Efforts to hash out a plan to legalize recreational marijuana in Louisiana came to an end this month as a tax framework bill for cannabis died on a 47-48 vote in the state’s House of Representatives.
The defeat of HB 434, authored by Rep. Richard Nelson (R-Mandeville), came despite efforts by conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity-Louisiana (AFP-LA) to end the current practice of putting Louisianans behind bars for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Recent polling in Louisiana has shown that more than two-thirds of state residents – and a majority of Republicans – support legalizing recreational marijuana, according to the AFP-LA state director, James Lee.
“What we saw was that it ran into significant opposition from law enforcement,” Lee told the Louisiana Record. “In particular, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association was leaning very heavily on members (of the legislature).”
State lawmakers were generally supportive of the legalization effort, but ultimately they tended to heed local sheriffs’ concerns about a possible rise in traffic deaths due to increased cannabis use, he said. Sheriffs, however, also recognize that as popular support for recreational use continues to increase, legalized marijuana sales are inevitable, according to Lee.
“It was disappointing obviously,” he said of the May 18 vote. “We invested a lot of time and money in it.”
Nelson’s bill would have levied a 15 percent tax on retail sales of cannabis products, on top of state and local sales taxes, according to the state legislature’s analysis of the bill. Fifty percent of the tax revenues collected would have gone to local governments, such as parishes or municipalities, while the balance would have gone to the state treasury.
Of the local revenues, 20 percent would have been earmarked for law enforcement, either the local sheriff’s department or local police agencies, depending on where the product was sold.
Republicans now tend to support legalization as a way for people who choose to use marijuana products to generate tax revenues, according to Lee, who also sees legalization as promoting personal freedom and individual liberties.
In addition, he pointed to evidence that marijuana legalization may help society better deal with the scourge of opioid overdoses.
“We’ve seen in states that have legalized (marijuana) early evidence that opioid deaths go down,” Lee said.
Despite the defeat of the marijuana tax bill in the current legislative session, a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis has passed the House and will now be considered in the state Senate.
“We see that as a good common-sense, first-step reform to at least mitigate some of the ills of (marijuana) prohibition,” Lee said.