has benefited from medical marijuana.
“I get calls, people thanking me, it’s very humbling, saying thank you for making this available. My quality of life has changed. People testifying at the capitol, PTSD, veterans, military veterans testifying, how this has helped them get off of opioids,” Davis said.
Nelson says if marijuana is legalized, he favors a less restrictive growth and distribution market with which other states have had success.
Disparate enforcement
The racial disparity in the enforcement of marijuana is another reason to support his bill, Nelson said.
A 2020 ACLU report found Black people were 3.4 more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Louisiana, though the study found Black and white people use it at similar rates. A separate analysis by New Orleans City Council consultant Jeff Asher found 86% of summonses issued for pot possession in 2020 in New Orleans were for black people, who make up 60% of the population.
The New Orleans City Council president supports legalization to stop the disparate enforcement, she said.
“If we appropriately tax it, we can reinvest in communities that have been impacted by this over enforcement of these drug charges, and build up those communities,” she said.
Race for revenue
According to the Marijuana Police Project, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have opted for legalization so far, including eight states in just the last year and a half. The states that have started collecting taxes on it have raised a total of more than $7 billion in revenue.
Oregon, a state with a population comparable to Louisiana’s, took in $158 million in revenue from adult-use sales last year, alone. In five years since it was legalized and taxed, the state has raised nearly half a billion dollars.
Nelson said if the federal government decriminalizes marijuana before Louisiana, the state will have to compete with every other state because sales would be able to cross borders. Those with tax systems already in place will be at an advantage.
“Every year, $200 million a year, that I think that would solve a lot of… problems over time that we, right now, we’re just losing,” Nelson said.
Nelson says if the legislature doesn’t pass his bill this session, he can’t bring it up again until 2023, since tax bills won’t be considered next year. Since 2023 is an election year, political hurdles may be even steeper, he says, though public support is likely to continue to rise.
Recent Comments