Nearly a decade after Georgia's state legislature legalized medical marijuana, Athens residents finally have access to medical marijuana without having to drive to Atlanta, now that Athens' first dispensary has opened. Meanwhile, a new state law threatens the livelihoods of existing bookstores that sell marijuana-related products without a prescription.
Fine Fettle, an outpost of one of six companies legally authorized to grow and sell medical marijuana in Georgia, opened about a month ago along Atlanta Highway near Target. . Judson Hill, president of the Georgia market, is an Atlanta native who spent 10 years in the marijuana business out west before moving to his hometown last spring. The company has a cultivation and processing facility in Macon, two stores in metro Atlanta, and plans to open two more soon.
Georgia legalized medical marijuana in 2015, but the law remained in court until last year, when a state appeals court ruled against two companies that did not receive one of a limited number of licenses. was being restrained. The law lists 10 conditions that qualify for medical marijuana prescriptions, but Hill said most people suffer from some form of chronic pain or trauma and are eligible. Hill himself became interested in marijuana as a painkiller after being injured in a car accident. Telemedicine has also made it easier to pick up prescriptions. “It's actually easier than most people think,” Hill says.
Once a prescription is received, it is sent to the person's county health department, which issues a medical marijuana card. Hill said the process will take about a week.
There's one problem. Dispensaries like Fine Fettle are not allowed to sell the flowers or buds themselves. Instead, pharmacies are limited to selling capsules and tablets, as well as oils called balms and tinctures.
“We would love to be able to sell the flowers, but I think legislators are still a little scared when they see them,” Hill said. Hill's father was a state senator at the time of the bill's passage. “At any medical store, when the flowers arrive, patients really start coming in.”
While dispensaries waited for legal proceedings to begin, other head shops flourished selling hemp-derived products such as CBD, Delta-8, and Delta-9-THCA. Under the 2018 federal Farm Bill, these products are legal if they contain less than 0.3% THC. However, the delta-8 and delta-9-THCA chemicals have similar properties to THC, and while CBD does not cause a high, users say it has a calming and pain-relieving effect.
But due to a new state law that took effect Tuesday, at least one local hemp store, Classic City Hemp, has already closed, the store announced on social media Monday, and more are on the way. The store may continue.
Amendments to the Georgia Hemp Farming Act passed by the state Legislature last spring require testing of hemp products and limit delta-9-THCA as well as delta-9-THC. It also bans advertising that appeals to children, some edible foods such as chocolate (but not gummies), and the sale of all hemp products to people under 21. We know what's in there and no one is checking, and that's just scary,'' the bill's sponsor, Sen. Sam Watson (R-Mootrie), told the Georgia Recorder.
The law was scheduled to go into effect on July 1, but the state Department of Agriculture delayed implementation until October 1 while it determined how to implement the law. At the time of writing, the final regulations were not yet clear. Dave Williams, owner of Loving Botanicals, said the last information he received was that the USDA is considering banning the sale of hemp flower and limiting the amount of THCA that can be purchased, but not e-cigarettes. He said he was deaf.
Blake Aued hemp buds like these will soon be leaving the shelves of your local head shop.
The Georgia Medical Cannabis Association called SB 494 a covert effort to reinstate prohibition, saying, “At its heart, SB 494 is a threat to trap modest farmers, processors, retailers, and consumers alike.'' “This presents a maze of compliance hurdles.”
Williams already conducts a large amount of chemical analysis of his products. He said the cannabis industry accepts reasonable regulation, but he worries that if it becomes too regulated, people will revert to buying cannabis from illegal dealers. That marijuana may contain the deadly fentanyl. “There's nothing here that will kill you,” he said, adding that products derived from natural cannabis and mushrooms are safer than alcohol and more beneficial than pharmaceuticals.
Williams also said many of his customers don't want medical marijuana cards because they don't want to be included in government databases. “People are afraid to buy it on the street,” he says. “If we can't buy it here, what kind of market will we create?'' It's a huge black market. ”
Medical marijuana currently competes with cannabis, but Hill argues that the former is superior. “It's a strong, good product, and frankly, it's safer than anything sold in smoke shops,” he says.
Mr. Williams disagrees. “We basically sell the same product,” he says. This plant is no different. The only difference is the cultivation method and the amount of THC present when harvested.
Citing Florida as an example, he argues that marijuana dispensaries and producers are primarily small businesses, while the medical marijuana industry is dominated by a few large companies. It pointed out that Truliev has spent almost $90 million to support the recreational marijuana referendum. “The state wants to ban smokable flower, but I don't know why,” he says.
Williams believes the conflict between Georgia's 2024 hemp law and the 2018 federal farm bill, which redefined legal hemp products, will ultimately be challenged in court. If Georgia's regulations go too far, “I think it's likely that individuals and industry groups will file for federal injunctions,” he says.
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