BATON ROUGE- Gov. John Bel Edwards sent a letter to President Donald Trump today.

In the letter, Edwards requests that Trump protect Louisiana's ability to offer medical marijuana as a treatment option.

To read the letter, click here.

BACKGROUND:

Polling

-2016 JMC poll showed Louisianans support medical marijuana 72-13

- 2015 LSU Survey showed 60-39 support of medical marijuana, legalization for personal use not supported by majority (45-52). However, 67 percent believe jail time not appropriate for marijuana offenses, which jumps to 79 percent when respondents told of costs of incarceration.

Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment

 -The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment prevents feds from expending funds to interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

 -It is a rider on appropriations bills and was included in latest Continuing Resolution, so continues through January 19, 2018.

 -Section 537 of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (see page 94 of PDF).

 -Attorney General Sessions has requested this amendment be excluded from spending bills previously.