Georgia may never =93free the weed=94 but legalized medical marijuana could save taxpayers millions, say University of Georgia researchers.

In a recent study, the father-daughter team of David and Ashley Bradford say in the 17 states with a medical marijuana law in place by 2013, Medicare saved approximately $165.2 million because of lower prescription drug use.

If medical marijuana was approved in every state, the overall savings to Medicare would have been around $468 million. That's a lot of green. David Bradford said he knows medical marijuana is a controversial topic, and some view it as a backdoor way of legalizing recreational marijuana, but research indicates =93there's a significant amount of clinical use at work here.=94

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The GOP's rejection of medical marijuana shows just how out of touch the party really is. They're a half-century behind the times.

How can they possibly think they have a viable political platform? It's just another reason why they will guarantee Hillary Clinton's election.

DONALD VARN, CONYERS

[end]

While Usage Is Legal in Some Cases, It Still Can't Be Grown in the State.

The phones at the Georgia Department of Public Health no longer ring off the hook with people calling to find doctors or asking questions about how the state's medical marijuana registry works.

Yet Georgia's quiet revolution in the year since it legalized a limited form of medical marijuana has shown little sign of slowing. Even so, obstacles and risks remain in the push for expansion.

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The Clarkston City Council has voted unanimously to approve the most liberal marijuana ordinance in the state, reducing fine from up to $1,000 to $75 for possessing less than an ounce, and eliminating the possibility of jail time for breaking municipal law.

"We just made history," whispered Sharon Ravert, a Dahlonega resident and advocate for marijuana legalization, when she saw the council's seven hands raised in unison on Tuesday.

Mayor Ted Terry has argued that drug law enforcement "disproportionately affects lower income communities and communities of color." As the state's hotbed for refugee resettlement, Clarkston is one of the most diverse cities in the state. According to census statistics, the city of 12,000 is nearly 60 percent black and 53.5 percent foreign born.

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Georgia Man Says Drug Beneficial for Autistic Son.

CLEVELAND - Dale Jackson, the father of an 8-yearold autistic son, flew up to the site of the Republican National Convention on Monday to ask his party's platform committee to endorse the use of medicinal marijuana where appropriate.

He wanted to take Georgia's fight national.

Jackson found a delegate who would pitch the idea, but his luck ended there. The 112-member committee that is currently drafting policy positions for the 2016 presidential contest rejected it out of hand, by a voice vote of two-thirds or more.

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Clarkston's effort to decriminalize pot has Gov. Nathan Deal and the state's chief law enforcement officers tsk-tsking because that's what governors and chief law enforcement people figure they must do when it comes to "drugs."

Drugs are bad. Marijuana is a gateway drug. Guys who smoke too much weed will grow man boobs. You've heard the Reefer Madness excuses before.

But Clarkston's on to something.

Arresting people for possession of small amounts of marijuana - less than an ounce - is a crime in and of itself. It's an inane use of government resources and brands people with a big green leafy M, one that will follow them for years and continually close doors to them.

Clarkston is a different sort of place, a town where I saw three separate women carrying groceries on their heads during a short visit. It has became Ground Zero for the refugee resettlement debate in an era when many Americans have hardened their outlooks on immigration.

[end]

Governor Expected to Sign Proposals Backed by Justice Reform Panel.

The change could help some 6,600 Georgians rejected each year for food stamps because they are convicted drug felons, according to research by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

Every time Norvell Lawhorne applied for food stamps, he was turned down because he was a convicted drug felon. That conviction has made it harder to find a job, housing and even food. He now makes his bed in an Atlanta homeless shelter.

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Delegates at the Third District Republican Convention last weekend overwhelmingly voiced their support for the expansion of Georgia's laws on cannabis/marijuana-derived medicine, and for allowing the medicine to be produced in Georgia.

A resolution supporting expanding the number of conditions that can be treated with oil containing cannabidiol (CBD), a component of marijuana, and in-state cultivation of cannabis used to make the oil, passed with very little opposition at the convention, held April 16 in Newnan.

The resolution passed on a voice vote. Dale Jackson, Third District chairman for the Georgia Republican Party and a lobbyist for medical cannabis, said there were approximately 200 delegates and he only saw about three 'no' votes.

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A Macon attorney admitted Wednesday she participated in a drug deal in the parking lot of a Church's Chicken restaurant on Hardeman Avenue, near Interstate 75 and downtown Macon, in June 2015.

[name redacted], 36, pleaded guilty to possession of oxycodone and methamphetamine, with intent to distribute both drugs, during a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

A federal judge agreed to allow [name redacted] to remain on bond until her July 6 sentencing hearing. She could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

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Sometimes the curtain is pulled aside, allowing us to see what's going on in the often-opaque worlds of government and finance. Such an occasion has been happening with what's being called the Panama Papers, released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. It's going to take not months, but years, to wade through the estimated 11 million documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in crafting tax shelters.

But initial disclosures are both troubling and offer insight. "The documents reference 12 current or former world leaders, as well as 128 other politicians and public officials," CNN reported. Implicated, in particular, are associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin; FIFA, the global soccer governing body, 40 of whose officials were indicted in 2015 by the U.S. Justice Department on corruption charges; and Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.

