JoeHann, Author at Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform and Education

News Release: Georgia Marijuana Bills Stack Up Under the Gold Dome

Georgia Marijuana Bills Stack Up Under The Gold Dome

Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform and Education, Inc.
Georgia C.A.R.E. Project

News Release – January 18, 2016

Atlanta GA: Never before in the history of Georgia politics have so many cannabis related bills been filed in the General Assembly. Seven (7) bills have been filed during the 2015/2016 sessions. Bills ranging from an expansion of HB-1, a medical cannabis bills passed in 2015, to removal of felony charges for possession of more than one ounce of marijuana (SB-254). Also, a bill allowing for industrial hemp was filed in 2015 to allow farmers to experiment with the hemp plant.

Yet another bill is expected to be filed this week.

Georgia C.A.R.E. Project director James Bell attributes the interest in marijuana law reform to education. Lawmakers are doing research and watching the trends across the nation where state by state reform is underway.

Another factor that has caught the attention of legislators is the fact that polls indicate Georgia voters want to see some type of reform. About 50% of voters want legalization and more than 80% support expanding the medical cannabis bill to allow for in-state cultivation.

“Marijuana law reform is inevitable in Georgia” said James Bell. “They are arresting more than 30,000 people each year. This revenue that can be better spent on drug treatment and education. Marijuana laws do more harm than the plant itself.”

Bell said marijuana prohibition laws are effecting families through out the state by creating criminal records and loss of job and educational opportunities.

“We can regulate cannabis for adults like alcohol and tobacco and end the black markets that drive crime and corruption”, Bell said.

List of pending bills:

House Bill 722 – Medical Cannabis Expansion Bill
Senate Bill 254 – No felonies for possession of marijuana
House Bill 704 – Industrial Hemp
House Bill 283 – Marijuana arrests and drivers licenses
Senate Resolution 6 – Ballot initiative for the legalization of marijuana
Senate Bill 7 – Medical cannabis bill
Senate Bill 198 – Marijuana Regulations

“I’m growing marijuana” Georgia Newspaper Publisher Says

His statement has caught the attention of many in Georgia. In a recent editorial published by Mike Buffington, a co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc., he plans to grow a marijuana plant on his back porch. Why? To protest Gov. Deal’s refusal to allow medical cannabis cultivation in GA.

“And so, as a simple act of civil disobedience, I will put the seed of an evil marijuana plant into a pot of dirt. This spring, I will water it and watch it grow on my sunny front porch. That one plant may not help my son today, but it will keep alive my hope that someday Georgia’s leaders will take off their blinders and allow medical research on a simple green plant that might help him, and others, in the future.” Mike Buffinton

Buffington calls out Gov. Deal for his hypocrisy concerning federal policy and pointing out that the bill signed last year allowing possession of cannabis oil also violated federal laws.

Georgia C.A.R.E. Project stand behind Mike Buffinton and support his efforts to bring attention to a issue that Georgia voters ate solidly behind – in-state cultivation of cannabis.

Georgia Speaker Ralston backs expanded medical marijuana law HB-722

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston

This is BIG! In spite of opposition by Gov. Deal to allow for in-state cultivation of medical cannabis for the production of oil extracts, House Speaker David Ralston said he support the bill giving HB-722 a boost as legislators start the 2016 session on Monday January 11.