Extremely Limited Medical Marijuana Use May Be Coming to Georgia
Cannabis oil would be legal in some cases-if you can get your hands on it.
Georgia's state senate has approved a very narrowly worded bill to allow for some medical marijuana use in the Peach State. Even getting to this point required some significant compromise. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
A two-year effort to legalize medical marijuana in Georgia may finally succeed, as the Senate passed a likely compromise that would OK a limited form of the drug for disorders including cancer, seizures and sickle cell disease.
House Bill 1 still needs another nod from the House before it receives final passage. But by beating back efforts from the chamber's conservatives to gut the bill on the floor, Senate supporters have handed over legislation likely to make that happen — especially since it is already supported by the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon.
The compromise was made last week, after Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, rewrote HB 1 as a way to merge a restrictive medical marijuana measure already approved in the Senate and a much broader effort already approved by the House.
The new version would allow cannabis oil to be used to treat eight of the nine disorders sought by the House in that chamber's own medical marijuana proposal: cancer, Crohn's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), mitochondrial disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, seizure disorders and sickle cell disease.
Those with fibromyalgia can apparently suck it. They were dumped from the list. Previous proposals only opened up the use of cannabis oils to children. This new proposal now also allows for adults. It also places strict limits in how much THC can be in the oil.
It's also important to note that this legislation doesn't actually legalize any of the process of getting one's hands on this cannabis oil treatment: growing, producing, manufacturing—any of that. It's just legal to have it. Thus, the proposed federal CARERS Act (Jacob Sullum wrote about it previously here) would be particularly helpful, as it would allow the transportation of cannabis oils from states where marijuana cultivation is permitted to states where it is not. The senate bill authorizes the state's university system to develop a cannabis oil research and development program under guidelines permitted under federal law, which is a problem in that the federal government has been stonewalling these kinds of programs. Kentucky took a similar route; researchers ran into problems trying to actually get their hands on any oil.
Also of note: The bill would create a state marijuana commission tasked with producing a report by the end of December to examine medical marijuana programs across the country and make some recommendations. So while this endorsement of medical marijuana may seem very small compared to what other states are doing, the state will be exploring further expansion.
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Those with fibromyalgia can apparently suck it.
I’ve been saying this for years, those entitled fucks. Fortunately the wise legislators in the Peach State know to dole out relief only to the deserved.
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Fibromyalgia is the red-headed stepchild of auto-immune diseases.
Thankfully, my wife’s case is manageable with Enbrel.
The bill would create a state marijuana commission tasked with producing a report by the end of December to examine medical marijuana programs across the country and make some recommendations. So while this endorsement of medical marijuana may seem very small compared to what other states are doing, the state will be exploring further expansion.
Follow the money. It’s all a plot by Big Doritos.
OT: Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet today: Bowe Bergdhal charged w/ desertion.
That took an awfully long time. Why?
Because the obvious charges made certain people look very bad?
Oh, and check out this paragraph from the NY Times.
Another question is whether the Army will give Sergeant Bergdahl an honorable discharge if he is found guilty of desertion. For members of the military, an honorable discharge is no small matter, and not getting one can not only hinders a veteran’s job prospects, but also weigh on the entirety of how a service member looks back on his or her career.
Clueless Level 1000.
At this point, I think the NYT is just funnin’ wit us.
I’m sure all the Obama administration officials who accused Bergdhal’s platoon mates of lying will do the honorable thing and resign.
That’s the funniest shit I’ve heard all week!
If I saw Obama coming to help me, I’d run faster than I ever have in my life. Everything he gets involved in is a losing cause.
I wonder who the cursed person is that he will endorse for POTUS in 2016, because they will have lost before they even get out of the gate.
PLAGIARIZER!
Not all of us have cushy academic jobs that allow us unlimited thread reviewing time. :p
Fair enough.
Drop the “medical marijuana” scam. There’s no such thing, everybody knows it. If they were able to remove all THC from “medical marijuana” you’d stop pretending and abandon this hobby-horse.
Except for, you know, all the documented medical uses of Tetrahydrocannabinol itself.
And you can’t have just a little to enhance your dinner either, so the stuff is useless.
Repeal the Controlled Substances Act and nobody has to play this game.
I’ll wait…
Also OT: In Nothing Else Happened news:
McAuliffe orders Va. ABC officers to be re-trained in use of force, diversity
Spurred by the violent arrest of a black college student by white Alcoholic Beverage Control police officers, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) signed an executive order Wednesday that aims to reform the state agency’s law enforcement arm.
The executive order, effective immediately, requires all ABC special agents to be re-trained in use of force, cultural diversity and interaction with young people by Sept. 1. It also gives universities and local police departments more oversight of ABC special agents assigned to college towns, “with the goal of improving collaboration, communication and delineation of expectations regarding enforcement activities performed by ABC special agents in these communities.”
In other Georgia news today: Several Georgia Pols Recently Began Walking Upright. More tonight at 6:00 on Neanderthal Broadcasting.
Unfortunate news, but not surprising. I got my medical marijuana card from a chainsmoking doctor at Venice Beach when I told him I suffered from stress and insomnia (which I do…a little). I feel like a kid in a candy store each time I visit the clinic to purchase my ‘medicine.’ Alas, it’s one of the few (and dwindling) perks of living in California.