On March 11 WSBTV announced that the Georgia Sentate will hold a hearing in the Health and Human Services Committee for the medical marijuana bill (HB 855) on Wednesday, March 12.
Georgia House of Representatives voted 174 – 4 in approval of the bill on Monday, March 3.
The bill states that because the General Assembly would allow for patients to participate in state-sponsored programs to investigate the use of medical marijuana, academic medical centers would also have the ability to study the benefits for patients in controlled clinical settings.
These medical institutions would have to be approved by the Patient Qualification Review Board in order to grow and dispense the medical marijuana to patients.
There are also strict guidelines within the medical marijuana bill stating that only critically ill patients suffering from conditions such as severe seizures and cancer, would be eligible for the institutions to prescribe the cannabis to them.
Other restrictions include that patients would not have the option of receiving the medical marijuana in a smokeable form, but rather would ingest it orally or in pill form.
The bill was drafted by Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) and representatives such as Mickey Channell and Tom McCall co-sponsored the bill, according to Peake’s official website.
