Georgia Senate passes its own, more restrictive medical marijuana bill

Medical marijuana advocates won another victory Friday, as Senate leaders acknowledged they expect to get something passed this year that would for the first time legalize a limited form of the drug in Georgia.

The acknowledgement came as the Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of a medical marijuana proposal to restrict use of a non-intoxicating cannabidiol for state-sponsored clinical trials only involving children who suffer frequent epileptic seizures.

Senate Bill 185 is one of two medical marijuana bills being considered this year in the state Legislature. It differs dramatically from its counterpart, House Bill 1, which is much broader and would make it legal for someone with a doctor's prescription to possess limited amounts of cannabis oil to treat more than half a dozen disorders, including cancer, Parkinson's disease and sickle cell disease.

SB 185's sponsor, state Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, said he believes it is the safest way to introduce the use of cannabis oil in Georgia — doing so under strict medical supervision in a four-year clinical trial overseen by the federal Food and Drug Administration. On Friday, however, he said he would be willing to expand his measure to include more disorders — although he is concerned about how the state could control the oil's use for pain management.

Both bills also differ on how much THC — the high-inducing chemical associated with marijuana use — could be in cannabis oil or cannabidiol legalized by the state. The House version would decriminalize the possession of up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil that contains no more than 5 percent of THC. The Senate version would allow THC levels of only 0.3 percent or less.

Still, HB 1’s sponsor, state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said he was optimistic.

“I think there’s been a lot of posturing and negotiating that’s gone on in the last week, but I think there’s also been a lot of educating of my Senate colleagues over what works, what language to use, what THC levels, what diagnoses, what really works for Georgia families and our citizens,” he said.

In so many words, passage of SB 185 is the Senate's way of voicing support for a more conservative measure that will be negotiated over the next few weeks. The Senate is expected next week to formally take up HB 1 in its Health and Human Services Committee. Committee Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, said she expects to offer compromise language to that bill at a meeting Thursday.

The effort is a far cry from last year’s session, when Unterman used medical marijuana as a wedge that eventually sank both it and other bills.

State Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, cast the chamber's lone "no" vote Friday. He has introduced his own proposal this year to make marijuana legal, including for both medicinal and recreational use, and said SB 185 didn't go far enough.

“We could be doing more than declaring victory and getting out,” Thompson said. “In reality, we’re not helping folks, not helping any of those folks who have had to go to Colorado for treatment. What this bill does is kicks the can.”

The cannabis oil is harvested from the marijuana plant but does not produce the high sought by recreational users of marijuana. More than a dozen families in the past year have moved to places such as Colorado where the oil’s use is allowed in limited amounts. Many of those families include children who suffer hundreds of seizures a day.