The Georgia legislature is considering separate legislation on the production of medicinal cannabis

Georgia lawmakers on Tuesday took action to revive the state’s medicinal cannabis program, with the House and Senate introducing separate bills to allow the production and sale of medicinal cannabis oil.

The Georgia state legislature passed the Haleigh’s Hope Act in 2015, a measure that allowed patients with certain medical conditions, including seizure disorders and end-stage cancer, to use cannabis oil with no more than 5 percent THC and regulated the production and sale of cannabis oil, allowing patients have no legal means of obtaining their medicines.

Finally, in 2019, lawmakers passed a bill allowing the cultivation of medical marijuana and the production and sale of cannabis oil. That same year, Governor Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, and House Speaker David Ralston appointed a seven-member commission to draft regulations and license medical cannabis producers.

Two years later, the GA Access to Medical Cannabis Commission (GMCC) announced that it would grant licenses to six companies from a pool of nearly 70 applicants. Nearly two dozen of the unsuccessful applicants filed protests, and a would-be cannabis operator, Georgia Atlas, filed a lawsuit, calling the state’s selection process “lacking transparency, objectivity, and fairness.” The lawsuit has stalled the licensing process, leaving the 20,000 registered medical cannabis patients in Georgia without access to legal cannabis oil.

Two separate invoices approved

To rectify the situation, the Georgia legislature on Tuesday approved two bills resuming the licensing process. Senate Bill 609 by Senator Jeff Mullis would direct the GMCC to re-evaluate the nominations already submitted and select the six “highest qualified applicants” to receive licenses. The bill passed the Senate unanimously, 52-0.

“The sole purpose of the bill is to move the ball forward to get medicinal cannabis to people on registries,” said State Senator Dean Burke, as quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The process, most people would say, was flawed.”

A separate measure, House Bill 1425 by Rep. Bill Werkheiser, would effectively nullify the advances made to date in licensing the medicinal cannabis program and restart the process, with the Department of Administrative Services overseeing the new application and selection process. The bidding process would be evaluated by an independent third party and not by the politically appointed GMCC. The law does not specify a date by which the licenses would be granted.

“We don’t know if it’s perfect, but if we don’t do anything, we’re in a very bad position,” said Werkheiser. “We have to do something. We need to get the medicine into the hands of patients.”

House Bill 1425 would also increase the number of sexual enhancer licenses as more patients enrolled in the program.

“It grows with the number of licenses,” said Werkheiser. “Every 10,000 additional patients, we add one more large license and one small license and we will continue with that.”

House lawmakers passed Werkheiser’s bill Tuesday by a vote of 169-5. State Representative Ed Setzler voted in favor of the bill, noting that it maintains the strict limits approved by lawmakers in previous legislation. However, he is concerned that passing the bill could bolster efforts to legalize recreational cannabis.

“There is a movement behind the scenes, and it will be coming public very soon, that will monetize this process to push for comprehensive, what you would call, medical/recreational marijuana and make Georgia a recreational state ‘ Setzler told his colleagues in the house. “That comes. The money behind that protecting these (requests for proposals) is pushing this, it’s a nationwide movement, it’s coming to Georgia. And they see this process as just a step in that direction.”

However, Rep. Micah Gravley said Setzler’s concerns were unfounded, citing the strict regulatory controls included in the measure.

“We didn’t become a recovery state, we didn’t introduce medicinal smoking or anything like that,” he said. “Actually, we have a very strict law, in our law you are not even allowed to use the color green in advertising. There are no edibles in our law. You cannot even have a standalone training center in our laws for our patients who seek this, who are recommended by their doctor, who want training on this particular subject, you cannot even have a standalone training center.”

Georgia patients let down

House Bill 1425 is now under consideration by the Georgia Senate, and Senate Bill 609 has similarly passed to the House of Representatives. But both measures, if one is finally approved and put into effect, are likely to face additional legal challenges, particularly if one or more of the six previously approved companies are not licensed. It’s a situation that continues to frustrate patients and their families, including Sebastian Cotte, father of 11-year-old Jagger Cotte, who suffers from a rare neurological condition called Leigh Syndrome.

“He’s non-verbal, has never spoken in his life, he can’t hold his head up, he can’t walk, he’s 100% disabled,” Cotte told local media of his son’s disability.

In 2014, the Cottes relocated to Colorado so Jagger could be treated with medical marijuana. Sebastian Cotte said that his son made rapid progress using high-CBD, low-THC cannabis oil.

“We saw some changes straight away,” he said, “but one thing I’ll never forget is that Jagger hadn’t smiled in a year before that. After two or three days of CBD, Jagger was smiling again.”

With cannabis oil now legal, the father and son are back in Georgia. But Sebastian Cotte is still forced to get the medicines his son needs from abroad. He hopes that Georgia’s lawmakers will soon make this redundant.

“We don’t ask about the moon,” Cotte said. “We are asking for access as so many other states have.”