Louisiana residents suffering from certain health ailments may soon have access to cannabis oil treatment, under a new law Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law Thursday.
Senate Bill 271, which the governor signed during a formal ceremony featuring families in his Capitol office, is intended to expand the medical accessibility of marijuana by expanding the ailments that can be treated through its use and tweaking language to allow doctors recommend it for their patients more easily.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Louisiana for more than two decades, but no one’s been able to legally use it because the state didn’t establish a framework for the distribution or cultivation of the plant, which remains a Schedule I narcotic on the federal level.
The new law will allow people suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, wasting syndrome, seizure disorders and spasticity, Crohn’s disease, muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis to seek a doctor’s “recommendation” for non-intoxicating cannabis oil treatment, rather than “prescription” to skirt federal pot laws.
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