Dispute between Ag Commish Mike Strain & LSU Delays Production of Medical Marijuana
There’s another delay in the production of medical marijuana. Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain is the regulator of the state’s medical marijuana program and he claims LSU and its private grower, GB Sciences, violated law by moving cannabis plants from a temporary pod to the main growing facility. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says this dispute is likely headed for court.
“So LSU is now lawyered up and there is no end in sight to the lack of I guess you’d say progress.”
Strain says LSU needed to agree to a memorandum of understanding before expanding the operation. LSU questions whether Strain has the authority to stop the move. Pinsonat says it’s unclear when medical marijuana will be available to the patients who have been waiting the purchase of the drug.
“The marijuana project is an extreme mess which doesn’t seem to be going fast and furious, in fact, it is going backward.”
LSU and Southern University have the authority to grow medical marijuana, while Strain is the regulator. Pinsonat says the Edwards administration may need to get involved in order for the product to get to eligible patients.
“I mean if the program is not doing what it is supposed to be doing the, of course, the Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne certainly has a role to play in this.”