A bill that would protect state employees who use marijuana for medical purposes from discrimination has passed the Louisiana House of Representatives and is now advancing in the Senate as the 2022 session nears its end on June 6.
House Bill 988, authored by Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans), passed the House on a 60-32 vote on Tuesday and was also approved by the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee this week.
Under the provisions of HB 988, most state agencies would be barred from subjecting an employee who is diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition and has a physician’s recommendation for marijuana from negative workplace consequences.
Current Louisiana law allows physicians to recommend forms of marijuana to patients in accordance with rules and regulations put in place by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, provided that the ailment is debilitating, according to an analysis of the bill written by the Legislature’s staff.
The bill, however, would not apply to state employees whose main task is to operate or maintain a state vehicle or those who supervise such employees. In addition, state emergency medical services personnel, law enforcement, public safety officers, firefighters and horse racing commission employees would be exempt from the protections.
Landry said she is optimistic that the bill would pass the Senate given the number of senators who have expressed support for the measure.
“We don’t have anything in the law about how having a medical marijuana recommendation affects your job,” she told the Louisiana Record. Putting in place such legal protections could also encourage people to get off opioids by using marijuana in a therapeutic way, according to Landry.
“Medical marijuana is still in its infancy, and there are still a lot of people that need to be convinced," she said.
Extending such protections for medical marijuana use to the private sector would be much more difficult, according to Landry, because business groups generally oppose interference in employer-employee relations.
She expressed hope that the bill would pass the Senate in the coming days as a result of the bipartisan support it has gotten.