3. Legislative Process

Penguins

We debated the issue and thought we had resolved it:

HB 885 amends Article 5 of Chapter 34 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA). The “Medical Marijuana Necessities Act” was a bill passed in Georgia in 1981 by governor George Busbee that actually legalized research trial for medical cannabis. In 2010 the law was amended and revived as the “Control Therapeutic Substance Act.” HB 885 is a renewed version of this bill, now renamed Haleigh’s Hope Act. The new bill adds seizures disorders to the list of potential recipients; it also erases the section labeling previous cannabis research as limited, expensive, and time consuming, now labeling as an optimistic drug with proven results. It also grants research capabilities to research centers instead of physicians; and it also adds several requirements for a more comprehensive implementation methodology.

The bill was assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee; republican representative Sharon Cooper was named chairman. The was not assigned to a sub-committee.The committee held hearings on seven separate dates. HB 885 was discussed on two of them. The committee hearing started with the testimony of the sponsor, representative Allen Peake, about meeting the families of children who would benefit from medical cannabis, followed by a short video documentary laying out the scientific research behind it and its success in other states. It was followed by the testimony of Paige Figi, a mother of a young girl who experienced extremely beneficial affects in treating her seizure disorder, sprouting a massive movement in her state of Colorado and several other states.

A Colorado medical cannabis manufacturer also testified addressing misconceptions about the drug not being tested and heavily researched. Doctors from the Medical Association of Georgia also explained their approval for the drug. Several specialists from the Children’s hospital of Atlanta, Northwest GA Healthcare, the Academy of Pediatricians Association, as well as the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, and Atlanta’s tea Party.

Support against the bill came from Sue Rusche, from National Families in Action, who showcased a video detailing how some medical cannabis dispensaries in Colorado encouraged recreational cannabis by selling paraphernalia. A testimony was also given by a parent warning of  the dangers of using insufficiently tested drugs on children, though her case was not related to medical marijuana. Concerns were also raised by someone from Georgia Drug and Narcotics Agency explaining how since cultivation was not addressed in the bill, getting it from another state would be a major challenge not only from the states traveling through, but also from the federal government.

On the second hearing, the committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill. Due to activism and criticism from several legislators, the public, and advocacy groups, the bill was revised in order to give medical research centers the ability to cultivate cannabis. The only major lobbying came from the Georgia C.A.R.E. Project and Peachtree NORML. The bill moved on to the House of Representative’s floor where testimonies were given by families of the children that would benefit from this drug. It passed the House on March 6, 2014 with 171 yays, and 4 nays, moving to the Senate.

At the beginning of the legislative session Senator Renee Unterman introduced a bill to the Senate that would mandate private insurance companies to cover autism treatment SB 397. The bill passed the senate committee, as well as the senate floor, however it sat inactive when it passed over to the House. Senator Unterman was also the chairman for the Senate’s Health and Human Services committee where HB 885 was placed. Allegations were made that Senator Unterman was unwilling to move HB 885 forward until the House acknowledged her own bill.

When asked, Unterman claimed multiple representatives came to her saying they only voted for the bill for compassion for the families, but really have little knowledge of its full content; however in another comment she stated that it was all part of the political game. In a surprisingly turn of events, HB 885 was also amended to mandate private insurance companies to cover autism treatment. Knowing her bill wasn’t going anywhere in the House, Unterman basically took the language from the dead SB 397 and added it to HB 885 in a loophole strategy since the latter was known to have a lot more support and media attention. HB 885, Haleigh’s Hope Act, was then renamed “Kids Care Act”. The bill passed on the Senate’s floor unanimously with 54Yays and 0 Nays March 20, 2014.

However, because Hb 885 was drastically changed to incorporate SB 397 it had to be sent back to the House to get approved. SB 397 was known to have extremely minimal support in the House, and so representatives refused to vote on HB 885 with SB 397 attached to it. With that being the last day of session March 21, 2014, in a last minute attempt Representative Peake attached HB 885 to SB 291, a bill that would create a new agency for adult aging services. SB 291 had been passed by the Senate and House, but when it was sent back to Senate with HB 885 attached to it, they refused to pass it since it didn’t have the desired autism language of SB 397.

Despite HB 885 having passed both House and senate with unanimous support in different ways, the bill officially died on the last day of session. Governor Deal spoke about the issue declaring he is going to try to find some executive power to allow the families affected to obtain medical cannabis. However, the status of such statement remains unknown or released to the public.

 

6,378 Comments

6,378 thoughts on “3. Legislative Process”

  4. I commend your hard work on this and thank you for this information. I know it very well that if anyone visits your blog, then he/she will surely revisit it again. 호텔카지노

    Reply

  5. Awesome and entertaining article. I like to write a little comment to support you. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. 카지노

    Reply

  8. Untuk mengetahui result data sdy terbaik, kalian bisa bergabung pada bandar terbaik Seperti di Laetoto yang sudah memiliki lisensi izin beroperasi. Akan aman bagi pemain jika bergabung pada sebuah Situs Resmi Terpercaya karena akan mendapatkan jaminan keamanan, kenyamanan dan juga jaminan kemenangan 100% dibayar tanpa potongan. Selain itu, pemain akan mendapatkan jaminan bahwa data pribadi seperti nomor handphone ataupun email tak akan bocor secara ilegal. Itulah mengapa banyak pemain yang memilih dan mempertimbangkan dengan tepat saat ingin bermain di sebuah situs.