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Under the federal Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, which means it has no medicinal value and is highly addictive.

But the Drug Enforcement Administration is, once again, considering moving it to a less restrictive category that better reflects both its danger and the undeniable facts on the ground - that nearly half the states in the nation allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes, and several allow it to be used recreationally. The DEA told lawmakers that it intends to make a decision by July.

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Clarkston leaders may try to make their city the first in Georgia to decriminalize marijuana.

Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry said the City Council's public safety committee this month will review whether to make possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana a ticket-only offense, putting it on the same level as a run-of-the-mill traffic violation. He expects the full council to bring it to a vote as early as May.

"The bottom line is the War on Drugs has failed," said Terry, also a vice chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia. "It is time for elected officials to use evidence-based policies to make our communities safer and fight drug abuse."

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Mayor Ted Terry may want to make Clarkston the first Georgia city to decriminalize marijuana, but one of the state's leading law enforcement advocates had a blunt message about the effort: No way.

"The only thing I can say about that is no municipal government has the authority to decriminalize anything that the Georgia General Assembly and federal government still say is a crime," said Chuck Spahos, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia.

"State law and federal law will still apply to the citizens within the municipality" even if Clarkston enacts the proposal, said Spahos, who is also solicitor general in Henry County.

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Mothers Not Waiting on Further Changes in Cannabis Oil Laws

Civil disobedience is as American as baseball, but the writer Henry David Thoreau could never have imagined what issues would inspire such symbolic acts come the 21st century.

For example, Georgia parents who treat their children with cannabis oil to manage seizures, including several in Hall County and Northeast Georgia, are publicly stating that they are willing to break the law, if necessary, to acquire cannabis oil.

It's the latest fault line in the medical marijuana fight, pitting patients and their families against law enforcement.

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Bill in State Senate Would Expand Conditions, Allow for In-State Production of Drug

Proposals to expand the use, cultivation and distribution of cannabis oil in Georgia are on life support as the state legislature enters its final week of action for 2016.

But families who swear by the effectiveness of the drug know what a lifesaver it can be.

A vote stalled in the Senate on House Bill 722 that would expand the number of conditions that can be treated with cannabis oil, even after plans for in-state manufacturing of the drug were scrapped.

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CHICKAMAUGA - Legislation placing a temporary moratorium on new narcotic treatment centers passed the Georgia House of Representatives, 169-0, and awaits the signature of Gov. Nathan Deal.

The legislation was filed by Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, out of concern over the growing number of centers alongside an increase in heroin addiction.

Georgia is ranked third nationally in the number of narcotic treatment centers, with 63 currently operating within the state. Mullis said heroin use and overdoses in Georgia have skyrocketed in the last five years, a stark contradiction of the large number of treatment centers aimed at reducing addiction rates.

Senate Bill 402 halts new licensing until June 30, 2017. It also creates a state commission to study the licensure process as well as the density of existing narcotic treatment centers within the state.

From catoosawalkernews.com

[end]

The Georgia House on Monday overwhelmingly approved House Bill 722, which would expand the list of ailments that qualify for the state's limited medical marijuana program.

By a vote of 152-8, the House sent state Rep. Allen Peake's bill to the Senate.

Peake, a Macon Republican, said the bill moves the ball forward but falls short of what he had hoped to accomplish this year. HB 722 originally would have created a state-sponsored program to grow, cultivate and manufacture medical marijuana in Georgia, but opposition from law enforcement put an end to that.

Instead, it adds several disorders to the list of diseases that qualifies for the state program. But patients will still have to risk arrest by traveling out of state to obtain the medication.

[end]

The author of legislation aimed at expanding the state's medical marijuana law said he won't continue to push for cultivation in Georgia this year after the bill ran into problems in committee Monday.

The House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee eliminated a provision in House Bill 722 that would have allowed limited cultivation and production of cannabis oil. The bill would also increase the number of diseases for which marijuana could be used.

Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, wasn't happy about the change.

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Dear editor,

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Addiction is an obsessive compulsive behavior that interferes with everyday life. For an addict to change they must change their people, places and things. Government has become so focused on the war on drugs and forgotten about the ongoing battle of addiction. Probation is not designed to help. We are just another number; another lost cause in the eyes of the state.

Addiction affects everyone whether it is addiction to God or drugs, coffee or exercise, over or under eating. Addiction is an everyday battle. A successful recovering addict must change their people, places and things. Being incarcerated I am forced to form relationships with other addicts, in a place that makes me feel numb, and treated like an object. I am a number, no longer a person with a name.

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GA. Family Stuck in Colorado Over Medicinal Issue.

PEYTON, COLO. - The reason the Olivers are the last of Georgia's medical marijuana refugees in Colorado resides inside a little white bottle that singes your nostrils when it's opened.

Seven-year-old Tripp's medicine carries an overpowering aroma that would not be out of place at a concert or college dorm room because it is a marijuana derivative that can get you high if heated for a period of time. But Tripp does not get high because he takes it at room temperature, swallowing the fragrant olive oil mixture twice a day to forestall the seizures that have plagued him since he was 6 months old.

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