Medical and Recreational Marijuana in Georgia: The Movers Behind the Movement
Just a few years ago, talk of cannabis legalization was mostly wistful thinking and the goal of a few small (though dedicated) groups of activists. Today, you can’t turn on the news without hearing about the potential for states without legal medical or recreational marijuana legalizing, or hearing about the controversies over legal use in states that do have medical and/or recreational marijuana. With some cities in Georgia changing their own polices regarding cannabis, and with the momentum of legalization seemingly continuing to grow across the nation, many Georgians are wondering if it’s soon to be Georgia’s turn to light up legally.
Green Wave Advisors, a firm that specializes in “independent research and financial analysis of the emerging legalized cannabis industry” is well-known for its accurate predictions. Right now, the firm estimates that by 2021, cannabis will be legal (medically and/or recreationally) across the United States. Of course, the process won’t be without debate, and the debate has already begun in the state of Georgia.
In 2015, Georgia joined the ranks of states with laws allowing for the use of medical marijuana. Barely. Restricted solely to low THC, non-psychoactive CBD oil, the law also specified a very narrow range of conditions that would allow possession. Nor did the law make any provisions for how to legally obtain CBD oil. While 2016 brought a slight broadening of the law (six more conditions added to the original list of eight), it remained difficult and impractical for many patients to access CBD oil.
Advocates believe that it’s not enough—that a wider variety of products should be available to more people, and many groups are also pushing to allow in-state production of CBD oil, which is already legal. And, by and large, Georgians seem to agree. A survey conducted by Georgia College found that nearly 80% of the state’s residents support medical marijuana. In fact, it was one of the least divisive issues the survey addressed.
And of course, there are plenty of advocates who would like to see the laws change even more, to allow the use of cannabis recreationally. With states like Alaska, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon, among others, already aboard the legal, recreational cannabis train, others are scrutinizing the issue. Maine has a proposed bill, Virginia’s democratic governor and republican state representatives are working on a bipartisan project, and Michigan is set to be legal next summer. So, with wide popular support in Georgia, could the Peach State be next?
Decriminalization in Atlanta (and maybe Savannah)
While advocacy groups like the Georgia CARE Project continue to work on bills and resolutions to increase access to cannabis legally, it doesn’t appear that statewide legalization is in the cards just yet. That said, the Georgia CARE Project, Peachtree NORML, and other advocacy organizations have begun to approach the issue of legalization on a city by city basis, with some success.
Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, for example, recently signed into a law that proposes to decriminalize cannabis within the city, although it has not be described as decriminalization by the Mayor’s office. Rather than facing jail time for possession, citizens would receive a ticket and a small fine. Support for the law was strong—it passed the City Council vote 15-0.
Reed pointed out that the law isn’t simply about making cannabis more accessible. Like many others, he recognizes that arrests and exorbitant fines for marijuana possession affect different demographics disproportionately regardless of their rate of use. People of color, young people, and lower-income brackets may not be more likely to use cannabis, but they are more likely to face life changing consequences for doing so. He also indicated that the funds previously spent to prosecute cannabis users could be “better directed to stopping and preventing violent crime.”
Savannah may be poised to follow suit. Van Johnson, an alderman on Savannah’s City Council is preparing to propose a similar measure. Like Reed, Johnson is concerned with “glaring demographic disparities in arrest rates for this offense, due to disproportionate minority contact.” These disparities are more than just an inconvenience for those arrested: having an arrest record can add to difficulty obtaining jobs, housing, and education.
Although these measures can’t technically be called decriminalization, and cannabis would still be illegal under Georgia state law, they represent progress for those who want to end the prohibition on this substance.
Not Everyone is Happy
While the most vocal complaints online might seem to be pushing for fewer (or no) legal consequences for cannabis use, not everyone is pleased with more lenient laws and policies. For example, SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), Let’s Be Clear GA, National Families in Action, Voices for Prevention, and numerous other groups have lobbied aggressively against full legalization. Many of these groups oppose any expansion of medical marijuana access as well.
For example, the SAM platform acknowledges that incarceration and criminalization of marijuana users has a negative effect on society, but does not believe that legalization or—and this is a particular sticking point for SAM—commercialization—are viable alternatives. Their goals include the reduction of cannabis use concurrent with the reduction of stigmatizing cannabis users, including fighting policies that demonize users and “low-level dealers.” The group does hold—for now—a hardline stance against medical marijuana use, although it is currently based on a lack of research, so that may change if the research climate becomes more amenable.
Groups like Voices for Prevention are less concerned with adult use, but believe that adult cannabis use does inevitably lead to underage use of marijuana and other drugs. National Families in Action holds similar views. These groups raise the question of whether or not legalization, especially recreational legalization, for adults can be justified if children are affected.
Arguments amongst legalization opposition vary, with some groups concerned about the overall safety of cannabis, lack of medical research, the fear that black market sales will increase, the effect of marijuana use on families and society, etc. Despite their differing viewpoints, however, these groups agree on one thing: no more legalization. And they’re willing to work together to achieve that goal.
Going Forward
Efforts for widespread legalization of cannabis certainly seem to be gathering steam. After all, numerous states have fully legalized (within the bounds of their own state laws) recreational use. Very few states have a complete prohibition on medical use.
This momentum is telling, but it’s not the end of the story. There will still be debates on the topic and even if statewide legalization takes place in Georgia, there’s no guarantee that it will be easy, safe, or without legal consequences to obtain cannabis.
Just as Atlanta’s decriminalization measures can’t overturn Georgia state law on the topic of cannabis possession, the states can’t overturn the federal laws prohibiting the possession or use of marijuana. And while certain protections have been afforded to states previously with regards to implementing their own medical marijuana laws, at least one high ranking Washington politician wants to bring the hammer down: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Traditionally, the federal Justice Department has taken a hands-off approach to state laws related to cannabis. That’s a tradition Sessions would be more than happy to do away with, as he believes “it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions,” citing that we are “in the midst of an historic drug epidemic.” Advocates for cannabis legalization claim that Sessions is conflating the opioid epidemic with cannabis use, and have pointed out that medical marijuana access is actually correlated with less opioid abuse. Sessions, however, seems unlikely to budge.
That said, Sessions won’t find his opposition lacking. President Trump has professed on several occasions that he is 100% behind medical marijuana and is not interested in dismantling federal protections for states with medical marijuana programs. Over seventy percent of the American population agrees with this policy.
Support for legalization, including legal recreational use, is growing—and party lines have less and less to do with it.
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