Rapides Parish Cannabis – Is It Legal & Where To Buy 2025

Is Cannabis Cultivation Legal in Rapides Parish?

Licensed cannabis cultivation only for medical purposes in Rapides Parish is legal under Act 261 or the Alison Neustrom Act passed in the State of Louisiana in 2015 and updated by Act 424 in 2021, and Act 491, Act 492, and Act 628 in 2022.

Act 261 established the Medical Marijuana Program. Medical cannabis regulation and the licensing of medical cannabis cultivators and manufacturers was first under the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) but was transferred, on August 1, 2022, to the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH).

In accordance with Louisiana Administrative Code (LAC) 51:XXIX:101-907, only two medical cannabis licenses are issued in the state authorizing cultivation and manufacturing, and these have been assigned to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and the Southern University Agricultural Center. Every year on the 1st of July, they are required to renew their respective licenses. Each of them may have one appointee who must apply to the LDH for a permit to cultivate and manufacture medical cannabis on their behalf. The permittee must pay a $100,00 annual permit fee.

The permittees’ cultivation facilities must be enclosed and all medical cannabis and related activities must not be seen by the public or otherwise sensed through the emanation of odors. Each must establish a security system using locks, alarms, and video surveillance with audio and date-and-time stamps, and footage must be saved for no less than 30 days. Entry must be restricted to authorized personnel. Guests need to be logged upon entry and exit and must be accompanied when in areas containing any form of medical cannabis. The facility must document within 24 hours on its inventory system connected to the Louisiana Medical Marijuana Tracking System (LMMTS) any acquisition, sale, transport, or disposal of any form of medical cannabis. The entire inventory must be updated at least once a week. The facility may be inspected by the LDH at least twice every fiscal year.

Is Cannabis Manufacturing Legal in Rapides Parish?

Only medical cannabis product manufacturing in Rapides Parish is legal as mandated by Act 261 updated by Acts 424, 491, 492, and 628 of the State of Louisiana. Only the respective appointees of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and the Southern University Agricultural Center that have acquired LDH permits are allowed to manufacture medical cannabis products. Their manufacturing facilities are subjected by LAC 51:XXIX:101-907 to the same requirements as their cultivation facilities.

The same regulation obliges the permittees to have an LDH-certified laboratory test random samples from every batch of their manufactured medical cannabis products. The samples have to be taken out before a batch is apportioned or packaged. The permittee is prohibited from selling any batch until after the passing results have been submitted by the laboratory to the LDH in a certificate of analysis. A batch that fails the first test may be remediated by the permittee and another random sample must be submitted for retesting. If the sample still fails, its batch must be destroyed.

LAC 7:XLIX:2903 obliges permittees to have prior approval from the LDH for all medical cannabis and medical cannabis product packaging. These must be light-resistant, child-proof, tamper-proof, and, if containing multiple servings, must be resealable. Even when resealed, the package must still remain child-proof. All medical cannabis and medical cannabis product packaging and labeling must not be made appealing to and must not resemble commercially sold baked items, snacks, candies, and beverages. No image may be placed on the package that may imply that the municipality, parish, or state is endorsing it.

Is Cannabis Retail Legal in Rapides Parish?

Licensed cannabis retail in Rapides Parish is legal as stipulated by the State of Louisiana’s Act 261, amended by Acts 424, 491, 492, and 628, but only for medical cannabis and medical cannabis products sold to certified patients or their caregivers by a licensed retailer holding a therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permit from the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy. Louisiana Revised Statute (RS) 40: 1046.1 has also allowed the retail selling of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products by licensed retailers to visitors from other states who hold valid medical cannabis cards or its counterpart from their home states.

The application period for the therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permit ended on September 4, 2022. Ten such permits had been granted statewide as of June 2023, with one in the City of Alexandria in Rapides Parish.

Once the number of active qualified medical cannabis patients in a region of the State of Louisiana reaches 3,500 based on the Prescription Monitoring Program, the therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permittee within the region will be allowed to add one satellite location. If both the main pharmacy and the satellite location are found to be serving 3,500 active qualified medical cannabis patients, the permittee will be allowed to add a second satellite site. The population count will be done annually on or after August 1. The maximum number of therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permittees to be allowed statewide, however, is 30.

There must be a distance of more than 15 miles between therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permittees’ facilities in regions where parishes have no more than 350,000 residents. The distance is shortened to more than 10 miles in regions where there is a parish with more than 350,000 residents. If there is at least one municipality in the region with more than 350,000 residents, the distance between therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permittees’ facilities is further shortened to more than five miles.

