Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal just signed Senate Bill 16 into a law on Tuesday, which expands the state’s medical marijuana program.
The bill allows six more conditions to be recognized as eligible for treatment with a limited form of cannabis oil. The conditions are: AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, epidermolysis bullosa, peripheral neuropathy, and Tourette’s syndrome. The bill also gives access to hospice patients for the oil.
The newly signed law only allows a maximum of 5% THC in the form of cannabis oil. THC is the chemical compound in cannabis responsible for a euphoric high feeling.
It was two years ago that patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as five other conditions, were allowed up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil for treatment.
Georgia Rep. Allen Peake, who has adamantly supported medical marijuana, and also authored the state House’s version of the bill, stated, “My hope is that in 2018 we can fill the gaping hole that still remains, and provide legal access to medical cannabis oil here in our state with a safe, lab tested product produced within our own borders.”
“The job will not be finished until we accomplish this task,” he concluded.
So far, 1,738 patients in Georgia as well as 354 doctors have registered with the state to use and administer medical marijuana.
