Patients line up for Louisiana’s first smokable medical marijuana; balk at prices

Medical marijuana patients packed Louisiana’s nine cannabis pharmacies on Monday, the first day of the expansion of the state’s program to include the raw, smokable form of the medicine as an option, though many complained about the cost of the raw buds.

Until Monday Louisiana’s only two legal growers — LSU AgCenter, Southern AgCenter and their private partners — could only produce the medicine in processed form like tinctures and edible gummies.

“It’s an exciting day; it feels like the first day again from August 2019 when the first products became available,” said John Davis of Good Day Farms, LSU AgCenter’s private partner and grower.

There were some long lines and waits at the nine pharmacies across the state, according to media reports.

Business was brisk at Delta MedMar, northeastern Louisiana’s cannabis pharmacy in West Monroe, though patients there were disappointed by the cost of the flower product.

“They said it would be cheaper, but it’s not,” said Corbet King, who drove an hour from Wisner and said the medicine treats both his pain from back and neck injuries suffered in a car wreck and his bipolar disorder.

“I’ve been waiting on the flower option,” King said. “But this more than double the street price (of illegal weed).” [Read more at Daily Advertiser]