    Reply

  9. There are pretty, beautiful girls who are always dealing with cards without getting bored.
    games that are played online And supports
    Full of fun, exciting, challenging, comes with a clear HD picture system.
    คาสิโน789

    Reply

  11. This is this year’s research feeling! With this subject, why can’t other people explain it like this person? After reading an article that is too busy to brag about myself, I feel refreshed when I read an article for readers like this. 토토사이트

    Reply

  12. Very nice article and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is truly the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thank you. Feel free to visit my website 토토사이트

    Reply

  18. I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business. Breaking News

    Reply

  19. Situs slot online gacor terpercaya menjamin kalian bisa menikmati permainan ini dengan baik. Permainan slot online gacor play 4D di SITUS TOGEL SLOT TERBAIK Coloktoto menggunakan uang asli paling dengan taruhan permainan paling lengkap. Semua permainan slot yang disediakan Coloktoto menggunakan server terbaik. sehingga sudah pasti, jaminan permainan slot yang kami sediakan adalah permainan slot terbaik di Indonesia. Game slot online terbaiik di situs slot terbaik akan bisa kalian nikmati sekarang juga di sini. Berikut Kumpula provider slot online Play 4D yang tersedia di Coloktoto.

    Reply

    • Deltaslot88 sebagai daftar slot gacor terbaik, kami tidak hanya memberikan bonus, game, dan promo menarik saja. Kami tentunya memperhatikan hal-hal lebih detail. Link alternatif slot merupakan jalan pintas untuk menuju sebuah situs judi online. Kita tahu bahwa judi online memang dilarang keras di negara Indonesia, tetapi apa boleh buat kami memberikan link alternatif slot kepada pemain agar kalian dapat melakukan kegiatan yang menyenangkan ini.

      Reply

  24. From some point on, I am preparing to build my site while browsing various sites. It is now somewhat completed. If you are interested, please come to play with baccaratsite !!

    Reply

  28. I’m writing on this topic these days, totosite, but I have stopped writing because there is no reference material. Then I accidentally found your article. I can refer to a variety of materials, so I think the work I was preparing will work! Thank you for your efforts.

    Reply

  30. hank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there. 토토사이트추천

    Reply

  31. Very nice article and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is truly the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thank you. Feel free to visit my website 토토사이트

    Reply

  33. Kalian bisa mengakses situs game online ini dengan sangat mudah. Karena pada situs ini kalian akan diberitahukan mengenai situs game online terbesar dan terpercaya yang ada di Indonesia. Dengan kalian bisa mengunjungi situs game online Laetoto maka kalian akan mendapatkan keuntungan yang maksimal juga dengan mendapatkan cara memainkan permainan yang ada pada situs ini. Mengapa harus situs Laetoto? Langsung saja bergabung di Situs Judi Togel Hadiah Terbesar Laetoto untuk lebih mengetahui.

    Reply

  35. As I am looking at your writing, casinosite I regret being unable to do outdoor activities due to Corona 19, and I miss my old daily life. If you also miss the daily life of those days, would you please visit my site once? My site is a site where I post about photos and daily life when I was free.

    Reply

  37. There are plenty of Bali Honeymoon Packages from Delhi to choose from Flip Trip Holidays tour packages portal, so you can ultimately decide on the best for you. However, the most important is that you can enjoy your honeymoon to the fullest, experience the beauty of Bali, and create everlasting memories to treasure for a lifetime. Visit Fliptrip and contact right now to not miss any offer provided buy Fliptrip Holidays.

    Reply

  45. สล็อตออนไลน์ เกมออนไลน์ที่มีการเดิมพันที่สามารถสร้างความสุขและความสุขให้กับคุณได้อย่างแน่นอน สิ่งที่พิเศษของเกม สล็อตออนไลน์ นั้นคุณไม่ต้องห่วงในเรื่องของเวลาที่มีจำกัดอย่างแน่นอนเพราะว่าเกมสล็อตออนไลน์เป็นเกมเดิมพันที่สามารถใช้ระยะเวลาในการเดิมพันที่น้อยเป็นอย่างมากและยังแตกง่ายที่สุดในบรรดาเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่มีในตอนนี้บนโลกออนไลน์ ทั้งนี้เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ของเรายังมีเคล็ดรับในการเล่นเกมสล็อตแตกง่ายยิ่งขึ้นเพื่อให้คุณลูกค้าสามารถเข้าไปเล่นให้ได้ผลกำไรที่ดีงามที่สุด

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Nimra Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *