Georgia’s medical cannabis program is poised to significantly expand.
More people are expected to qualify for patient access, and they’ll be able to buy stronger and vaporizable cannabis products from licensed dispensaries thanks to Senate Bill 220 – also known as Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act – signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday.
The new rules kick in July 1.
What does Georgia’s new medical cannabis law do?
Here’s what else is new:
- The new law sets a possession limit of up to 12,000 milligrams of THC instead of capping product potency at 5%.
- More patients will qualify for the program because the law removes “severe” and “end-stage language from many illnesses and adds lupus as a covered condition.
“The low THC oil products were like offering someone dying of cancer a baby aspirin,” Judson Hill, Georgia market president for Fine Fettle Dispensary, told WSB-TV.
“This allows us to give stronger medicine that takes a more immediate effect.”
Georgia’s strict rules have kept both patient participation and the market small.
With the changes, the state is hoping to bring in more patients and encourage dispensaries to offer a wider range of products, like vape pens and stronger oils or flower intended for vaporization.
Could stronger cannabis products boost MMJ enrollment?
The law also sets up natural growth for the industry. Now, there are just six production licenses, 15 retail licenses and one independent testing lab allowed in Georgia.
Cannabis multistate operator Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is one of the state’s biggest operators.
But every time 10,000 new medical marijuana patients enter the program, an additional retail license becomes available. Industry experts expect new patients to sign up once the new rules take effect.
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Georgia now has about 34,500 registered medical marijuana patients, low for the state’s population of 11.3 million.
It’s the lowest adoption rate of any MMJ program in the country, Botanical Sciences CEO Gary Long told The Current in March.
