Georgia medical cannabis law expands access, adds new conditions

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law that increases the number of qualifying medical conditions and allows faster pain relief to be available through medical cannabis.

The Putting Georgia Patients First Act allows more access to Georgians to get medical cannabis.

Gary Long, CEO of Botanical Sciences, said the expanded access will help patients who previously had limited options.

“I think we all know somebody who suffers and they probably suffer unnecessarily from a lot of these conditions,” Long said. “And now they are no longer required to have to just take the pharmaceuticals that their physician prescribed.”

More medical conditions have been added to the qualifying list, including lupus and Crohn’s disease.

The bill amends low THC wording to medical cannabis patient registry and increases the THC limit to 12,000 milligrams.

“There isn’t a cap on the potency side of things, but there is a limit as to how much somebody could possess at any one given point in time,” Long said.

Georgians 21 and older will now have access to relief even quicker through inhalation methods.

“Inhaling it in the form that we’re going to be able to sell will give folks pretty much instantaneous relief,” Long said.

Sam Hodges, an Effingham mother, said her baby was suffering and nothing was helping until she started using THC oil with help from her son’s pediatrician.

“To us its been life saving. Ever since he started the medical cannabis, he went from 20 to 40 seizures a day to none,” Hodges said. “Ever since he started taking it, I mean, it’s been a night and day difference.”

Long said patient feedback has been positive.

“They’ve been trying all these other remedies and they come to us and they say, you guys have helped me have a better quality of life,” Long said. “That is something that, you know, when I go to bed at night, I thank God for the ability to do that.”

Tarun Goyal of Miracle Leaf said it is important patients understand the medical purpose of the program.

“We must understand, this is a medical piece, so please do not go ahead and obtain because you want to just smoke. It’s really helps because the THC bud that’s provided to you is for medical graded not just to get high,” Goyal said.