The sheriffs of Georgia have made it clear they will aggressively oppose legislation that legalizes marijuana for recreational, religious or other social purposes. Further, they oppose the cultivation of marijuana in Georgia for any reason, including marijuana grown for medical purposes.
The ongoing legislative discussion resulting from House Bill 1 about legalizing cannabis oil for the treatment of a wide variety of medical conditions remains quite perplexing to the sheriffs. It is their belief decisions of this nature must first be reached by the Federal Drug Administration after appropriate study by the medical research community. To the sheriffs, it is ill-advised to proceed otherwise, as this is a the discussion best led by our trusted medical community.
Notwithstanding this strong feeling to the contrary, last year, Georgia’s sheriffs heard the pleas of families with children suffering seizure disorders and supported House Bill 885, which allowed for the limited use of very low-THC cannabis oil for these children upon the recommendation of a physician.
It is the opinion of Georgia Sheriffs’ Association members that this year’s House Bill 1 simply goes too far by dramatically expanding the number and types of medical conditions upon which cannabis oil with a much higher THC content can be possessed. To qualify for this much higher THC-content oil, one simply needs a physician’s diagnosis of one of the more-than 17 listed illnesses or disorders, which includes maladies as common as muscle spasms.
Under the bill, physicians are not required to prescribe or even recommend the oil; they would simply render a diagnosis that would then allow a person to obtain and possess the oil with immunity from prosecution. The bill provides no mechanism for inspection of the oil for content or purity by any agency, nor does it establish limitations on the amount of oil that can be possessed. Omissions such as these will most assuredly result in a plethora of unintended consequences and make enforcement efforts extremely difficult.
It has been well-established in Georgia law that the office of sheriff has a duty to protect the public. Sheriffs have a unique responsibility to speak to issues that, in their opinion, make Georgians less safe. The sheriffs fear expanding the number of medical conditions and symptoms beyond the original proposal for the treatment of seizure disorders in children, along with the use of higher-THC-content marijuana oil as provided for under House Bill 1, will eventually lead to commonplace usage of the oil for abusive non-medicinal purposes.
Wylie Griffin is sheriff of Decatur County and president of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association.
