BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Senate has refused to let Louisiana's medical marijuana patients inhale cannabis.

A bill by Baton Rouge Democratic Rep. Ted James would have let therapeutic cannabis patients use an inhaler like asthma patients use.

St. Martin Parish Republican Sen. Fred Mills said the change wouldn't allow vaping of medical marijuana. But Sen. Dan Claitor, a Baton Rouge Republican, said the proposal made him uncomfortable because the language didn't seem tight enough.

Senators voted 21-14 Saturday to strike that language from a regulatory bill involving the medical marijuana program, then killed the bill.

The House overwhelmingly had agreed to the inhalation proposal.

Medicinal-grade pot isn't yet available to patients. Regulatory disagreements slowed getting the product to shelves, with estimates it could be available later this month.

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