Government
Why Louisiana's Best Option Is to Legalize Marijuana
The state will not be able to solve its massive economic and incarceration problems without regulating and taxing the sale of pot.
Louisiana is in quite a predicament: It’s broke, really broke.
State lawmakers just barely averted meltdown Wednesday by weaving together a patchwork of last-minute, temporary measures to clear up most of a near $940+ million budget shortfall. The state is still $30 million in the hole, and will have to resolve another $800 million deficit come the next fiscal year on July 1— all gifts left behind by former governor Bobby Jindal. Louisiana’s new Governor, John Bel Edwards, has inherited these big shorts, and there is no easy way out.