Georgia Lawmakers Push to Expand State’s Medical Cannabis Program

Could Georgia medical cannabis patients finally see the state’s program expand? These two bills could do that.

Per Cannabis Business Times

Georgia’s medical cannabis laws could become more permissive under a pair of bills advancing through the legislative process this session.

Under the current law that former Gov. Nathan Deal signed in April 2015, Georgia’s medical cannabis program is limited to 5% THC oil, lotions, transdermal patches and capsules. It took the Peach State eight years before the first low-THC dispensaries opened in April 2023.

In addition to the product restrictions, Georgia limits participation in its program. For several qualifying conditions—from AIDS to Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease—a patient’s diagnosis must be “severe” or “end-stage” to gain access to the cannabis program.

This restricted access could broaden in 2025.

Georgia House lawmakers voted, 164-1, to pass House Bill 227 on Feb. 27, which, among three primary focuses, would update the list of qualifying conditions to include Lupus and remove the terms severe and end-stage.

Sponsored by Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella, the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act” would also change the term “low-THC oil” to “medical cannabis” and allow physicians and patients to be better educated about the program.

“I think it ought to be the patients and the doctors [who] decide when they have these conditions when they can use these products, and I wanted them to be able to use it before hospice was called in,” Dickey said last week on the House floor. “This is a simple bill and that is all it does: three things.”

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