LOUISIANA – Louisiana’s House on Tuesday passed legislation that would allow the state to tax the sales of the raw smokable form of medical marijuana.
House Bill 514, by Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, would apply the state’s 4.45% tax to the sales of marijuana “flowers” in the state’s medical marijuana program. The legislation is tied to another proposal by Magee – a Houma Republican who is second-in-command in the state House – to legalize the sale of the smokable form of marijuana by the medical producers and pharmacies.
Currently, medical marijuana products aren’t subject to sales taxes, and Magee’s proposal would only tax the raw smokable form of the plant, not the tinctures and gummies already on the market.
Louisiana patients have been able to access medical marijuana since 2019 but the tight regulations attached to the program limit the producers to making only certain non-smokable forms, like tinctures, topical creams, gummies and metered-dose inhalers.
The bill passed with 70 yes and 25 nays and now moves on to the Senate.
