Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in Baton Rouge is set to make strides in Louisiana’s legal marijuana industry as the institution’s plan to launch a new medical marijuana program moved forward following a recent Board of Supervisors vote.
The 12-3 vote on May 25 approving a contract with pharmaceutical-grade marijuana products company Advanced Biomedics, LLC will establish a partnership with Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center (SU Ag Center) to cultivate and produce medical marijuana at Southern’s research facilities.
“This is a momentous event,” said Dr. Bobby R. Phills, chancellor of the SU Ag Center and dean of the College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences. “We are extremely excited to be able to provide good quality medicine for the citizens of Louisiana.”
Southern will receive more than $6 million over five years for the program, and the contract with Louisiana-based Advanced Biomedics will be allowed to automatically renew for two additional five-year periods “unless there is cause to terminate,” the school said in news release.
The move is historic for the HBCU, as it is the first to offer a program about legal cannabis. Southern is one of only two public universities in the nation – along with Louisiana State University – to legally research and grow marijuana in their facilities, Mic reported.
As land-grant institutions, Southern and LSU received a “right of first refusal to be licensed, either separately or jointly, as the production facility for medical marijuana in the state of Louisiana” under the state’s Senate Bill 271 passed in 2016. Southern submitted a letter to participate as a producer in August 2016.
Overseeing the medical marijuana program is the SU Ag Center, the fifth campus in the Southern University System that specializes in livestock and agricultural research and community education.
