Petitioners deliver 12,000 medical marijuana signatures to governor's office

ATLANTA -- Supporters of a Georgia medical marijuana cultivation bill delivered a petition to Gov. Nathan Deal's Atlanta office on Tuesday bearing 410 pages of their fellow supporters' signatures.

"Three months ago we started a petition online, and as of last night we have over 12,000 signatures," said Sebastien Cotte, one of dozens of medical marijuana patients, their parents or their caregivers who gathered at the Capitol to deliver the printout.

Cotte's son Jagger Cotte, 5, has a mitochondrial disease and takes a medical marijuana product to reduce pain and seizures.

The father said that access is "simply a human rights issue."

But under the Gold Dome, little is simple.

House Bill 722 would license up to six companies to grow specially bred marijuana in Georgia and manufacture and distribute liquid marijuana products to patients who have any one of 17 diagnoses -- and a doctor's recommendation. The list of eligible illnesses in the proposal would include Alzheimer's and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Nearly two dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, offer some kind of legalized use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Deal has said he is not convinced that Georgia could control the industry's products or that there is enough demand in Georgia for them.

In hearings so far this year on the bill, some law enforcement officials and lawmakers have suggested that the bill could enable more marijuana misuse in Georgia.

State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, author of the bill, urged supporters to stay involved and engaged.

"We're going to fight it just as far as we can. We've got a tough battle ahead of us," he said.

He's also got a fast-approaching deadline. The bill needs to pass the House by Feb. 29 for a real chance of becoming law this year. It has yet to be scheduled for a vote by the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

To contact reporter Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Petitioners deliver 12,000 medical marijuana signatures to governor's office ."