AUGUSTA, Ga. — Medical marijuana grow houses and immunity from prosecution for patients who bring it from other states to Georgia are two elements of a bill that state lawmakers will debate come January.
Channel 2's political reporter Lori Geary, who has been covering the issue for the past year, traveled to Augusta where state lawmakers revealed what a new medical cannabis bill will look like after last year's failed.
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"We're gearing up for January. It was a battle last year and we expect it will be next year," said parent Shannon Cloud
Shannon and her husband Blaine are all too familiar with the battle to legalize medical marijuana in Georgia.
For a year, they have lobbied lawmakers on behalf of their little girl Alaina, who suffers from a severe seizure disorder.
The Clouds are far from alone.
Channel 2 Action News has followed several families fighting for the legalization of medical cannabis oil.
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Many of them are now in Colorado after Georgia's bill died in the last minutes of the 2014 session in an ugly political battle.
"It's so encouraging to see how well those kids in Colorado are doing. Their seizures are being drastically reduced," Shannon Cloud said.
"We're changing a lot of minds. I'm very hopeful. Hopefully it won't be limited, that as many patients as possible can hopefully take advantage of it," Blaine Cloud said.
The bill sponsor, state Rep. Allen Peake, said they've learned a lot over the past year and hope to pass an even better bill this year that would allow private entities to actually grown medical marijuana in Georgia.
Peake said the medical marijuana grown in Georgia would be low THC so patients would not get high from it.
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He said his bill would provide families immunity from prosecution if they legally obtain it in other states and want to move back to Georgia.
Peake said he'll also expand the bill.
"If what we're going to do is legalize a product that is so low in THC that there's no way to get high off of it, why not provide it as an alternative for other diagnoses—cancer, glaucoma, ALS?" Peake said.
Peake said he hopes to have the bill written and released in December so lawmakers can start debating it in early January.
He said he wants it to hit the governor's desk in March.
WSBTV
