BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A bid to legalize recreational marijuana in Louisiana is over this legislative session after failing to gain enough support from lawmakers. The House on Tuesday evening rejected Republican Rep. Richard Nelson’s bill to tax the sale of marijuana. That was a bellwether vote that indicated Nelson’s separate bill to create a legal framework to sell and possess recreational marijuana also couldn’t pass. Forty-seven lawmakers in the House backed the tax bill, while 48 voted against it. After that marijuana bill failed, Nelson said he was ending his effort this session to legalize the drug for recreational use. The Advocate reports the Louisiana Sheriffs Association helped kill the proposal.
