Earlier this month the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission held a meeting that many predicted would result in applicants receiving licenses to manufacture medical marijuana so it could be sold to registered patients. Yet none were issued, leaving approximately 70 private business applicants who spent time and money during this process puzzled as to when that might occur.
Now they know.
This Saturday in Rock Spring, the seven-member panel is poised to issue up to six licenses to companies to grow the marijuana while adhering to tight state regulations. Two licenses stipulate up to 100,000 square feet of growth space each, while the other four licensees are limited to no more than 50,000 square feet of growth space. Two other licenses will go to universities for research.
Cannabis oil from the marijuana will be sold to patients suffering from a wide range of diseases ranging from chronic seizures and multiple sclerosis to Parkinson’s Disease and various deadly cancers. (Experts say it could take six months to a year before the oil is made available for patients registered by the state who suffer from such illnesses.)
The General Assembly legalized the use of cannabis oil in 2015 but inexplicably failed to provide a way for patients to obtain the products within Georgia’s borders. Four years later it finally passed enabling legislation creating the commission to oversee a cultivation, distribution and treatment process. The Legislature voted to foster a new industry. Now, with oversight regulations having been established by the commission, its issuing of medical cultivation licenses marks the long-awaited birth of the industry.
