Welcoming Medical Marijuana To Georgia!

Yet another reason why I believe Georgia just may be the absolute worst state in existence.. We saw what happened when GA denied cannabis to the child who it helped greatly with epilepsy... The child lost His life! After the death, GA actually apologized and created a law in his name and are now currently setting up a system where future children and other patients can find relief with CBD's.

Yet, what about the Cancer patients who find some relief from their pain without all of the nasty side effects of Narcotic pain relievers while also having an opportunity to actually have an appetite and be able to enjoy a rare pleasant meal? Or the Veteran who has severe mental illness and finds some peace after Cannabis usage? Or the drug addict who can get off of hard drugs without the severe withdrawal symptoms by using Cannabis? Or the Glaucoma patient who finds almost 100 percent relief from pain as well as better vision after the use of Cannabis? C'mon!! A vast majority of our nation has spoken up on the acceptance of Medical Marijuana across the board.

Most importantly, the actual Medical community is coming out daily in accepting Cannabis as a very good medicine with many many possible uses! Yet, our elected officials are constantly undermining their citizens as well as advice from DR's and are blocking this medicine from becoming state and federally legal like it should have been from the start! Of course it is about money. You have to be the most close-minded, ignorant and stupid individual on earth if you actually believe our Government keeping medical cannabis illegal is out of protection for us and not about stacks of cash lining their pockets from Law Enforcement, Pharmaceutical Companies and the privatized prison system!

I constantly hope and pray that our future is going to be a lot better than now and hopefully sooner rather than later! Yet, when I see so many things like this story almost on a daily basis, it is quite easy to lose hope quick!

The Situation..
Even while the majority of Georgia residents stood in favor of legislation to establish a cultivation and distribution system that would prevent the state’s registered medical marijuana patients from engaging in drug trafficking, a new report shows that Governor Nathan Deal had doomed the concept of growing weed on Georgia soil long before the bill ever had a chance to be slaughtered in the state legislature.

An internal email trail between Governor Deal’s office and Representative Allen Peake, the lawmaker responsible for introducing the cultivation proposal, reveals that ever since Georgia officials got back from a Colorado fact-finding mission in November 2015, the fix has been in to ensure a medical marijuana expansion plan never sees the light of day.

The emails obtained by 11Alive’s Chris Hopper show that Governor Deal’s cronies, which included leading law enforcement officials, apparently did such a good job slandering the Colorado cannabis market — calling it a “mess” and a “nightmare” — that Deal had already made the decision never to allow weed to be cultivated in the state by the middle of last November.

In fact, the emails show that when Representative Peake made an effort to schedule future visits to additional medical marijuana commonalities, the governor’s chief of staff, Chris Riley advised him to “shut down the other trips” because the governor did not support any further exploration on the issue.

With the understanding that law enforcement may have swooped in to sabotage the future of medical marijuana in Georgia, Peake responded to Riley’s email by suggesting he would take the trip on his own dime, and that he hoped the Governor would not “let law enforcement’s fear stop us from doing something good for our citizens.”

On November 17, 2015, the morning after Peake’s reply was sent, the Governor’s office fired back a second message in order to be “more direct” about its unwillingness to entertain a medical marijuana cultivation bill in the 2016 legislative session.

“There is no appetite to move any legislation, sign any legislation, or even gather additional information to write legislation on this issue,” Riley wrote. “If you feel the need to continue to pursue this, I am going to need you to step down as a floor leader because I don’t want you to be embarrassed when the governor states this in a public setting and you’re left holding the bag.”

Interestingly, the emails show that Governor Deal had already decided against the future of Georgia’s medical marijuana program nearly a month before a special committee that he appointed to guide him on the cultivation issue completed its final discussion. The day before the Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis held its last meeting, however, Governor Deal suggested, in the media, that the potential for a functional medical marijuana program was not likely to happen in the near future because he didn’t believe the state had the “ability to control something of that nature.”

On month later, at the turn of the New Year, Representative Peake submitted House Bill 722, which would have allowed a handful of cultivation centers and dispensaries to operate in the state. As it stands, any patient suffering from cancer or epilepsy can qualify to be registered by the state to legally possess a specific amount of non-intoxicating cannabis oil. However, in order to get their hands on this medicine, these patients are forced to smuggle in the oil from a legal state, a criminal action in the eyes of the federal government that often leads to felony drug trafficking charges and prison time.

This legal conundrum was the basis for Peake’s most recent proposal seeking to establish a tightly regulated system that would enable Georgia patients to have access to cannabis products without breaking federal law. But even without the recent revelation of the Governor’s ultimate intent on this issue, the Georgia Sheriffs Association was undeniably hell bent on stopping the bill at any cost. Several members of the GSA testified against the bill over the course of the legislative session over concerns that it would transform the state into a legion of drug addicts and rotten criminals.

By the time it was all said and done, Peake had removed the cultivation aspect out of his bill, hoping to meet the opposition in the middle by making drug traffickers out of even more Georgia patients by simply expanding the list of qualified conditions. Yet even this stripped down version of the bill wasn’t able to withstand the wrath of Southern legislators – the Senate killed House Bill 722 before the end of the session.

A statement issued by the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Jen Talaber, which was also obtained by 11Alive, suggests that Representative Peake drafted his medical marijuana expansion bill, even after it was made absolutely clear that the Governor had no interest of allowing the state to get into the business of growing weed.

“For more than two years now, the governor has repeatedly said that Georgia would not become Colorado,” Talaber said. “He expressed those concerns both publicly and privately to media, legislators and other stakeholders. Further, there was no existing legislation at the time of these conversations, just discussion surrounding the issue.”

In December, a statewide poll found 84 percent of Georgia residents supported Peake’s plan to expand the medical marijuana law.

Source: http://hightimes.com/medicinal/georgia-leaked-emails-show-governor-never-intends-to-expand-medical-marijuana-law/

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