Ga. Medical Marijuana Bill Held Up In State Senate
Ted S. Warren, File / AP Photo
A key state senator said Monday there won’t be a hearing on a medical marijuana bill that would expand the list of medical conditions eligible for cannabis oil under state law.
The measure, HB 722, would have added certain medical conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder to the qualifying list, and overwhelmingly passed the state House 152-8 earlier this legislative session.
State Sen. Renee Unterman, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services committee, said there isn’t enough time left in the state legislative session, which ends on March 24, to hear the bill. She said she had about 70 bills in her committee.
She said she had also heard from some family advocates who wanted to hold the bill.
“I’m committed to them to work next year and to accomplish what they wanted to,” Unterman said.
State Rep. Allen Peake, who’s sponsoring the bill, said he’s disappointed about the bill not moving forward, and said families he has spoken to still want the bill to pass as is.
“There is not a single family in this Capitol lobbying who is opposed to moving this bill forward,” he said.
He said he will continue pushing for the measure through the end of the session.
Peake’s original bill would have allowed for in-state growth of medical marijuana, but that provision was removed after it faced opposition from some law enforcement officials.
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