Marijuana Moment: Georgia’s Expanded Medical Marijuana Law Generates Huge Boost In Number Of Registered Patients

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A new law in Georgia that has expanded access to medical marijuana is enticing a lot more patients to apply for the state’s program.

The legislation, which Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed in May and which officially took effect on July 1, adds new qualifying conditions for the program, allows patients to vaporize medical cannabis and changes THC potency limits, among other reforms.

Since the start of June, the number of registered medical marijuana patients has grown nearly 22 percent, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health that was obtained by WXIA-TV.

The outlet reported that whereas there were about 34,000 active patients in the program at the beginning of last month, that number has now grown to more than 41,400. Since the beginning of July, when there were 36,703 active patients, the program has grown by almost 13 percent just over the last few weeks.

Judson Hill, president of medical marijuana company Fine Fettle, told WXIA that “July 1st was by far our busiest day. We had folks lined up an hour before we opened our doors.”

“These inhalable products allow them to have that relief immediately, where an oil-based product has to go through your digestive system, which could take 30 minutes to an hour to kick in, so it really was just not as helpful as they needed,” he said.

Gary Long, the CEO of Botanical Sciences, a Georgia-based medical cannabis company, recently predicted that the expanded law could triple the number of patients by mid-2027.

Under the legislation, patients with lupus are allowed to legally access medical marijuana, building on the state’s prior law that allowed certain people with cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, autism spectrum disorder, intractable pain and other conditions to qualify.

The policy, which was sponsored in the legislature by Sen. Matt Brass (R), also removes the requirement for many conditions that the patient’s status be severe or end-stage to be allowed to enter the medical cannabis program.

The reform also expands how patients can use medical marijuana. Previously they were able to access oils, tinctures, capsules, lozenges, topicals and transdermal patches—but now vaping is allowed as delivery method for people over 21 years of age, though smoking continues to be prohibited for all patients.

The Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act additionally replaces the current 5 percent THC potency cap for medical cannabis products with a limit of 12,000 milligrams of THC that a patient can possess at any one time.

“These changes, while meaningful to the affected patients, do not materially alter where Georgia sits in the national landscape on this issue,” Kemp said in a signing statement last month. “This bill passed with a constitutional majority in both chambers of the General Assembly.”

“I, like many of those who expressed opposition to this bill, have reservations about the legalization of recreational cannabis. Many states that have legalized recreational cannabis have come to regret that decision,” he said. “I also recognize that for some patients, medical cannabis provides significant relief to symptoms that would otherwise go untreated or would be treated with even more harmful opioids.”

“I do not believe that a well-implemented medical cannabis program must inevitably lead to the legalization of recreational use in Georgia, nor is the question of recreational use anywhere in the bill on my desk for signature,” the governor said.

The new law also replaces references to “low THC oil” in current law with “medical cannabis.”

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The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, which oversees the program, also now has a new duty of conducting public awareness activities about “effective uses of medical cannabis and products, including, but not limited to, publishing materials and conducting outreach and public education activities to inform members of the public, law enforcement, and healthcare providers about the medical cannabis program in this state and the potential benefits that medical cannabis and products may have to eligible patients.”

Last year, House leaders created a Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Georgia’s Medical Marijuana and Hemp Policies to examine the state’s cannabis laws.

Lawmakers in Georgia have also considered legislation to support research on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.

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