Bill > HB227

This bill, known as the "Putting Georgia's Patients First Act", primarily updates and modernizes Georgia's medical cannabis law by renaming "low THC oil" to "medical cannabis" across multiple sections of state code. The bill makes several key changes, including expanding the list of qualifying medical conditions for a medical cannabis registration card (now including lupus), clarifying definitions of medical cannabis and related products, and giving the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission new responsibilities like conducting public awareness and education activities about medical cannabis. The legislation also modifies criminal penalties related to medical cannabis possession, adjusts restrictions on advertising and marketing of medical cannabis, and removes some severity qualifiers from existing qualifying medical conditions (such as eliminating language like "end stage" for cancer). The bill aims to make medical cannabis more accessible to patients while maintaining regulatory oversight, and it provides more flexible definitions and guidelines for medical cannabis use, production, and distribution in the state. Importantly, the bill continues to prohibit employers from being required to accommodate marijuana use and maintains strict controls on how medical cannabis can be produced, distributed, and consumed.

Health and Social Services

https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69832