Lawmakers appear to have reached a compromise on Thursday that would expand Georgia’s medical marijuana law.
The agreement over Senate Bill 16 would add six illnesses and conditions eligible for the treatment with medical marijuana in Georgia. The six illnesses and conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, autism, epidermolysis bullosa, peripheral neuropathy and also Tourette’s syndrome. It would additionally allow use for the patients in hospice care, according to both the state Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, and state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon.
The agreement would also keep the maximum allowable THC percentage in the form of cannabis oil allowed here at 5 percent.
THC is the component in marijuana which makes people high. The Senate initially proposed dropping the maximum allowable limit to 3 percent, something the lawmakers said was a precaution despite no reported problems with the higher percentage from the state public health officials and law enforcement agencies. The House committee is expected to take up the proposed compromise.
Under the Georgia’s 2015 law, patients and, in the case of the children, families who register with the state are allowed to possess up to 20 ounces of the cannabis oil to treat severe forms of eight specific illnesses, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease and also epilepsy.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
