BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana's only medical marijuana grower currently selling cannabis says it intends to slash the price of its wholesale products for the second time this year.
Wellcana Group is the Baton Rouge-based medical marijuana grower licensed by the Louisiana State University AgCenter.
The Advocate reports Wellcana announced the price cut plans Monday. It comes after state lawmakers agreed to allow any doctor to recommend the use of medical marijuana for any debilitating condition.
That decision is expected to increase the number of patients buying the product.
Specifics around the proposed rate cuts were not immediately clear, but affordability has been one of the chief problems for Louisianians who say the medicine is not covered by insurance and ends up being hundreds of dollars.
The proposed change comes as significantly more Louisiana residents will have access to medical marijuana under a major expansion of the state's therapeutic cannabis program that Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law.
The law change takes effect in August.
It'll allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana for any patient they believe it would help, and remove restrictions on which doctors can recommend cannabis. Before, only people with a handful of serious conditions could qualify.
In August 2019, Louisiana became the first Deep South state — and one of more than 30 states nationwide — to dispense medical marijuana, four years after state lawmakers agreed to give patients access.
Marijuana can be available in oils, pills, liquids, topical applications and an inhaler, such as that used by asthma patients — but not in a smokeable form.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
