ATLANTA — A Georgia House committee has approved legislation aimed at breaking a legal logjam that has held up the state’s medical marijuana program for years.
House Bill 196, which cleared the House Judiciary Committee (Non-civil) late Wednesday, Feb. 8, would expand the number of medical cannabis production licenses the state awards to 14, up from the current six.
The eight licenses not already awarded would go to companies that filed lawsuits when their bids for licenses were denied. Those legal protests remain pending and — if unresolved — could drag on for up to two years, preventing the program from moving forward and providing low-THC cannabis oil to Georgia patients suffering from a range of diseases.
“I’m recommending a fix to get this thing up and going,” state Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, the bill’s chief sponsor, told the committee. “This gets us out of litigation. The licenses could be issued, and [the companies] could go forward.”
The General Assembly first legalized possessions of cannabis oil for medicinal purposes back in 2015. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that lawmakers passed legislation allowing commercial businesses to grow marijuana indoors under close supervision, convert the leafy crop into low-THC cannabis oil and sell the product at dispensaries they own.
The 2019 law created a state commission to oversee the program by issuing six licenses to winning bidders, two Class 1 licenses allowing marijuana to be grown in spaces up to 100,000 square feet. The other four were for a smaller growth space of up to 50,000 square feet.
The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has awarded the two Class 1 licenses, and the winning companies are preparing to launch their operations.
Botanical Sciences LLC recently dedicated its production facility in Glennville, while Trulieve Georgia is…
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