LSU AgCenter officials have still not decided whether they will grow medical marijuana for the state or opt out of the manufacturing process.
The Louisiana Legislature, when it passed a bill last year to approve marijuana for medical use, gave the LSU and Southern AgCenters right of first refusal for production.
Bill Richardson, LSU’s vice president of agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, said today at the Press Club of Baton Rouge that his researchers could begin studying the crop tomorrow, but he is waiting to see what changes, if any, the Legislature makes to the law and what rules are put in place to regulate medical marijuana manufacturing before making that decision.
“At some point, we’ll take a look at the rules, we’ll take a look at the legislation, and I’ll recommend to my board if we are in or we are out,” Richardson said.
He said his researchers have read the rules written by state Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain’s office and have suggested some changes.
Construction of a growing facility would cost between $10 million and $15 million, money Richardson said he does not have. AgCenter researchers could grow it outside, but Richardson said he would rather grow the crop indoors using LED lights. Whether the state or federal government kicks in some money for the growing facility is unknown at this point, he added.
Richardson also touched on the possibility of budget cuts to the AgCenter. He said he has been asked by university administrators to craft a plan for a 10% to 12% budget reduction in his 2016-17 fiscal year budget. He said he believes the 10% to 12% reduction is a worst-case scenario. A 10% reduction equates to about $6 million.
Richardson said the LSU AgCenter gets $23 million less in state appropriations than it did eight years ago. Any additional cuts would come on top of $13 million in unfunded mandates Richardson has had to deal with.
“Any type of cut we get right now becomes a major, major ordeal,” Richardson said before adding, “$6 million would be devastating right now.”
He declined to delve into specifics about the budget reduction plan, but said at some point, he is going to have to start laying off people because 85% of his payroll consists of personnel costs. He did mention he might scale back some of the research stations over a lack of faculty.
—Ryan Broussard
