Hb 324 - Low Thc Oil

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1
• Publication year: 2019
• topic: Criminal Law,Health Law

HB 324 - Low THC Oil

Allyson M. Clawson

Georgia State University College of Law, aclawson2@student.gsu.edu

Kady D. Litwer

Georgia State University College of Law, klitwer1@student.gsu.edu

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CRIMES AND OFFENSES

Offenses Against Public Health and Morals: Amend Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Offenses Against Public Health and Morals, so as to Provide for the Production, Manufacturing, and Dispensing of Low THC Oil in this State; Provide for an Exception to Possession of Certain Quantities of Low THC Oil; Provide for Definitions; Require a License to Produce, Grow, Manufacture, or Dispense Low THC Oil in this State; Provide for the Creation of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission; Provide for its Membership, Powers, and Duties; Provide for the Issuance of Designated University Licenses and Class 1 and Class 2 Production Licenses; Authorize the University System of Georgia to Obtain Cannabis Through the National Institute on Drug Abuse or from any Available Legal Source; Provide for the Dispensing of Low THC Oil by Pharmacies; Provide for Dispensing Licenses; Provide for Seed-to-Sale Tracking Systems; Provide for Retrospective Study; Provide for Enforcement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; Provide for Facility Inspections and Product Sample Testing; Prohibit Certain Convicted Felons from Working as Employees for Licensees; Provide for Confidentiality of Records; Provide for Transfer of Certain Licenses; Provide for Revocation of Licenses; Prohibit Ownership by Certain Physicians in Low THC Oil Manufacturers or Distributors; Provide for Violations and Penalties; Provide for Immunity; Provide for Reimbursement of Legal Expenses for State Employees; Provide for Contracts; Prohibit Ingesting Low THC Oil Through Vaping; Prohibit Regulation by the Department of Agriculture; Amend Chapter 11 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Seeds and Plants Generally, so as to Provide for an Exception; Amend Code Section 31-2A-18 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Establishment of the Low THC Oil Patient Registry, so as to Require a Physician to Review Information in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data Base; Provide for Research to Determine the Efficacy of Low THC Oil for Treatment of Conditions; Provide for Related Matters; Provide for a Short

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Title; Provide for Legislative Findings; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: O.C.G.A. §§ 16-12-191 (amended), -200, -201, -202, -203, -204, -205, -206, -207, -210-, -211, -212, -213, -214, -215, -216, -217, -218, -219, -220, -221, -222, -223, -224, -225, -226; -230 (new), -231, -232, -233, -234, -235, -236; 2-11-36; 31-2A-18 (amended)

Bill Number: HB 324

Act Number: 27

Georgia Laws: 2019 Ga. Laws 43

Summary: The Act allows for the production, manufacturing, and dispensing of low THC oil in the State of Georgia, in accordance with a licensing regime that will be regulated by a twelve-member board. Additionally, the Act provides for a tracking system of production, purchase, and patient registration information, as well as licensing provisions for the University System of Georgia and the State Board of Pharmacy.

Effective Date: July 1, 2019

History

In 2009, Haleigh Cox was born to two loving and excited parents in Georgia.¹ Born seemingly bright and healthy, Haleigh's development was not on par with children of the same age, and she was ultimately diagnosed with intractable epilepsy and cerebral palsy.² Haleigh's parents were desperate for help with managing her

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seizures, which, without medication, could occur more than two hundred times a day.³ They turned to medicinal marijuana.⁴ Marijuana, however, was not accessible in any form in Georgia, even for medicinal purposes. So, Haleigh's parents moved to Colorado.⁵ After moving to Colorado to access legalized cannabis, they yearned to move back to their home State of Georgia, so Haleigh's parents engaged Representative Allen Peake (R-141st) to help get medicinal marijuana legalized in Georgia.⁶

