What’s the current state of cannabis legalization in Georgia? Here’s the progress that has happened in the last year.
The timeline begins in April 2015, when Governor Nathan Deal signed a medical marijuana bill into law. This legislation allowed patients with certain medical conditions to legally use low THC/high CBD cannabis oil. House Bill 1, commonly known as “Haleigh’s Hope Act”, was named for patient Haleigh Cox, a resident of Forsyth, Georgia. Haleigh suffers from a rare epileptic seizure disorder that causes 100 seizures per day; her success with cannabis oil treatment prompted many lawmakers to vote for the legislation and to allow children to be treated under the new law.
HB1 allowed possession of up to 20 fluid ounces of cannabis oil with a maximum level of 5 percent THC, the hallucinogenic compound cannabis is known for. Both registered patients and caregivers were allowed to possess the oil with a Georgia-licensed doctor’s recommendation.
Patients with eight medical disorders qualified: seizures, cancer, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, mitochondrial disease and sickle cell anemia.
HB1 also granted permission to Georgia universities to perform research regarding CBD oil and cannabis effectiveness on childhood seizure disorders, in compliance with federal regulations regarding cannabis research.
This original bill was considered to be a limited medical marijuana bill for several reasons. First, it restricted the list of qualifying diseases. Second, it restricted the drug delivery method only to oil, and did not allow other forms of administration like edibles or smoking. Third, Georgia did not allow in-state cultivation or product manufacturing, so patients had to travel out of state to obtain their cannabis oil. Finally, the imposed THC limits meant that some patients who need THC-rich products were denied a medical cannabis option for treatment.
In December 2015, Governor Deal said a profound “no” to medical cannabis cultivation, despite the efforts of groups like the Georgia C.A.R.E. project to legalize in-state cultivation and production. Republican state legislator Allen Peake became a key figure in the battle, even admitting to breaking the law to bring medical cannabis into the state illegally for Georgia patients who desperately needed it. The Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis also heard from various stakeholders, such as patients and doctors, law enforcement, and industry professionals over a two-year period, but in the end, the governor stated that Georgia still had insufficient information to control cultivation and processing in the state.
In May 2017, Governor Deal signed Senate Bill (SB) 16 to expand the list of medical conditions for treatment with low-THC oil. The medical list was expanded to include hospice care patients, autism, AIDS, Tourette’s Syndrome, severe peripheral neuropathy, and epidermolysis bullosa. The law also provided reciprocity for qualifying patients from other states with similar low-THC laws.
The evolution of the 2017 law started in the state House as HB 65, sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake and passed by the House in March. The bill called for doubling the number of allowed medical conditions from eight to 16, to include the above-mentioned conditions as well as autoimmune diseases. HB 65 added the reciprocity condition and removed the one-year residency requirement needed to legally possess the oil.
Two weeks earlier, the Senate passed SB 16, only adding autism as a qualifying condition. However, SB 16 also lowered the maximum allowable THC content to three percent. The SB 16 eventually signed by the governor was a compromise between the two chamber bills.
Later, in October 2017, the city of Atlanta decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill was sponsored by City Councilman Kwanza Hall, who cited reformation of the “racist Atlanta marijuana laws” as a long-time goal.
Hall stated that the large majority (92 percent) of Atlanta possession arrests were black. Under the old law, people in possession of one ounce or less faced six months jail time and a possible $1,000 fine. The new law, unanimously passed by Atlanta’s city council in a 15-0 vote, fines violators $75 with no jail time. The Atlanta Police Department supported the new law, and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed signed the legislation in November.
A few months later, in March 2018, Savannah became the second Georgia city to decriminalize cannabis, with first-time offenders charged with a misdemeanor and $150 fine instead of jail time. Twenty-percent of each ticket’s fine revenue will be directed to a drug treatment program. First-timers who are unable to pay the fine do community service rather than jail time.
These laws only apply within the Atlanta and Savannah city limits; everywhere else, possession in Georgia still earns the offender jail time.
Also in March 2018, the Senate voted to add PTSD and intractable pain as two new conditions eligible for medical marijuana treatment. Governor Deal signed the law in May 2018.
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