Georgia Legislature set to approve medical marijuana

ATLANTA -- After a year of debate, the Georgia Legislature is set to approve its first medical marijuana bill, which will allow possession of a single kind of liquid medicine made from cannabis for any one of eight diagnoses.

A 48-6 state Senate vote Tuesday sends House Bill 1 to the House for a formal agreement to Senate tweaks, then to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk.

Deal is expected to sign it this week, schedule allowing, said state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, author of the bill and the Legislature’s medical cannabis evangelist for more than a year. Deal already has expressed support for a slightly different version of the bill.

The measure could go into effect in as few as 30 to 60 days, Peake said.

“This is a good day,” said a beaming Peake, surrounded by a half-dozen Georgians who want medical cannabis for their children.

The bill says Georgians will not be prosecuted for possession of a liquid cannabis medicine under certain circumstances. The liquid must be legally obtained in another state, and it must contain less than 5 percent THC, the chemical that causes marijuana users to get high.

The liquid medicine must be rich in cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound that does not cause a high. Anecdotal evidence says it soothes severe seizures and may have other health benefits, though those other benefits are mainly untested.

Shannon Cloud’s 8-year-old daughter Alaina has severe seizures and takes five strong medicines. Cloud, of Smyrna, and her husband, Blaine Cloud, have worked the halls and offices of the state Capitol this year, urging lawmakers to help their daughter try something with fewer side effects.

“She might be a different kid, if she wakes up not addicted,” Shannon Cloud said.

The bill covers cancer, either in the end stages or when a cancer treatment causes serious physical decline or nausea. The other seven diagnoses that would be medical cannabis-eligible are Crohn’s disease, mitochondrial disease, seizure disorders, and severe Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease or sickle cell disease.

Would-be patients would need to get a diagnosis from a Georgia doctor, and both would report use to a medical cannabis registry. Peake hopes that registry will be open in a month or two.

“I’m in support of HB 1. I got a family history that has cancer, that’s had family members die in pain,” said state Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon.

A Senate committee cut fibromyalgia from Peake’s original bill on the argument that it is a difficult diagnosis.

That was a “gut punch,” Peake said.

Some of the bill’s strongest supporters have been the Crosby family, Peake’s neighbors in Macon. Katie Crosby, 26, has debilitating pain from fibromyalgia, and she said the medical cannabis that she took on a trip to Colorado got her out of her wheelchair and back into a normal life.

Peake said he hopes medical evidence will start to stack up in favor of medical cannabis enabling Georgia to add more diagnoses.

Senate Democrats and most Republicans voted for House Bill 1, except for a few GOP renegades who fear abuse of the cannabis compound or the risk of cannabis not inspected by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

“It’s the Wild West right now” in Colorado, said state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, who voted against the bill. He said some marijuana there has been found to be harboring dangerous fungus, and that amateur chemists are blowing up their houses trying to brew potent drugs.

Hufstetler said he did not want Georgians to “run the health risks of these untested products.”

Most states now allow medical marijuana, though some programs are too restrictive to provide practical access, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures.

Compared with other states, Georgia is restrictive. Georgians have no way to buy medical cannabis without getting it from another state and bringing it home. Because cannabis is still banned by federal law, carrying it across state lines constitutes smuggling.

But by this time next year, Peake hopes the Legislature will allow in-state growing, manufacturing and distributing of medical cannabis.

“Until we have in-state cultivation, we’re still going to have obstacles,” Peake said. “We need safe, effective access.”

The bill creates a summer study committee to recommend regulations for a medical cannabis trade in Georgia. Peake was co-chairman of a similar study committee last year and aimed to propose in-state grow this year, but he could not gin up enough support.

The bill also directs the University System of Georgia to undertake clinical trials of CBD-rich medicines that have been approved for testing by the federal government.

Georgia Regents University already is testing a British medicine with federal blessing on children who have severe seizures. Tests started under an executive order from Deal last year at a projected cost of $4.9 million. Few children have qualified for the tests so far.

This story was originally published March 24, 2015 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Georgia Legislature set to approve medical marijuana ."