In April 2015, Deal ratified House Bill 1, nicknamed “Haleigh’s Hope Act,” which legalized low-THC — the psychoactive chemical that gets you a high — cannabis oils for medical purposes.
However, the governor has since claimed he doesn’t think Georgia is quite ready to take the next step in cannabis legalization, according to WSB-TV.
Know your bud bill
Cue State Rep. Allen Peake, Macon’s republican representative, with a bill to get Georgia’s medical marijuana industry growing like weed.
On Jan. 12, Peake filed House Bill 722 (HB 722), legislation which would, if passed, construct a heavily regulated system for the cultivation and sale of medicinal cannabis.
But tokers needn’t be fired up just yet. Under HB 722, smoking grass would still be illegal. In fact, approved medical patients wouldn’t be able to hold any bud at all, according to Peake.
“If people think that they’re gonna be able to smoke weed any time, anywhere because of this bill, they’re going to be sorely disappointed,” he said.
Peake’s legislation would create an overwatch system regulated by the Department of Public Health to process all Georgia-grown bud into an extract or concentrate fit for vaping or topical application.
“We wanted to stay away from the harmful effects that could come from smoking,” he said. “But if you want medicine to go to citizens with debilitating illnesses, this is the bill to accomplish that.”
HB 722 would expand upon the medicinal treatment system installed by HB 1, Peake said, by adding nine medical conditions to the list of weed-worthy ailments, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and some cancers.
“We should treat it like medicine,” he said. “Legislators should not be deciding what THC levels [limitations] should be. Doctors and pharmacists should be making that decision.”
And the THC content restrictions effected by 2015’s HB 1, under the new bill, would be repealed, granting prescribed patients the right to catch a buzz while medicating.
“[HB 722] does allow for vaporization of the cannabis oil,” he said, “which can provide immediate effect for those that need significant help with pain or other diagnoses.”
Treatment of the trees
Still, Georgia State film student Jason Lindner said he thinks the medicinal merits of marijuana reach much further than Peake’s bill would cover.
Lindner, who works part-time at Village Smoke, said his personal experience with the now legal CBD oils — CBD is the other effective chemical in cannabis — has been largely positive.
But he claims medicating with THC, smoked or otherwise, has proven beneficial for his Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder which “messed up” Lindner’s metabolism.
“All my life I really haven’t had an appetite. I just eat when it’s meal time,” he said. “But I’ve found that ingesting cannabis — using medical marijuana — for that has helped me maintain a normal appetite system as well as maintain a healthy weight.”
Lindner said his self-medication helped him gain back weight which would otherwise be lost due to lack of appetite.
“Someone who’s 6-foot-2 shouldn’t weigh 160,” he said. “I obviously want to gain weight, and cannabis is helping me with my appetite.”
Another Georgia State student, Tunde Bello, has been told by doctors that his medical condition is highly suggestive of glaucoma, an incurable eye disease which would be covered under HB 722.
Bello said he’s worried that his symptoms haven’t subsided, and he thinks the use of cannabis as a cure for his condition could be the glimmer of hope he’s waited for.
“Showing symptoms of glaucoma is very disturbing,” he said. “I am definitely interested in using medical marijuana if truly it works as a treatment, especially as it is claimed to be devoid of any crazy complications or side effects.”
Bello said he hopes that the bill is passed as fast as possible. He said he thinks curing ailments should not cause additional burden.
“I think it is the responsibility of the state to protect the interest and safety of every individual,” Bello said. “We want treatment for the sickness but we really want to be safely cured without any further complication.”
Will HB 722 get puff, puff, passed?
Professor Daniel Franklin, associate professor of political science, said the real “big ticket” item in HB 722 is its introduction to in-state cannabis cultivation.
“It’s hard to set up a firewall between the two,” he said of cultivation and medicinal use. “I think there are two major issues here. The first is the concern about the use of cannabis for recreational purposes. As a drug, marijuana is legal but as for recreational purposes, it is not.”
Franklin said the second issue lies on whether it’s possible for the state to supersede the federal government when it comes to the licensing of drugs. He questioned the process on the weed’s ride to becoming a state medical remedy and asked if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved it. Presently, only a synthetic form of it has been approved.
But Franklin said he thinks the bill will pass since it has support from House Speaker David Ralston, many legislators and a large number of people in the state.
And, after Peake spent a few hours camped at Ralston’s office to lobby for the bill, he’s already earned 90 signatures from members of the assembly, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Peake said he understands the worries of some naysayers at the ballot box. But he told The Signal the legal cannabis system outlined in HB 722 would be a steel trap to scofflaws.
“Law enforcement has raised a number of concerns,” he said: “Can it be controlled? Is it a slippery slope to legalization of recreational usage? I think we’ve addressed the law enforcement concerns with a model with tighter security than a casino.”
The bill, if enacted, would create a task force to watch over all marijuana production and distribution in Georgia and advise the Department of Public Health on any amendments the legislation could need down the road. So Peake said he expects the demand for medical cannabis products to grow significantly.
“There are 465 people on the registry now who are signed up yet can’t even get access,” he said. “Imagine what the demand will be once we get an accessible and safe, lab-tested product here in Georgia.”
Peake said he doesn’t feel threatened that his bill could fail because polling results say “somewhere between 72 and 84 percent support” medical cannabis legalization.
“Are we ready as a state to allow cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes here in Georgia?” Peake asked. “We’re just gonna try and ride that public momentum.”
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