State lawmakers will hold meetings in four Georgia cities over the next four months to study the legalization of medical marijuana.
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, and Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, announced Thursday that the first meeting of the Prescription of Medical Cannabis for Serious Medical Conditions Joint Study Committee will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27 at the state Capitol.
The committee will meet in Macon in September, Lawrenceville and Augusta in October and again in Atlanta in November.
The panel was formed after legislation died on the final day of this year’s legislative session that would have legalized the use of cannabis oil to treat certain types of seizure disorders.
Unterman, the chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, was instrumental in the bill’s failure, which was part of a frenzied final negotiations over the proposal and another to expand insurance coverage for autism disorders. Peake sponsored the cannabis bill.
Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday said two separate state initiatives to treat patients with medical marijuana have moved forward. Deal said the head of a London-based drug maker has agreed to launch expanded clinical trials that would allow a broader range of children suffering from debilitating seizures to participate in studies on the use of cannabis oil.
There is no timetable for the start of the trials, but Deal said he’s hopeful they will get regulatory approval by early 2015.
The governor also said a separate effort by the Georgia Regents to launch a clinical trial using cannabis oil obtained from federal regulators in Mississippi was making headway, though there is no firm timetable on its start either.
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