New laws impacting hemp and medical marijuana in Louisiana took effect on January 1st, 2025. Here is an overview of the laws and what they will mean to cannabis users in the state:
Hemp Regulations
Act 752 / HB952, tightens regulations on the state’s hemp industry. The law sets new serving size limits on THC products like gummies and seltzers, bans the sale of flower hemp products, and also prohibits the sale of hemp-THC products to anyone under 21. Hemp products can no longer be sold at gas stations.
Medical Marijuana Regulations
Act 693 / HB376: Provides relative to the regulation of medical marijuana.
One notable change is the reference to medical marijuana “pharmacy” now referred to as “retailer”.
This revised law also offers protections for state-approved medical marijuana research laboratories by providing legal authorization to possess and transport medical marijuana or its derivatives — such as tinctures, oils, topicals, edibles, etc. — grown by either of the two state-approved growers.
The law also states that any authorized clinician by the Louisiana Department of Health may write recommendations for medical marijuana in any of its current forms and states, including raw or crude marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or a chemical derivative of tetrahydrocannabinol for therapeutic use. That means that medical marijuana in the state is legally allowed to be provided to patients in any strength if their medical marijuana doctor feels it will help their condition.
In addition, the bill states that no “retailer” may sell more than two and one-half ounces, or seventy-one grams, of raw or crude marijuana every fourteen days to any individual patient. The law reiterates that no “retailer” may sell medical marijuana products to any person under twenty-one years of age without a recommendation from an authorized clinician specifically recommending marijuana in raw or crude form for that person.
Also in Act 693, the total number of retailers allowed was raised to 30 with other requirements as listed in the previous iterations of medical marijuana law including limitations on how many locations can be owned by a single company and a minimum physical distance between each retailer.
Delivery is also to be offered to patients at least once per month within the designated service area of each approved retail location. The Department of Health currently lists 22 retailers/pharmacies on its website.
This bill, with all revisions, was signed into law by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry in June 2024 and became effective January 1st, 2025. If you would like to read Act 693, it’s available to read online here.
Summary
For current medical marijuana patients, these updates and changes to current law will be fairly transparent as they will mostly impact pharmacies/retailers, growers, and research labs.
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