A Louisiana lawmaker has introduced a bill to create an adult-use marijuana legalization pilot program in the state to determine whether the reform should eventually be expanded and permanently codified.
Representative Candace Newell (D)—who has long championed legislation to end cannabis criminalization and filed a similar legal marijuana pilot program measure last session—is sponsoring what’s titled the “Adult-Use Cannabis Pilot Program Regulation and Enforcement Act.”
“In an effort to protect the public health, safety and welfare, it is the purpose of this Section to establish a temporary pilot program designed to test and evaluate the parameters of the implementation of a permanent adult-use cannabis program in this state,” the bill text states.
The pilot program is meant to evaluate the feasibility of a “potential permanent program” for adult-use cannabis, gain feedback and data on the small-scale trial and analyze the “outcomes and results” to determine whether the pilot program should be expanded and implemented on a permanent basis.
Under the proposal, the state Department of Health would be responsible for regulating the pilot program, including the “cultivation, extraction, processing, production, transportation, and retail sale of adult-use cannabis.”
Only existing medical marijuana dispensaries would be eligible to participate in the pilot program. Those retailers would have to notify the department of their intent to participate no later than 90 days before the implementation of the law. If they don’t express such intent, they could still continue to serve medical cannabis patients in the state.
The legislation would maintain current statute limiting the number of licensed dispensaries in the state to 30, and only 10 of those could join the pilot to serve both patients and adult consumers.
Regulators would need to issue initial permits for cannabis licensees to participate in the pilot program by January 1, 2027. Then, on July 1 of that year, finalized permits would be issued, and they’d be valid for one year. An annual permit fee of $5,000 would be imposed on participating retailers, cultivators and laboratories. The pilot program would last through July 1, 2030.
“For the duration of the pilot program, the department shall assess a fee of three and one-half percent of the gross wholesales of all marijuana, for therapeutic and adult-use, distributed to a therapeutic retail permit holder or pilot program permit holder,” the bill says. “The fee shall be reported and paid by the licensee participating in the pilot program authorized to cultivate, extract, process, produce, and transport adult-use cannabis.”
The legislation—which has been referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee—would maintain current statute limiting the number of licensed dispensaries in the state to 30, and only 10 of those could join the pilot program to serve both patients and adult consumers.
Getting the bill across the finish line could prove complicated in the conservative legislature, however. Newell’s earlier version of the pilot program legislation didn’t advance to enactment in 2025, and lawmakers that session also rejected other marijuana reform proposals, such as one that would have established a tax system to prepare the eventual legalization of adult-use cannabis.
Meanwhile in Louisiana, the Senate in 2025 passed a Republican-led resolution calling for the creation of a task force to study and make recommendations on the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics for military veterans.
Photograph via Picryl
This story was originally published by Marijuana Moment, which tracks the politics and policy of cannabis and drugs. Follow Marijuana Moment on X and Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter.