ENROLLED
ACT No. 311
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 460
BY REPRESENTATIVE ROBERT OWEN
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 40:1046(G)(1), (3)(a) through (c) and (e), (6)(a) through (c), and
3 (8), relative to the distribution of marijuana for therapeutic use; to provide relative
4 to permitting and regulation of marijuana pharmacies by the Louisiana Board of
5 Pharmacy; to provide for an effective date; and to provide for related matters.
6 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 40:1046(G)(1), (3)(a) through (c), and (e), (6)(a) through (c), and (8)
8 are hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
9 ยง1046. Recommendation and dispensing of marijuana for therapeutic use; rules and
10 regulations of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy; production facility
11 licensing; permitting by the Louisiana Department of Health
12 * * *
13 G.(1)(a) The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy shall develop an annual,
14 nontransferable specialty license for a pharmacy to dispense recommended
15 marijuana for therapeutic use and, except as provided in Paragraph (3) of this
16 Subsection, shall limit the number of licenses granted in the state to no more than ten
17 licenses. The Except as provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, the board
18 shall award one license per region as delineated in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection
19 and one additional license to the region with the highest population density as of
20 August 1, 2022, and shall award each license through a competitive process. The
21 board shall consider the status of an applicant as a minority-, woman-, or veteran-
22 owned business as a primary factor in awarding a license.
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1 (b) The transfer of a membership interest in an entity operating a pharmacy
2 licensed by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy to dispense recommended marijuana
3 for therapeutic use shall be subject to approval of the board in the same manner
4 required for the transfer of a membership interest in any other pharmacy licensed by
5 the board.
6 * * *
7 (3)(a) After three thousand five hundred active, qualified patients are
8 identified in the prescription monitoring program in a region, the Louisiana Board
9 of Pharmacy shall notify and allow the marijuana pharmacy licensee in that region
10 to open one additional marijuana pharmacy location as a satellite location in that
11 region. For the purposes of this Paragraph, "satellite location" shall mean an
12 additional marijuana pharmacy location operated by a marijuana pharmacy licensee
13 within the licensee's geographic region but physically separate from the location of
14 the originally licensed therapeutic marijuana pharmacy.
15 (b) If the marijuana pharmacy licensee opens a satellite location pursuant to
16 Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph and the original location and the satellite location
17 are each found to be serving three thousand five hundred active, qualified patients,
18 After seven thousand active, qualified patients are identified in the prescription
19 monitoring program in a region then the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy shall notify
20 and allow the marijuana pharmacy licensee in that region to open one additional
21 marijuana pharmacy location as a second satellite location in that region.
22 (c) The licensee shall submit an application to open a satellite location
23 provided for in this Paragraph no later than ninety days after receipt of the
24 notification sent by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Subparagraph (b)
25 of this Paragraph to inform the licensee of his eligibility to open a satellite location.
26 The satellite location shall be operational within three hundred ten days of the
27 approval of the application by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy. The Louisiana
28 Board of Pharmacy may grant additional time for the satellite location to become
29 operational due to a circumstance beyond the control of the licensee. If a marijuana
30 pharmacy licensee declines to open a second satellite location pursuant to
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1 Subparagraph (a) or (b) of this Paragraph, then the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy
2 may issue, pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, an
3 additional marijuana pharmacy license in that region to open one marijuana
4 pharmacy location in lieu of the original licensee's second satellite location in that
5 region.
6 * * *
7 (e) For the purposes of this Paragraph, the active, qualified patient count
8 shall be conducted on or after August 1 of each year and reviewed on a quarterly
9 basis using the preceding twelve-month three-month period of August 1 through July
10 31.
11 * * *
12 (6)(a) No marijuana pharmacy shall locate within a fifteen-mile radius of
13 another license holder's marijuana pharmacy.
14 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph,
15 in a region that encompasses any parish with a population of more than three
16 hundred fifty thousand persons according to the most recent federal decennial
17 census, no marijuana pharmacy shall locate within a ten-mile radius of another
18 license holder's marijuana pharmacy.
19 (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (a) Subparagraphs (a)
20 and (b) of this Paragraph, in a region that encompasses any municipality with a
21 population of more than three hundred fifty thousand persons according to the most
22 recent federal decennial census, no marijuana pharmacy shall locate within a
23 five-mile radius of another license holder's marijuana pharmacy.
24 * * *
25 (8) For purposes of this Subsection, "active, qualified patient" means a
26 patient that who has acquired a therapeutic marijuana product at least once in the
27 preceding twelve-month period of August 1 through July 31.
28 * * *
29 Section 2. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or, if not
30 signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature
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1 by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana. If
2 vetoed by the governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become
3 effective on the day following such approval.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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