Common Sense And Compassion Prevail

This bill I have so frequently written on that would expand the number of conditions that medical marijuana can be prescribed for is headed to the Governors desk to be signed! This will be a boon for those who suffer from cancer, HIV, epiplepsy, Crohn's Disease and more. Senator Fred Mills, the bill's sponsor, says, "It's been overwhelming the families I have met that are baically saying 'I'm getting medical marijuana from other states and it's helping my son's medical condition, or my daughter's."

While this is great news for those who suffer, we are still a year or two away from the public having access to medical marijuana. The next step in growing some. The ag centers at LSU and Southern have first right if refusal on growing the state's medical pot plants, and though neither has yet agreed to do so, this bill should go a long way to convincing them to invest the money to do so. LSU has said it would need to sink $16 million dollars into the proper facilities to grow the plants and was hesitant to do so without the list of those who could use it being expanded. Mills thinks this legislation might convince them medical marijuana could be a viable industry in our state.

Opponents to the bill say this will open the door to state sanctioned recreational use. They are wrong, Nothing in the bill, the wording, the agreements with LSU or Southern indicated any trace of that at all. And they lost. This story isn't about them.

The money our starved state coffers might receive and the benefits to the over one hundred thousand people right here in Louisiana who suffer is what this story has always been about. Yea for us! Yea for Louisiana! Every once in awhile we get it right. This is one of those times.