Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Louisiana

Louisiana was one of the earliest states to bring in laws that targeted drug users and labelled a drug addict as a criminal. No definitions were provided of who an addict was.Soon many other states copied the Louisiana laws that marked a significant point in the war on drugs. In the book Junky by William S Burroughs first published in 1955, he writes "Louisiana passed a law making it a crime to be a drug addict. Since no place or time is specified and the term "addict" is not clearly defined, no proof is necessary or even relevant under a law so formulated. No proof, and consequently, no trial. This is police-state legislation penalizing a state of being."

That state of affairs continued for many decades. 'In 2016, black adults comprised only 30.6 percent of the state’s adult population, but accounted for 53.7 percent of adults who were arrested. That same year, black people were 2.9 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Louisiana, even though black adults are statistically less likely than white adults to use marijuana.', says a report on racial profiling by law enforcement in Louisiana.

Things have started to change for the better in the recent past, especially under Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards who recently signed a bill that allows physicians to recommend cannabis for any medical condition where they think that it can benefit a patient. In doing this, Louisiana joins a small number of states including California, Maine and Virginia where there are no curbs on a physician in terms of recommending cannabis for medical purposes. As more and more US states legalize cannabis for recreational use, including deep red states such as South -Dakota and Mississippi, the likelihood of Louisiana removing its discriminatory laws against cannabis users and minorities only increases with each passing day.

Louisiana allows the use of cannabis for medical reasons. At least 35 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use so far. The federal US government however continues to keep cannabis in the Schedule 1 list of banned substances saying that it has no medicinal value. The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here. All these states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, aimed specifically at improving public health, ensuring equity, reducing crime, decreasing the black market, improving law enforcement, reforming criminal justice, improving the economy, agriculture and industry, to name just a few reasons.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'Suddenly I remembered about that letter. The friend in New York who'd written it was a tea head and he pushed weed from time to time. He'd written to me asking the price of good weed in New Orleans. I asked Pat, who quoted me a tentative price of forty dollars per pound. In the letter on the table my friend made reference to the forty-dollar per pound price and said he wanted some at that figure.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'When I jumped bail and left the States, the heat on junk already looked like something new and special. Initial symptoms of nationwide hysteria were clear. Louisiana passed a law making it a crime to be a drug addict. Since no place or time is specified and the term "addict" is not clearly defined, no proof is necessary or even relevant under a law so formulated. No proof, and consequently, no trial. This is police-state legislation penalizing a state of being. Other states were emulating Louisiana. I saw my chance of escaping conviction dwindle daily as the anti-junk feeling mounted to a paranoid obsession, like anti-Semitism under the Nazis. So I decided to jump bail and live permanently outside the United States.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Any anti-narcotic legislation is considered a good thing by the public. For this reason the field of narcotic legislation has become a testing ground for a type of law new to this country but familiar in police states. In the states of Louisiana and Kentucky it is a crime punishable by imprisonment (La., two to five years; Ky., one year) to be an addict. This is police-state legislation penalizing a condition or state of being. In the Louisiana law, no time or place is specified, nor is the term "addict" defined.'

- Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Lexington and Forth Worth are the only two public institutions in the U.S. that give reduction cures. Both are usually full. According to bureaucratic regulations, anyone seeking admission to either hospital must send an application (in triplicate, of course) to Washington and wait several months to be admitted. Then he must stay at least six months. In Louisiana a man could be arrested as a drug addict if he applied for the cure.'

- Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Members voted 28 to 6 in favor of an amended version of House Bill 819, which expands the discretion of physicians so that they can recommend cannabis therapy for “any condition” that he or she “considers debilitating to an individual patient and is qualified through his [or her] medical education and training to treat.” Under the current law, doctors may only recommend medical cannabis products to those patients with a limited number of select conditions, such as HIV and cancer.

A handful of states, such as California, Maine, and Virginia, have enacted similar measures providing physicians with the ability to recommend medical cannabis preparations to any patient who they believe may benefit from them.'
https://blog.norml.org/2020/05/27/louisiana-senate-passes-amended-bill-permitting-doctors-to-recommend-medical-cannabis-for-any-condition/

'The bills, which are expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, would:

- Allow physicians to decide whether to recommend MMJ to patients. Currently, one of 14 qualifying conditions have to be met.
- Prohibit the state from discouraging or penalizing a state-chartered bank or credit union from providing financial services to a legal cannabis-related business.

Separately, state lawmakers also passed legislation providing legal immunity to physicians who recommend medical marijuana'
https://mjbizdaily.com/louisiana-lawmakers-approve-medical-cannabis-reform-bills/

'As of August 1, patients in Louisiana will be able to get medical marijuana for any debilitating condition their doctors see fit. That’s the result of a new bill Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed into law last week, which significantly expands beyond the 14 specific maladies that qualify patients for legal cannabis access under the state’s current program.

The governor also signed legislation protecting banks and credit unions that service cannabis businesses from being penalized by state regulators, as well as another bill to provide legal protections for doctors who recommend medical marijuana and authorized medical facilities that have cannabis patients in their care. Those measures also take effect on August 1.

Lawmakers sent the cannabis bills to the governor’s desk earlier this month. They also approved a hemp and CBD regulation proposal that Edwards has not yet acted on.

The medical marijuana expansion bill as introduced by its sponsor, Rep. Larry Bagley (R), initially only would have added traumatic brain injuries and concussions but was amended in committee to include several other conditions as well as language stipulating that cannabis can be recommended for any malady that a physician “considers debilitating to an individual patient.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/louisiana-governor-signs-medical-marijuana-expansion-into-law/