With medical use of cannabis oil now legal in Georgia, the next stage will be making the substance available in the state for all of those authorized to use it.
Gov. Nathan Deal Thursday morning signed House Bill 1 allowing possession of up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil for medical treatment. Along with children’s seizure disorders, the legislation covers cancer, ALS, MS, Crohn’s disease, mitochondrial disease, Parkinson’s disease and sickle cell disease.
But many of the approximately 500,000 eligible Georgians still will not have easy access to cannabis oil without traveling out of state and possibly violating federal law, Deal and legislation sponsor Allen Peake, R-Macon, acknowledged at the bill signing ceremony at the Capitol.
Peake said that a Colorado manufacturer has agreed to ship cannabis oil containing .3 THC to Georgia. That THC level is enough for children with seizure disorders, but adults with conditions such as ALS might require cannabis oil with 5 percent THC, as allowed by the law.
A 17-member state commission formed by the law will make recommendations to next year’s Legislature on setting up a Georgia distribution system. The commission’s report will determine how extensive the system will be.
Deal wants strict regulation of cannabis oil, which could involve marijuana cultivation here. In developing a distribution system, “we want to try to do it the right way,” Deal said . The legislation also continues clinical trials carried out by the Georgia Regents University.
The governor said that the Composite Medical Board and the Department of Public Health are near completing documentation procedures for patients authorized to possess cannabis oil. A doctor’s recommendation will be required for a patient to receive an identification card. The health department is compiling a patient registry, Deal said.
Temporary identification cards were awarded Thursday to seven families. Deal personally gave one to Haleigh Cox and her family. Haleigh, a child suffering from seizure disorders, inspired Peake to author the legislation.
Atlanta students will waiting: Atlanta educators who received stiff prison sentences this week stemming from the APS cheating scandal served at schools that still appear on the state’s “chronically failing” list.
After nearly a decade of cheating scandal turmoil, 27 APS schools are shown as scoring below 60 for the last three years on the state’s College and Career Performance Index. Gov. Nathan Deal offers new promises to do something for those schools and others across the state with his proposed Opportunity School District, approved recently by the Legislature. A proposed constitutional amendment goes to voters in November 2016. In the meantime, recently installed APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen also vows to improve those schools, as late Superintendent Beverly Hall did when she took office in 1999.
Hall’s claims of spectacular student achievements crashed when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2009 uncovered evidence of educators changing test scores. The sentences by Fulton Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter capped a long trial that starkly showed APS’ failures to give many of its students adequate educations.
Three administrators received seven years in prison, 13 on probation, with others to serve one or two years. Hall, one of the defendants in the case, died before the trial ended. Deal’s office had no comment on the sentences handed down by Baxter. Nor did Carstarphen.
Baxter in his sentences cited the damage done to students who received false claims of academic achievement. Deal, in proposing the Opportunity School District, cited the generations of children trapped in bad schools.
Generations of students have also received promises that the cycle will be broken. Now, another generation awaits to see if new promises bring results, or more failure.
Battle for majority leader’s post: Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, fresh from celebrating the signing of his medical marijuana law, says he will seek the House majority leader’s post vacated by Rep. Larry O’Neal, R-Bonaire.
State Rep. Jon Burns, R-Newington, has also announced his candidacy. Burns played a key role in the passage of the transportation spending bill, temporarily chairing the House Transportation Committee when committee Chairman Jay Barker, R-Ocilla, appeared before the committee to explain the bill as its author.
Deal Thursday announced O’Neal’s appointment as administrative law judge for the Georgia Tax Tribunal.
