Georgia experts lobbed a list of concerns Wednesday at a state committee studying the possibility of legalizing a cannabis-based oil to treat children with seizure disorders.
- Law enforcement authorities stressed the need for tight regulation of dispensaries and broad freedoms for police intervention.
- Drug prevention advocates, fearing how youths might view passage of medical marijuana legislation, said any bill should include a program aimed at teens to encourage them not to use drugs.
- A doctor on the panel wondered whether physicians would be held accountable for breaking federal laws by providing medical marijuana.
While their concerns were numerous and varied, one edict rose above the rest: Whatever law is passed, don’t leave the door open for full legalization of marijuana.
“If we open this thing up for medical marijuana, we want to make sure that it’s for cannabis oil only,” said Comer Police Chief Dennis Bell, vice president of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia. “If anybody thinks that legalizing marijuana in Georgia would be a good thing, they would open a Pandora’s box.”
State Rep. Allen Peake of Macon, who introduced a bill to allow limited medical marijuana access that failed during this year’s legislative session, repeated that any legislation would only allow for nonsmokable, low-THC cannabis oil used to treat sick children.
The committee meeting at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville was the third of five scheduled to study the issue of medical marijuana in the state. Gov. Nathan Deal has also announced a set of clinical trials to study the effect of cannabis oil on children with seizure disorders.
Jack Killorin, the director of Atlanta’s High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Office, was worried about how rubber-stamping medical marijuana would affect teenagers.
“There is an impact when we say medical marijuana,” Killorin said. “There should be some intention to invest in countermessaging.”
Allowing marijuana to be grown in state-approved dispensaries was worrisome for Ellen Gerstein, the executive director of the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services.
“Dispensaries seem to be part of the problem,” Gerstein said. “Once the medical marijuana issue starts to grow, dispensaries start to grow. That’s when we see a lot of abuse of marijuna by minors.”
At a previous committee hearing, state legislators were advised that establishing limited, tightly regulated growers would be required for any meaningful legislation. Police officials said they would support the idea of growing marijuana in-state because it is the only way they could regulate it effectively.
“We can check on the fields where the marijuana is grown. We can determine the THC content. We can package it and have testing done,” said Frank Rotondo, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs. “We don’t have to worry about someone taking Colorado oils or medications into our state that don’t follow our (guidelines).”
Gregg Raduka, the director of prevention for the Council on Alcohol and Drugs, came out as a strong proponent for some sort of medical marijuana legislation. Raduka said state governments should focus on redirecting funds from criminalization to education and treatment, which is more effective in curbing drug use. That means keeping viable patients from having to buy marijuana on the street to get the relief they seek.
“People needing this medication should not be forced into attaining it in a dangerous, ballistic marketplace,” Raduka said. “It continues to put millions of dollars into the hands of violent criminals.”
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