9:30 A.M. LRN Newscast 03/28/2018

The House Health and Welfare committee is expected to hear legislation today that would allow medical marijuana to be used as a legal treatment for persons with autism. Louisiana Mothers Advocating for Medical Marijuana spokesperson Katelyn Castleberry says her two sons suffer from autism and they need better options made available for treatment…

Castleberry says even though marijuana has been used as a recreational drug for years, the medical benefits outweigh the stigma attached to it. Studies have shown that medical cannabis is quite effective for autism…

A major difference between medical and recreational marijuana is the medicinal type does not give patients a euphoric high. Castleberry says studies have found that medical cannabis could also help other medical conditions…

Cut 6 (11) “nervous system.”

Medical cannabis is going to be available later this year for patients with certain illnesses.

 

 

Minimum wage increase, pay secrecy, and equal pay for women legislation all died on the Senate floor last night. The bills were a major part of Governor John Bel Edwards agenda. New Orleans Senator JP Morrell’s equal pay for women bill died 20-18. He says the best and brightest women in Louisiana are flocking to state’s that won’t pay them less for the same work a man does.

The bill, which would have required contractors who work with the state to pay women the same as men in the same position, was defeated 20-18.

The Democrat went after his fellow legislators, accusing them of favoring businesses owners over workers. He says businesses keep wages low by preventing employees from discussing pay, while simultaneously being allowed to ask employees how much they used to be paid at other jobs.

Cut 15 (12) “somewhere else.”

The pay secrecy bill would have prevented employers from retaliating against workers who chose to discuss pay with each other. .