BATON ROUGE, La.  — Southern University has selected a vendor to run its medical marijuana program.
The university’s Board of Supervisors on Friday (Sept. 22) chose Lafayette-based Advanced Biomedics, LLC, to grow the marijuana for Southern, which will receive more than $6 million over five years.
Advanced Biomedics will produce pharmaceutical grade medicines for patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, cachexia or wasting syndrome, seizure disorders, epilepsy, spasticity, Chrohn’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. Under the law, marijuana can be available in medicinal oils, pills, sprays and topical applications, but cannot be sold in a form that can be smoked.
Lawmakers agreed to a framework for dispensing medical marijuana in 2015, but only allowed the agricultural centers at LSU and Southern to grow the product. LSU completed its contract with Las Vegas-based GB Sciences earlier this month.
credit:nola.com