Georgia May Be the Next State to Consider Medical Cannabis

Election Day has sparked optimism in Georgia advocates who are pushing to get an operational medical cannabis program approved for their state.

Two activists who would like to see medical cannabis permitted to patients in Florida are Blaine and Shannon Cloud. These two are parents to an 11-year-old named Alaina, who has a rare seizure disorder, according to The Telegraph. “We were obviously encouraged by all the positive votes,” said Shannon Cloud. “The fact that Florida passed medical was a hug win. We’re not that different from Florida. We are hopeful that we could get it on the ballot here in 2018.”

Right now, Georgia only permits a non-psychoactive CBD oil for qualifying patients. While Alaina Cloud does benefit from this oil, herself and the estimated 1,057 other qualified patients face quite the conundrum. This is because the state does not permit cannabis cultivation or processing, making it nearly impossible for patients to obtain oil safely and legally.

Florida activists were able to collect almost 700,000 signatures, which qualified Amendment 2 for the ballot without gaining approval from state legislators. Unlike Florida, residents of Georgia cannot bypass the state legislature by getting a number of signatures from voters in the state that favor medical cannabis. Instead, if residents of Georgia want medical cannabis cultivation allowed in the state, the state legislatures have to approve the ordinance before it will be subjected to a public vote.

Representative Allen Peake signed a medical cannabis bill in 2016, and he’s gearing up to sign another in 2017. According to The Telegraph, Peake would like to see Georgia’s medical cannabis program look similar to other cannabis programs in medical and recreational states. “It’s coming. It’s now in 29 states, after Election Day, that have some full-blown medical marijuana programs,” Peake said. “It’s coming to Georgia at some point.”

Although Peake declined to go into detail with The Telegraph, he admitted that the cannabis community in Georgia is forced to act outside of federal laws to get cannabis oil to patients in the state. “We’re getting medicine to the people now,” Peake said, “We’re working around the law.”

When you have patients who are able to consume a product that clearly helps their condition, but you do not give them a way to safely access medicine, it appears the only logical next step would be for Georgia to create a medical cannabis program. Only time will tell as to what the state legislators ultimately decide.