Local family suffers after medical marijuana caught in 'political crossfire' Five-month-old Kason Jiles of Lithia Springs has a medical file more than 600 pages thick and takes seven medications for a seizure disorder. Kason's dad Jonathan watched the final hours of the Georgia Legislature on Thursday night on his computer, frustrated that a bill that could have helped his son and had so much support fell just short. House Bill 885, which would have legalized cannabis oil, a nonsmokable derivative of marijuana, had overwhelming support in the House and Senate. But in the Legislature's final days, Sen. Renee Untermann (R-Buford) tried to attach a provision that would have expanded autism coverage. Untermann's attachment didn't fly in the House. [continues 841 words]
Local Family Could Be Helped by Medical Marijuana Bill Three-month-old Kason Jiles of Lithia Springs has spent two-thirds of his short life at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Kason has a Ohtahara syndrome, a neurological disease characterized by seizures that can number from 10 to 75 a day, his father Jonathan Jiles said. The disease is severely progressive, with some who have it dying in infancy and others surviving with profound handicaps, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. [continues 640 words]
State Rep. Micah Gravley (R-Douglasville) is a self described "conservative Christian Republican." But Gravley now finds himself in line with other Republicans around the state in supporting limited use of medicinal marijuana after several families have come forward showing how a certain form of the drug can be used to treat children with things like severe epileptic seizures. Gravley plans to co-sponsor a bill expected to be introduced in the state House by Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) that would legalize cannabis oil for medical purposes. The oil is typically administered in a pill or using an eye dropper. [continues 685 words]
Five people came before Douglas County Chief Magistrate Judge Susan Camp on Monday charged with crimes related to marijuana. Camp had the same advice for all of them: You might want to move out west where it's legal. "Great advice," said Lithia Springs resident James Bell, a longtime advocate for legalizing pot. "You don't set up a casino in Georgia and you don't set up a grow room in Georgia. And you've got to stay where it's legal or you stay here and fight it. That's the other option is you stay here and fight for your own state and for your own rights here." [continues 529 words]
I would like to know why the money confiscated from drugs and from frozen accounts from Afghanistan, and also money the federal government seizes from criminal cases, can't go to the older people who go without medicine so they can eat and try to pay bills. I know of people who have to pay up to $250 a month for medicine, and they only get $650 a month to live on. Where does all the money go? Ronnie McDaniel [end]
