Smokable medical cannabis products are coming to Louisiana Jan. 1, 2022, and the state’s largest producer is gearing up to meet expected demand growth.
Good Day Farm, a Louisiana State University AgCenter partner, plans to pivot its operations north, from its current location in Baton Rouge to a 225,000-square-foot warehouse in Ruston later this month, The Daily Advertiser recently reported. The new site is 30 miles from the Arkansas border.
Good Day Farm President John Davis told the Advertiser the move to Ruston is intended to meet an anticipated demand increase for medical cannabis when the state’s program expands to include smokable products Jan. 1, 2022.
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“It’s an exciting expansion, especially because it will create new jobs and place what has been an empty building back into commerce,” Davis said.
He said Good Day Farm’s move will initially create 50 new jobs and expects as many as 200 more jobs to be added at the Ruston location as the state’s market continues to mature.
Under previous legislation, Louisiana cannabis patients could not access whole-plant flower and smoking was prohibited. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed House Bill 391 into law June 22, which will permit physicians to recommend medical cannabis to patients in raw or crude form (or flower) beginning in January.
Under the new rules and regulations, all nine medical cannabis pharmacies in the state will be allowed to sell up to 2 1/2 ounces of raw, smokable cannabis products every 14 days for therapeutic use to patients 21 years and older.
Davis told the Advertiser that the new Ruston facility is arranged for three phases of expansion that would eventually allow it to produce 5,700 pounds of product per month, which would exceed projected statewide demand of 4,700 pounds per month in 2024.
Davis said Good Day Farm will initially keep its Baton Rouge growing facility in operation but will eventually consolidate it into the Ruston site.
