Higher Education: Louisiana State Marijuana Farmers Needed To Grow Medical Cannabis

Louisiana State University has launched a job search for contractors to grow medical marijuana. The marijuana-growing operation, which has been estimated to cost roughly $10 million, was aimed at providing ailing patients with the best quality marijuana possible and will be overseen by LSU medical professors, local news outlet WBRZ reported Saturday.

Dr. Ted Gauthier, a professor at the university, told local media that his team would consider ten different finalists to grow and produce marijuana for medical purposes. Agriculturers both in and out of the state were being considered.

Despite being backed by LSU, the indoor grow facility must be located off of campus, according to the state’s medical marijuana laws. Students have been forbidden from any involvement in the farming project. The final location of the facility will not be made public, but the farm was expected to be located somewhere in the East Baton Rouge Parish with a heavy security presence.

"There will need to be a perimeter fence, for example, there will be surveillance cameras both inside and outside the facility. There will be restricted access even within the facility and restricted access even from room to room," Gauthier said.

A contractor was expected to be hired by June, with the first crop likely being ready for harvesting by the end of the year, Gauthier added.

Recently, several agricultural officials from Louisiana and a slew of other legal marijuana states attended a seminar sponsored by Colorado’s Department of Agriculture instructing agriculturers on the best practices for growing marijuana. They included how to inspect cannabis and hemp plants as well as proper protocols regarding pesticides and unsafe growing conditions. Officials were also given a quick course on how to regulate the plant, which is still federally illegal.

"We're getting in the marijuana business in Louisiana, so we need to know what we're doing," Brad Spicer, an Office of Soil & Water Conservation representative, told Louisiana’s ABC News affiliate.

Louisiana passed legislation allowing medical marijuana use for patients in May 2016.