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Louisiana regulators weigh raising marijuana patient limit

Posted at 1:44 PM, Aug 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-21 14:44:25-04

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – With only a few doctors signing up to dispense medical marijuana, Louisiana regulators are considering whether to change rules limiting how many cannabis patients each doctor can treat.

Louisiana’s State Board of Medical Examiners has set a limit of 100 medical marijuana patients per physician, with individual exemptions for more.

Vincent Culotta, the board’s executive director, says the cap could be boosted higher at the panel’s September meeting amid concerns it’s too low.

Only 40 doctors have submitted applications for the Louisiana permit required to offer medical-grade pot to patients, with 23 approved so far.

That has created the potential for a bottleneck for patients seeking marijuana, particularly after state lawmakers added more medical conditions that can be treated with cannabis when the product becomes available later this year.