LSU AgCenter enters medical marijuana business
After two years of research and work, the Alison Neustrom Act was passed through the Louisiana Legislature. The act was named after a young woman who passed away from pancreatic cancer, and medical marijuana was what helped her the most when dealing with her cancer.
Bill Richardson, vice president of agriculture & dean of the College of Agriculture, has since received a lot of positive feedback from the University community.
“I’ve got a lot of testimonials from people who were using it illegally because it did help improve the quality of their lives,” Richardson said.
With the budget instability, many believe this could be a way to create a stream of income into Louisiana.
Before implementing this idea, the AgCenter laid down some guidelines.
“They will be grown indoors in a warehouse, it will not be on campus, it will not be adjacent to campus, and there will not be students from LSU or any other university that I know of that will be working in it,” Richardson said.
Although none of this will happen on campus, Director of LSU AgCenter Biotechnology Ted Gauthier explained the basic process of turning the plant into something used for medicinal purposes. This process includes chopping up the plant and swirling it in ethanol. the remaining plant is then placed in a flask that connects to this machine.
Source: lsunow.com