LAPLACE, La. (WVUE) – A nearly year-long process to open the first medical marijuana dispensary in St. John The Baptist Parish will head to court over a zoning dispute between the parish and the dispensary’s owner.
Last summer, Omar Pecantte bought land on Belle Terre in LaPlace, near St. Andrews Boulevard, with hopes of opening his third Greenleaf Dispensary location.
However, the lot sits empty right now while Pecantte waits for a lawsuit to play out against parish leadership and the zoning board.
“Why have I not gotten a building permit?” Pecantte asked. “There are people that are trying to defy the law.”
Pecantte says back-and-forth conversations with the zoning board through the fall and winter were about whether a medical marijuana pharmacy could open in the parish at all.
Pecantte says the land was zoned for commercial use, like the land for his other two locations in Houma and Morgan City. But the St. John zoning board’s third-party assessor denied a building permit, saying no zoning ordinance specifically listed “medical marijuana pharmacies” among the types of businesses allowed in the parish.
“I had to seek judicial relief and file a lawsuit,” Pecantte said. “I purchased the property on Belle Terre Boulevard for $225,000. I’ve incurred attorney fees, because I have two law firms representing me in this case.”
Pecantte questions the parish’s decision not to let his business move forward in LaPlace, especially with 1,600 patients in the parish already seeking medical marijuana, per the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy’s prescription monitoring report.
“Patients have to drive into Orleans or Baton Rouge just to purchase medications that could be readily available there in Laplace,” he said.
St. John parish president Jaclyn Hotard said only that the issue with Greenleaf Dispensary is about the zoning code and not about blocking medical marijuana in the parish. But Pecantte said the parish government’s position is inconsistent.
“In St. John The Baptist Parish, does it say ‘opioid pharmacy’ in the zoning? No it doesn’t. But they have Walgreens and CVS that sell opioids,” Pecantte said.
Hotard said she would welcome the dispensary if allowed by the parish zoning code. But Picante said he feels his business has been targeted because of the nature of its products.
Attorney and Fox 8 legal analyst Joe Raspanti says the outcome of the legal fight is unclear.
“It seems like this very similar type of thing was allowed in every other parish,” Raspanti said. “But if this parish can show with specificity that he can’t fit in, in their square peg, then they can make it difficult for him to get what he wants.”
Both Pecantte and the parish will be in St. John court to argue their sides of the lawsuit in June. Pecantte said he hopes that if the courts resolve the matter quickly, he can open in LaPlace by early 2026.
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