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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 7 august 2019

After years of waiting, medical marijuana sold in Louisiana

By MELINDA DESLATTE and additional changes passed
REBECCA SANTANA since then, Louisiana is al-
Associated Press lowing medical marijuana
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — to treat a long list of diseas-
A Marine veteran struggling es and disorders, such as
with PTSD and a woman cancer, seizure disorders,
fighting cancer became epilepsy, glaucoma, post-
some of the first people to traumatic stress disorder
purchase medical marijua- and Parkinson’s disease.
na in Louisiana on Tuesday, Albert Anthony was at
as the state became the Capitol Wellness Solutions
first in the Deep South to with his wife Jeanette, who
dispense therapeutic can- suffers from a rare type of
nabis, four years after state brain cancer. He said she
lawmakers agreed to give hadn’t tried medical mari-
patients access to it. juana before but he had
Nine pharmacies are li- and hoped it would have
censed to dispense medi- some benefits for her such
cal marijuana across Loui- as increasing her appetite.
siana and most are ex- “That’s a great feeling, you
pected to open this week. know, that you can get a
Louisiana joins more than product that’s legal now
30 other states that allow and we’re just glad to see it
medical marijuana in some Thomas Uhle, grow manager, tends to marijuana plants growing at GB Sciences Louisiana, in come to pass,” he said.
form. And though marijua- Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019. Doctors don’t issue a pre-
na is banned at the fed- Associated Press scription but a “physician
eral level, a congressional state-sanctioned growers, tating conditions and their ommendation for this,” he recommendation form,”
amendment blocks the Jus- began shipping medical family members asking said. Only the Louisiana a legal nuance aimed
tice Department from inter- marijuana to Louisiana’s when cannabis will reach State University and South- at keeping doctors from
fering with states’ medical registered dispensaries pharmacy shelves. ern University agricultural jeopardizing their medical
marijuana programs. Tuesday morning, after “The toughest thing has centers are authorized to licenses because federal
A 41-year-old combat vet- state regulators recently been not being able to grow medicinal-grade pot. law prohibits prescribing
eran from Belle Chasse, completed final tests and give people a definitive Regulatory disagreements marijuana. Eighty-eight
Louisiana, made his pur- cleared it for release. Hun- timeline that they could between GB Sciences, doctors around the state
chase at Capitol Wellness dreds of patients in Louisi- make plans for,” Mills said. LSU’s grower, and state have been approved for
Solutions on Tuesday. He ana have been awaiting Randy Mire, owner of Capi- regulators in Louisiana’s the Louisiana permit re-
said he’d tried medical the start of the program tol Wellness Solutions in Ba- agriculture department quired to offer medical-
marijuana in California after years of work by law- ton Rouge, saw three pa- slowed getting the prod- grade pot to patients.
and it changed his life but makers, who created the tients Tuesday and hosted uct to shelves, with medi- Marijuana can be avail-
he was happy to be able regulatory framework in a ribbon-cutting ceremony cal marijuana advocates able in oils, pills, liquids, top-
to purchase it in his home 2015 for dispensing the at his spa-like offices in the claiming the agency cre- ical applications and an in-
state. cannabis. There also have state’s capitol. He has hun- ated unnecessary regula- haler, such as that used by
“It has become a reality to been regulatory disputes dreds more patients wait- tory hurdles. asthma patients — but not
my family this morning, wak- and other hurdles. ing. He said he specifically Meanwhile, Southern broke in a smokeable form.
ing up and knowing that I State Sen. Fred Mills, a phar- wanted to create a wel- ties with the first company it GB Sciences’ first product
would be able to go home macist in St. Martin Parish coming office space so pa- chose to grow marijuana, will be liquid tinctures, in
and for the first time in my who sponsored the medi- tients could feel safe and delaying its efforts. South- three different concen-
long struggle, I’ll be able cal marijuana law, never that they were in a place ern’s new grower Ilera Ho- trations. John Davis, GB
to do this legally in front of thought it would take years where they wouldn’t be listic Healthcare planted Sciences Louisiana presi-
my family,” Gary Hess told for patients to gain access. judged. “Maybe they’ve its first crop two weeks ago dent, said he expects to
reporters before making his He said he has repeatedly had to use medical mari- and estimates its first prod- have dissolving strips taken
purchase. “That’s incred- received “difficult calls” juana not legally in the past uct could be available by by mouth available in a
ible.” from people with cancer, and now they’re able to fall at the earliest. month, followed by topical
GB Sciences, one of two seizures and other debili- actually have a legal rec- Under the 2015 law and creams.q