Ask your state senator to support home delivery and allowing medical cannabis for all debilitating conditions.

We have good news and bad news from the Louisiana State Legislature.

The good news is the House overwhelmingly approved bills to allow medical cannabis for any debilitating condition (HB 819) and to permanently allow regulated home delivery (HB 792). The bad news is that the bill to allow raw, flower cannabis has still not gotten a hearing (HB 385) after its sponsor pulled the bill from a committee agenda. If HB 385 isn’t scheduled for a hearing today, it will die.

Please email your state senator today to ask them to support HB 819 and HB 792.

To go the extra mile, consider writing Rep. Ted James, who sponsors HB 385, to respectfully urge him to ask that it be scheduled for a hearing. Rep. James has been a longtime champion, so please be sure to be polite and respectful. He also recently survived a life-threatening bout of coronavirus and is not personally going to the capital due to public health concerns.

However, even if Rep. James is not present, the bill can be heard with another representative presenting it. Louisiana is one of only two medical cannabis states that continue to ban cannabis in its natural, plant form. Because extracts are far more expensive to produce, this drives up costs and results in a program that is out of reach to most of the state’s residents.

After you take action, please spread the word to other compassionate Louisianans, so that they, too, can raise their voices.

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Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, advocates were working with lawmakers to push significant reforms to improve Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program and lower costs for patients. Now, with a serious economic downturn in the state, many patients are struggling with even greater financial hardships.

Due to public health concerns, the General Assembly has suspended its session, and it is unclear if or when legislators will reconvene. Under normal circumstances, the legislature would be holding public hearings and providing an opportunity to advocate for reforms at this time. This year, however, that may not be possible.

The Medical Marijuana Patients Coalition, led by two members of the medical marijuana legislative oversight committee, is coordinating with state regulators, compassion centers, and others involved in the medical marijuana program to find ways to help patients during these difficult times.

The group is circulating an anonymous survey for patient cardholders to gather information on how the COVID-19 situation is affecting them. The results will help identify which issues are impacting patients, which will guide advocacy efforts. If you are a medical cannabis patient, please consider responding to the survey. You can also help by sharing the survey with others on social media or forwarding them this email.

It’s encouraging to see patients finding ways to organize and help others despite the challenges caused by the pandemic.

Thank you.

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