Louisiana medical marijuana leader touts industry growth, safety: ‘We’ve done it right.’

After over five years of legal cannabis sales in the state, Good Day Farm Louisiana President John Davis maintains that Louisiana’s medical marijuana market is the best in the South. 

At a Rotary Club meeting Wednesday, Davis touted the industry’s safety, oversight and stability, factors he says are why Louisiana is ahead of other states that have legalized marijuana sales.  

“The program has matured,” Davis said at the meeting. “It’s scaled, and most importantly, compared to all these other states that got out ahead of us, here we’re safe, we’re consistent, we’re regulated, we have oversight, and we have economic stability, which is not seen in other states.” 

The Louisiana Department of Health regulates the industry from cultivation to retail in what Davis describes as a “very narrow playing field.” 

Good Day Farm is one of two licensed cannabis growers that cultivate products for the 10 licensed retailers in the state. The company originally partnered with the LSU Agricultural Center to operate growing facilities in Ruston and Baton Rouge. They also operate dispensaries, including a 10,000-square-foot retail location in Lake Charles, the largest dispensary in the South.  

Good Day Farm Louisiana distributes approved medical marijuana products to licensed dispensaries in Louisiana. Ilera Holistic Healthcare holds the other cannabis growing license in the state. 

The medical marijuana patient base has boomed over the past two years. From the first quarter of 2024 to the last quarter of 2025, the number of patients has more than doubled, according to data Davis presented at the meeting. Nearly 150,000 people in Louisiana are part of the state’s medical marijuana program — that’s 3.2% of the state’s population. 

With increased access to the product, a wide variety of products and an expanding consumer base, prices have fallen. Average prices across all products, which include cannabis flower, tinctures, vape devices and edibles, is about $47, Davis said, and overall medical marijuana prices have dropped about 21% from mid-2024 to January this year.  

Stigma surrounding marijuana has fallen, too, he said, crediting the state’s growers and retailers acting as “good stewards” for the industry’s stability. 

“The legislature sees how we’re behaving,” he said in an interview following the meeting. “The regulators see how we’re operating, and we’ve done a very good job staying in our swim lane and complying with the rules.” 

Product safety is top of mind, too — 98.5% of Good Day Farm products have passed the state department of health’s tests to ensure the potency of the products matches the potency printed on the labels, he said. 

Davis touted Louisiana’s strong regulation of the medical marijuana market amid other state’s challenge to manage the growing industry. In Oklahoma, a study commissioned by the state’s marijuana authority found that the marijuana supply is at least 32 times greater than demand in the state. Washington and Oregon have also struggled with marijuana surpluses.

“We’re a strong state,” Davis said. “We’ve done it right.”