Convincing lawmakers to decriminalize marijuana wonât be easy Representative who authored bill proposing to legalize marijuana says most opposition is coming from law enforcement By Chris Rosato | May 10, 2021 at 5:19 PM CDT - Updated May 12 at 2:14 PM BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The debate of a proposed bill aiming to decriminalize marijuana and pave the way for regulation of the drug for recreational use in Louisiana has been pushed back for a week. HB 699 was supposed to be debated on the House floor of the Louisiana State Capitol on Monday, May 10. Instead, it will now be debated on Tuesday, May 18.