A licensed Georgia pharmacy appears to be the first to sell low-THC medical marijuana oil in accordance with state law but in defiance of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warning.
According to Augusta TV station WRDW, Living Well Pharmacy recently launched sales of MMJ oil containing 5% or less THC.
Living Well, based in Augusta, might be the first pharmacy to jump into Georgia’s MMJ oil market after the DEA’s warning last year froze out dozens of competitors, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The state’s 2019 MMJ law has a unique allowance that permits low-THC cannabis oil to be sold at licensed pharmacies rather than restricting sales to cannabis-only dispensaries.
Georgia has 12 MMJ dispensaries licensed by the Medical Cannabis Commission as well as 40-plus businesses with “low-THC pharmacy” licenses, according to state records.
Sales at independent pharmacies launched last October.
But that prompted a Nov. 27 warning from the DEA reminding pharmacies licensed by the agency to sell prescription drugs that they must abide by federal law.
As of last year, at least three pharmacies were selling MMJ oils.
However, the DEA warning brought “sales to a screeching halt” at “roughly a couple dozen independent pharmacies,” the Journal-Constitution reported.
It’s unclear what subsequent action the DEA has taken or what it plans to do about Living Well.
The agency did not comment to media.
State records don’t indicate how many of the roughly 40 low-THC license holders are selling MMJ oils, or if Living Well is the only one.
