Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed a bill into law that allows Georgia farmers to grow hemp, CBD is approved in Georgia. The crop is the source of products ranging from rope to soap to CBD oil.
Kemp had already signed a separate bill that allows medical marijuana, a stronger derivative, to be grown with some limitations in the state. With these developments, medical marijuana and hemp will soon crop up on Georgia farms. At the same time, CBD oil is a suddenly ubiquitous trend, showing up even on Atlanta menus.
Allen Peake is a former Georgia State Representative who pioneered much of the legislation regarding hemp and CBD. He joined On Second Thought from GPB’s studio in Macon to talk about the development of the legal and medical uses of marijuana derivatives in the state. Lia Picard, a journalist who recently wrote about the growing social trends of CBD oil for Atlanta Magazine, also joined the conversation.
CBD Approved In Georgia – What Does The New Law Mean?
Georgia’s medical marijuana law allows certain qualified persons to legally possess up to 20 fluid ounces of “low THC oil,” which is derived from the marijuana plant. It authorizes the Georgia Department of Public Health to issue a “Low THC Oil Registry Card” to qualified persons, which will prove that they are authorized to have the oil and protect them from arrest.
How does Georgia’s law compare to laws in other states which have adopted medical marijuana?
Georgia’s law is much more limited than some other states’ medical marijuana laws. For example, it does not legalize the sale or possession of marijuana in leaf form and it does not authorize the production or sale of food products infused with low THC oil or the ingestion of low THC oil through vapor. It does not authorize physicians to prescribe marijuana for medical use. It is intended solely to protect qualified persons from criminal prosecution for possessing low THC oil for medicinal purposes.