Supporters of expanding Georgia's medical marijuana law say they have delivered a petition containing 12,000 signatures supporting the change to Gov. Nathan Deal and other leaders. Last year’s successful push by lawmakers to allow Georgians to use medicinal marijuana was a big step, but accomplished only part of the process needed to provide more reasonable, and local, access to the medicine.
Backers of a bill to allow the cultivation of medical marijuana in Georgia have said they expect to win over its skeptics, including the governor and law enforcement. Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) filed the bill just prior to the start-up of the 2016 session, calling it “the next logical step for our citizens.” But the question remains as to whether or not a new bill will make it through the senate and beyond allowing for in-state production of cannabis oil for medicinal purposes.
House Speaker David Ralston has said he supports Peake's bill, but Deal has come out against such a system and prosecutors and other law enforcement officials also remain opposed to any legal growth of marijuana in the state. Lawmakers last year approved allowing people with certain medical conditions to legally possess cannabis oil in Georgia. Patients say they still must travel to states where the product can be manufactured.
As a result, people wishing to obtain cannabis oil must travel to a state where it is legal. Transportation of cannabis oil through states deeming it illegal has consequences of criminal or felony charges, if caught. Peake, a Macon Republican, has proposed allowing state-licensed manufacturers of medical marijuana products to operate in the state. His bill would also expand the medical conditions eligible for the treatment in Georgia.
The new legislation seeks to expand treatable conditions from the original eight up to 17 to include Aids, Alzheimer’s, Tourette’s syndrome and others. According to the bill, marijuana would be grown and dispensed to patients in the same location to attempt to keep the product from ending up in the wrong hands.
"We'll have a seed to sale tracking system too on any plant from the moment it's put in the ground to the moment when it's dispensed, law enforcement will be able to track that product," said Peake. According to the bill’s co-sponsor, District 67 Rep. Micah Gravley, R-Douglasville, whose district includes parts of Paulding and Douglas counties, the new bill is a ‘Part Two’ to last year’s HB1, which allowed for cannabis oil as treatment of several medical conditions, but left the question of distribution open for further study. Since the passage of HB1 a commission was charged with gathering information.
Gravley was among the original legislative supporters of the effort, but not a commission member. He said the top concern among commission members was how growth will be controlled and use would be restricted. Peake is also pushing for a limited number of licensed growers to provide the state's patients with medical cannabis. Peake foresees anywhere from two to six licenses being issued depending on a number of qualifying factors.
Governor Deal has expressed doubts over Georgia’s ability to control the use of the plant and a study committee voted against recommending to lawmakers to allow growth of marijuana for medicinal purposes in Georgia. But evidence of grass-roots support within the state exists as 84 percent of voters in a statewide poll reported in local media earlier this year responded that they would vote for in-state cultivation.
If approved, the Department of Public Health would have until December 1st to establish a list of licensed growers. Approved growers would then have to start providing medical cannabis to patients on July 1st, 2017.