ATLANTA — Medical marijuana patients are saying the State of Georgia is taking too long to get them the THC cards they need to legally obtain marijuana, and they’re left in pain while they wait.
The Georgia Medical Marijuana Law was passed in 2015 and tasked the state’s Department of Health with keeping up with the patient database. In 2020, the state created the Georgia Medical Cannabis Commission.
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Some people told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes that they think delays could be solved quickly if both agencies had access to the database.
“Georgia is a bit behind in medical cannabis,” Judson Hill, who owns Smyrna medical marijuana dispensary Fine Fettle, said. “Forty states have medical or recreational.”
Hill says he became a patient himself when he was T-boned by an 18-wheeler. He said the medicine helps manage his pain, like it does for veterans with PTSD and others.
“Once that card is processed by the DPH, it can take a month for patients to know their card was available and then they have to go to the nearest Department of Health office, which could be an hour, two hours away,” Hill said.
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Fernandes spoke to Yolanda Bennett, who said it took about a month and a half to get her card in her hand because she missed a phone call from the Department of Public Health and couldn’t get back in touch.
“You have DC, you have Louisiana where you can get your card instantly,” Bennett said. “Who needs to talk to each other is the Georgia DPH, the Georgia Medical Marijuana Commission and also the dispensaries.”
A spokesperson with the department says this process is only supposed to take 10 days. If it takes longer, they say, there is usually an issue.
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