While many states throughout the United States have become more progessive in the way that they approach medical marijuana legislation and policies, it is safe to say that the southernmost states in the nation have been slow to adapt in the same way. If you look at the medical marijuana legalization throughout the United States, it seems that more coastal and urban states are the ones that tend to accept marijuana on a broader scale.

The southern states that are more conservative like Texas, Utah, Florida, Alabama, and others are much more apt to keeping marijuana as an illegal substance. This means that residents in those states do not have access to the same medical options and alternatives that people do in other states, which is very sad in my opinion. However, there has been some good news for people living in a notoriously stubborn southern state.

That’s right folks, we are finally seeing some policy changes about medical marijuana in Louisiana. You may already be aware that medical marijuana was already legalized in Louisiana, which is true. However, Louisiana was one of those states that made their medical program extremely restrictive and did not allow very many patients to use its products. For a long time, the only medical conditions that qualified for the extremely restrictive program were glaucoma, anyone undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, and quadriplegia. Beyond that, progress to add more conditions to Louisiana’s state medical marijuana program has been extremely slow, even in the face of the pandemic and numerous other states making more progressive policy changes throughout the United States.

However, it is safe to say that things are headed in a good direction for all marijuana users in the state of Louisiana. At least, a better direction than before. As of lately, patients with a medical marijuana card are now finally able to purchase smokable cannabis. Like Texas, Louisiana did not allow any type of marijuana to be smoked. Instead, medical patients were limited to things like topicals, tinctures, and maybe edibles or something like that. Smokable cannabis is definitively the most popular method of using marijuana for several reasons.

Firstly, it can be said that inhaling marijuana allows patients to feel the effects more quickly than they would by using an edible or tincture. If a patient is struggling with severe pain and needs to find some relief fast, smoking cannabis can be the light at the end of the tunnel. Another reason comes down to cost. While our modern society and technology have allowed for innovative cannabis products to be widely available all over the nation, many of these things require specialized tools and processes that mean they cost more money for the final product. Smokable cannabis, just a bud or flower, is much cheaper for the consumer and is said to be the most natural form of using marijuana. For medical patients in Louisiana, however, there seems to be a great increase in the price of cannabis since the legislation changes were made.

In fact, many cannabis users were shocked to walk into their dispensary and see the price per ounce of smokable cannabis has skyrocketed in the past week. Why is this? Well, it comes down to a monopoly of regional cannabis supplies in the area that do not have the same competition that most marijuana supplies have to deal with. This means that they are able to jack up the prices to whatever they want. Many medical patients in Louisiana are facing an emotional rollercoaster: on one hand, they can finally use smokable cannabis legally. However, it is extremely expensive at the moment!

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