The State of Louisiana’s Act 424 limits the purchase of raw or unprocessed cannabis by a certified patient or a patient’s caregiver from a licensed therapeutic marijuana pharmacy to 71 grams or 2.5 ounces in every 14-day period. However, certified patients younger than 21 years old may only purchase raw or unprocessed cannabis if their physician’s recommendation allows such a form of medical cannabis for their intake.

In addition to raw unprocessed cannabis flowers and plant parts, LAC Title 46 Part LIII allows the following forms of medical cannabis produced by licensed manufacturers for licensed retailers to sell:

• Oils
• Lotions and other topical products
• Tinctures
• Transdermal patches
• Extracts
• Metered-dose inhalers
• Sprays
• Pre-rolls
• Pills and capsules
• Edible products
• Suppositories
• Infused gelatin or pectin chewable products
• Solutions
• Suspensions

Other medical products being sold by licensed retailers according to the Medical Marijuana Program’s 2021 Annual Report are syringes and concentrates.

Is Cannabis Delivery Legal in Rapides Parish?

Licensed therapeutic marijuana pharmacies in Rapides Parish are required by the State of Louisiana’s Act 491 to offer at least once each month the delivery of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products purchased by certified patients or caregivers residing within their region.

The same Act allows the delivery of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products between medical cannabis permittees, licensed therapeutic marijuana pharmacies, and LDH-certified cannabis test laboratories. An LMMTS manifest must accompany every delivery.

How to Get a Medical Marijuana Card in Rapides Parish

There are no medical cannabis cards in the State of Louisiana. Patients who are residents of Rapides Parish are required by RS 40:1046 to instead obtain a medical cannabis recommendation from an authorized clinician who may be one of the following:

• A licensed medical doctor with good standing with the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners
• A licensed medical psychologist with good standing with the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners
• A licensed advanced practice nurse practitioner with good standing with the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and given the authority to prescribe medication

The recommendation for medical cannabis treatment will be issued by the authorized clinician if the patient is diagnosed with any of these illnesses:

• Crohn's disease
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Spasticity or Intractable pain
• Lewy body dementia
• Parkinson's disease
• HIV
• Multiple sclerosis
• Chronic pain from fibromyalgia
• Muscular dystrophy
• AIDS
• Huntington's disease
• Cancer
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Severe muscle spasms
• Traumatic brain injury
• Diagnosed concussion
• Seizure disorders
• Motor neuron disease
• Glaucoma
• Alzheimer's disease
• Epilepsy
• Cachexia
• Chronic pain from sickle cell disease
• Autism spectrum disorder in patients aged at least 18 with one of the following behaviors:
  • Behavior causing self-injury
  • Severe people avoidance or lack of communication that puts the patient at risk
  • Severe repetitive stimulating or behavior that endangers the patient
  • Physically aggressive or destructive behavior
• An illness requiring palliative or hospice care
• An illness that is deemed debilitating in the professional opinion of the authorized clinician

For patients below 18 with autism spectrum disorder, the authorized clinician may only recommend medical cannabis treatment after consulting with a pediatric subspecialist for the disorder.

Queries may be sent to the following:

Medical Marijuana Program

628 N. 4th Street

Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Phone: 225-342-7533

How Has Cannabis Legalization Impacted the Economy of Rapides Parish?

The State of Louisiana’s Act 492 obliges medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing permittees to pay a monthly fee to the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR) equal to 7% of their gross medical cannabis and medical cannabis product sales to licensed therapeutic marijuana pharmacies. This income is used for the administrative, legal, regulatory, enforcement, and investigative expenses of the Medical Marijuana Program.

The 2021 Annual Report of the Program states that for the year, the total collection from medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing permittee fees and therapeutic marijuana pharmacy permittee fees was $208,919.90. The State General Fund (SGF) gave $523,700 but the sum of $732,619.90 was still short of the total expenses of the Program which reached $752,040.19.

The Effects of Cannabis Legalization on Crime Rates in Rapides Parish

Medical cannabis was legalized in Rapides Parish in 2015.

Data sent by the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office to the Crime Explorer page of the FBI shows that in 2014, a year before the legalization of medical cannabis, there were 385 marijuana possession arrests and four marijuana sales arrests, totaling 389 arrests for marijuana offenses.

In 2016, a year after the legalization of medical cannabis, there were 481 marijuana possession arrests and three marijuana sales arrests, totaling 484 arrests for marijuana offenses.

In 2019, there were 427 marijuana possession arrests and six marijuana sales arrests, totaling 430 arrests for marijuana offenses.

In 2021, the latest data available shows 193 marijuana possession arrests and three marijuana sales arrests, totaling 196 arrests for marijuana offenses.

The number of DUI arrests in those years was as follows:

• 2014: 6 arrests
• 2016: No data
• 2019: 20 arrests
• 2021: No data