How to check a Louisiana medical marijuana retailer

1. Get a recommendation first

You need a recommendation from an authorized clinician who treats you: a Louisiana physician, a nurse practitioner who can prescribe, or a medical psychologist.² No state agency keeps a list of clinicians who recommend medical marijuana.¹

Your clinician sends the signed recommendation straight to the store. It must name your condition and have an expiration date no more than 12 months away.³

Visiting from another state? If you have a valid medical marijuana card from another state, a Louisiana retailer can sell to you after you sign a state form and show a government photo ID.⁴

2. Check the store on LDH’s list

LDH’s Medical Marijuana page lists every permitted retailer. It has one table for main stores and one for satellite stores, with the region, business name, address and phone number for each.¹

1. Go to LDH’s list of medical marijuana retailers .
2. Scroll to the tables near the bottom of the page: main retailers (base permits) and satellite locations.¹
3. Find the store’s street address. The list shows the permit holder’s business name, which may not match the name on the store’s sign.
4. If the address isn’t listed, don’t buy there.

The law allows 10 retail permits, plus satellite stores, up to 30 locations in all.² A list on any other website may be out of date. Use LDH’s page.

3. At the store or for delivery

• The store must display its LDH permit where you can see it.³
• Before each sale, staff check your purchase history in the state’s tracking system. They must refuse a sale that would give you more than 71 grams of raw marijuana in 14 days, or more of another form than your clinician recommended.³
• You can ask for the lab test results for any product the store sells. The store must give them to you.³
• Delivery: each retailer must offer delivery to every ZIP code in its region at least once a month. It may not deliver outside Louisiana.²³

4. Check the label

A store may not sell a product unless its label shows the store’s name, address and phone number, your clinician’s name, your name, the date filled, a unique transaction number, what the product is, how much is in the package, directions for use and the expiration date.³ The package must be tightly sealed and keep out light.³

Louisiana law protects patients who have medical marijuana in a form the law allows. To use that protection, a patient shows medical records that contain the recommendation.⁵

Warning signs

• Anyone else selling “medical marijuana.” It must be sold by a Louisiana store with an LDH retail permit.² Stores may sell only products made by producers licensed in Louisiana.³
• A seller that ships from another state. Louisiana medical marijuana may not come from, or go to, a place outside the state.²
• A store that skips the purchase check. Permitted stores must check the state’s tracking system before every sale.²

If something doesn’t look right

To report a problem with a medical marijuana store or product, contact LDH’s Cannabis Program at 225-342-4339 .¹ LDH can inspect a store after a complaint without warning.³

The same LDH program registers consumable hemp products, at the same phone number.⁸ If a product made you sick, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 first.

How to report a problem