Representative Peake unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation for medical marijuana in 2014.⁷ In 2015, however, Representative Peake's efforts were met with overwhelming support.⁸ With Representative Peake's assistance, the Cox family received the good news they had been waiting for; in 2015, the Georgia General Assembly passed a law that permitted medical patients to possess and use low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil of twenty fluid ounces or less.⁹ This act was penned "Haleigh's Hope Act."¹⁰ Families like the Coxes returned back to their home State of Georgia for the first time in months or even years.¹¹ Individuals who hoped to obtain medicinal marijuana through this law needed to qualify under certain medical conditions.¹² In fact, the bill covered eight particular medical conditions: cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, mitochondrial disease, Parkinson's disease, and sickle cell disease.¹³ Individuals who were not certified by a physician to have one of the foregoing conditions were not eligible to obtain cannabis under Haleigh's Hope Act.¹⁴ The

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delivery method of medicinal marijuana was also limited to oil; smoking of any kind was not permitted.¹⁵ In addition, recreational marijuana use was also strictly prohibited.¹⁶

Haleigh's Hope Act created "an infrastructure, registration process and research program for the drug."¹⁷ On June 16, 2015, the patient registry became available to the public.¹⁸ The Department of Public Health oversaw this patient registry, and patients and physicians who wished to register were able to do so on the registry website.¹⁹ By November 1, 2016, over 1,100 patients were registered on the website as suffering from one of the eight medical conditions covered by Haleigh's Hope Act.²⁰ In 2017, various groups took active measures to increase the types of medical conditions covered under Haleigh's Hope Act.²¹ In response, Representative Peake introduced House Bill (HB) 65 to the House in 2017.²² This bill added new medical conditions that would be covered under the 2015 law, like autism spectrum disorder, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and intractable pain.²³

Although these aforementioned bills took active steps toward gaining a permissive means of using medicinal THC oil, patients had practically no legal way to gain access to the THC oil because it was illegal to "grow, buy, sell or transport the drug" in Georgia.²⁴ Individuals who wanted access to this drug for medicinal purposes had to cross state lines or purchase marijuana illegally and then condense it down to oil.²⁵ As of April 1, 2019, the number of people registered for medical marijuana oil was over 8,400, and these people

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had no legal way to obtain the marijuana.²⁶ During the 2019 legislative session, Representative Micah Gravley (R-67th) introduced HB 324, which was designed to provide patients a meaningful way to acquire low THC oil for medicinal purposes.²⁷ Four years in the making, this bill received bipartisan support, and both Republicans and Democrats reached across the aisle to get it passed.²⁸

Bill Tracking of HB 324

Consideration and Passage by the House

Representatives Micah Gravley (R-67th), Mark Newton (R-123rd), Alan Powell (R-32nd), Calvin Smyre (D-135th), David Clark (R-98th), and Scot Turner (R-21st) sponsored HB 324 and were instrumental to its passage.²⁹ Representative Gravley introduced the bill on February 14, 2019.³⁰ The House first read HB 324 on February 15, 2019.³¹ The House read the bill again on February 19, 2019.³² Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-7th) assigned HB 324 to the House Committee on Regulated Industries (House Committee).³³

On March 1, the House Committee favorably reported the bill by substitute.³⁴ This substitute added a provision to the bill that prohibited "ingesting low THC oil through vaping."³⁵ In addition, the

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House Committee substitute also modified the members to be appointed to the Low THC Oil License Oversight Board (Board).³⁶ The original bill designated the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the Attorney General as two of the eleven Board members.³⁷ The House Committee substitute, however, removed these members and instead provided that the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House could each designate a total of three members, rather than only two each under the previous version of the bill.³⁸

Furthermore, the House Committee substitute increased the radius restrictions required for a licensee to operate its THC manufacturing, distribution, cultivation, etc.³⁹ The House Committee substitute prohibited licensees from operating within 3,000 feet of a school or church, rather than only a 1,000 foot radius, which was required under the previous version.⁴⁰ Additionally, the House Committee substitute required any licensee to identify itself as a licensee to recipients of any campaign contributions made by the licensee.⁴¹ The final modification made by the House Committee substitute concerned physicians reporting to the Board.⁴² Under the House Committee substitute, the bill indicated that the Board is to use such physicians reports for research purposes in determining the efficacy of the use of low THC oil as a treatment for certain medical conditions.⁴³

On March 4, 2019, the bill was withdrawn from the House Committee and then recommitted.⁴⁴ On March 5, 2019, the House read HB 324 for a third time.⁴⁵ This version of the bill increased the number of Board members from eleven to twelve by adding the director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency as a member of

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the Board.⁴⁶ On that same...