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“For the patients that this program is designed to serve, it’s not always worked well enough. This bill is an effort to make sure that for the patients, this program works better.”
By Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder
A bill aimed at modernizing Georgia’s medical cannabis program passed the House with broad bipartisan support, marking another step in lawmakers’ years-long effort to incrementally increase patients’ access to the program.
Senate Bill 220, introduced by Newnan Republican Sen. Matt Brass, would expand the conditions eligible to receive a medical cannabis card, change the limits on the amount of cannabis that someone can possess and enable patients to vape the product. It passed the House in a 138-21 vote.
The changes made to the bill incorporate feedback from a House study committee that met last year to examine the issue, according to Rep. Mark Newton, an Augusta Republican who sponsored the bill in the House. In a speech shortly before Wednesday’s vote, he said updates to the program were needed to ensure that patients and providers can successfully navigate the program.
“For the patients that this program is designed to serve, it’s not always worked well enough,” Newton said. “This bill is an effort to make sure that for the patients, this program works better.”
Tetrahydrocannabinol, generally abbreviated to “THC,” is the psychoactive compound in marijuana that is currently classified as a Schedule I drug at the federal level, though the Trump administration is looking to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana to gain a better understanding of its potential medical benefits. Some studies have shown that THC’s non-psychoactive counterpart cannabidiol, also known as CBD and derived from the hemp plant, may be effective in treating health conditions like epilepsy, chronic pain and anxiety.
Both compounds fall under the umbrella of medical cannabis, according to the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, which administers the state’s program.
Georgia law currently mandates that medical cannabis products must not contain more than 5 percent THC. The version of the bill that passed the Senate would have raised that cap to 50 percent, but House lawmakers ultimately decided to switch from a percentage cap to a 12,000 milligram limit, which Newton said is aimed at ensuring Georgia’s regulations better reflect doctors’ prescribing practices.
“There are other delivery methods, other ways of delivering this medical cannabis, that are more aligned with the way we practice medicine in every other field,” Newton, who is an emergency medicine doctor, said.
The bill also adds a provision allowing patients over the age of 21 to vape medical cannabis, which was not previously allowed under Georgia law. Advocates had argued that patients with seizures and other conditions needed greater access to inhalable forms of medical cannabis, which can offer relief faster than alternate forms of the drug.
“The oral forms were taking one to two hours, sometimes four hours, to have an effect,” Newton said. “Some people’s conditions, we heard from patients, need some relief more rapidly than that, and so the inhalation version takes care of that.”
Smoking and public consumption of cannabis will still be outlawed under the bill, he added, as will products like candy and edibles. The bill also expands the list of qualifying health conditions, adding Lupus, severe arthritis and severe insomnia, and removing the requirement that certain diagnoses like cancer or Parkinson’s disease be “severe or end stage.”
Rep. Alan Powell, a Hartwell Republican, also applauded the bill in a speech on the House floor.
“This is a natural product,” he said. “I have said this from this well before, and I continue to tell you that something that God lets grow naturally is better than anything made in a pharmaceutical laboratory.”
Newton said he hopes to see more medical research on cannabis develop in the coming years if marijuana becomes a Schedule III drug at the federal level. Though no lawmakers spoke against the bill on the floor, some voiced concerns about the lack of current medical evidence to support expanding the program.
“I’m for it, I just think that we need to do a little more [research] about it,” said Rep. Jason Ridley, a Chatsworth Republican who voted against the bill. “I’d just like to see a little more parameters put around that exactly what we’re dealing with.”
Bills related to medical cannabis and hemp beverages became a focal point during the 2025 session, which also marked the 10-year anniversary of Haleigh’s Hope Act. The law created the licensing commission, legalized possession of low-THC oil for the first time in Georgia and created a new research program dedicated to studying the drug’s impact.
Subsequent legislation enabled companies to produce and sell the oil in-state, but advocates have argued that Georgia’s current laws do not go far enough to help patients access medical cannabis in the forms that they need.
The bill now heads back to the Senate for another vote. The session is set to end April 2.
This story was first published by Georgia Recorder.
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