RELEASE: What Would a Legal Marijuana Industry Look Like in Louisiana?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE–June 29, 2023
This Saturday, July 1, Maryland will become the 21st state in the U.S. to offer legal marijuana sales. What would it look like in Louisiana if we followed suit?
BATON ROUGE, LA | June 29, 2023—During this year’s Louisiana legislative session, Louisiana Progress, a non-profit political advocacy group based in Baton Rouge, and the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy organization, worked with State Rep. Barbara Freiberg to write, file, and support House Bill 620. The bill would’ve established a taxation framework in the event the legislature ever legalizes recreational marijuana sales.
HB620 failed to pass out of the House Ways & Means committee, which handles tax measures, by a 6-8 vote (you can watch the debate here, starting at the 21-minute mark). However, the hearing provided Rep. Freiberg and advocates with the opportunity to describe what a legal marijuana industry could look like in Louisiana, as well as make the case for where the state’s portion of any eventual marijuana sales tax revenue should be directed. If the bill had passed, 50% of any eventual tax revenue would have gone to the state general fund, 30% would have been used to create a program to directly fund the state’s judicial system and lessen its reliance on criminal fines and fees, and 20% would have gone to fund early childhood care and education.
“By introducing House Bill 620, I wanted the legislature to seriously consider what we could do with any tax revenue from a potential future legal marijuana industry, not to consider legalization itself,” said Rep. Freiberg. “In particular, I think we should use a significant portion of that revenue to invest in our state’s children and families, which is one of the most important investments we can make as a state, if not the most important. I also hope to see us use some of that money to alleviate financial instability in our criminal justice system.”
“Maryland is about to join 20 other states in collecting tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue from legal marijuana sales,” according to Peter Robins-Brown, executive director of Louisiana Progress. “Creating that industry in Louisiana would generate more than $1 billion in total annual economic activity, including thousands of new jobs, in a state that desperately needs economic opportunity, especially in lower income communities.”
“To support HB620, we worked with Andrew Livingston, the Director of Economics & Research at the Vicente Law Firm, who is a nationally recognized expert on the economics of the cannabis industry, to create projections for what that industry could look like in Louisiana if it came online starting in 2027,” said Kevin Caldwell, the southeast legislative manager at the Marijuana Policy Project. “I think his findings should be incredibly eye-opening for every current and future state legislator, and help all Louisianans better understand the potentially transformative nature of this industry.”
Some of the topline results from Andrew’s research include (see chart below for more details):
More than $1 billion in total annual economic activity within four years of legalization (projection includes the marijuana industry itself and other tangential economic activity, including in industries like agriculture, horticulture, and construction)
More than $200 million in annual tax revenue for Louisiana within 18 months of legalization
Thousands of new jobs and dozens, or even hundreds, of new businesses in Louisiana
Who: Louisiana Progress, Marijuana Policy Project
What: What would the recreational marijuana market look like in Louisiana?
When: June 29, 2023
Contacts:
Peter Robins-Brown, Executive Director, Louisiana Progress, (504) 256-8196, peter@louisianaprogress.org
Kevin Caldwell, Southeast Legislative Manager, Marijuana Policy Project, (504) 208-2488, kcaldwell@mpp.org