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Medical cannabis committee focuses proposal

Macon Telegraph (GA) - 8/28/2014

Aug. 28--Medical cannabis committee focuses proposal

ATLANTA -- Legislators have the appetite to pass a medical marijuana bill next year that would add Georgia to the list of 23 other states that allow in-state growing

"I think intractable seizure disorders and for terminal illness-type situations, I think you're going to find overwhelming support" for medical cannabis access, said state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon.

But he said he doesn't think there's support right now for the use of marijuana to treat chronic pain.

What's not clear yet is the Legislature's attitude toward medical marijuana for dozens of other diagnoses from multiple sclerosis to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Peake is aiming to renew and polish a proposal that he nearly pushed through last year's session that would have allowed some cannabis-derived liquid medicines for pediatric seizures. House-Senate wrangling killed his otherwise popular proposal, though his consolation prize was a summer study committee to come up with a new bill. The Study Committee on Prescription Medical Cannabis for Serious Medical Conditions began work Wednesday by studying what other states allow.

"I think the important thing is we have a fact-based decision based on clinical studies that demonstrate the benefit," said Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Butch Miller, R-Chickamauga, a committee member. "You can't just say, 'Open it up.' That's not going anywhere."

There are comprehensive models to study in 23 states plus the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures' count. That is, states where some authorized people can grow cannabis, process it and provide it to patients.

The framers of would-be medical marijuana legislation in Georgia will need to answer dozens of related questions if they want a workable bill, said Matt Cook, the former leader of Colorado'sMedical Marijuana Enforcement Division. He's the one who had to regulate Colorado's medical marijuana when it went legal.

There's already such an industry in Georgia, and he recommends it be regulated.

"The industry has been around for a hundred years. I hate to tell you, but the genetics, the clients, everything is already here," Cook said during the committee hearing.

Cook said Georgia lawmakers must engage with the existing cannabis industry just like they would when trying to regulate any other industry such as car dealerships.

The other two keys, he said, are getting all state agencies to cooperate on enforcement and limiting the number of licenses for sales and distribution.

Colorado gave him the "short stick" as a regulator, he said. Not all other agencies were on board, like the Department of Agriculture folks who did not want to add marijuana scales to the weights and measures that they regulate. Cook also didn't want the roughly 2,200 licenses for sellers and growers he had to oversee.

By contrast, Minnesota's new medical marijuana law allows a total of five grower licenses, a much easier number to regulate.

A thorough law also would specify things like security, accounting, waste disposal and other medical cannabis regulations, he said.

Last winter, Peake was not able to schedule hearings on such thorough questions in the few months of the legislative session after he filed House Bill 885.

He filed the House bill after meeting Haleigh Cox, a now 5-year-old Monroe County girl who suffers from intractable seizures. The issue was new to him and little-studied in the Legislature.

His bill allowed the in-state growing of marijuana to synthesize a non-hallucinogenic liquid for the treatment of children such as Cox.

Though lawmakers supported the idea, lobbies such as hospitals and law enforcement shied away from a bill with so few details.

Another 11 states have decriminalized possession of some medical marijuana, but they don't provide a way for people to get the substance. The federal government forbids carrying it across state lines.

At a Macon hearing on Sept. 10, the committee plans to hear testimony from people with various diagnoses who are advocating for medical cannabis.

The committee is scheduled to publish recommendations by the end of the year. The legislative session begins in January.

To contact writer Maggie Lee, email her at mlee@macon.com.

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