Guns, citizen’s arrest, even chicken guts appeared this year
Tag: marijuana
Georgia now officially seeking cannabis growers
Six licenses, about nine acres, and medical only.
Georgia medical cannabis commission hires leader
When medical cannabis will be legally available is anyone’s guess.
Seven named to Georgia medical cannabis commission
This does not mean corner drugstores will stock tons of cannabis formulations anytime soon.
Georgia lawmakers send medical cannabis cultivation bill to governor
That would solve a problem for people who have a state medical marijuana card, but no place to buy the liquid they use to fight the side effects of chemotherapy, the frequency of seizures or other disorders.
Georgia Senate panel narrows medical cannabis cultivation bill
Medical cannabis advocates think a rewrite of a House-approved medical cannabis cultivation bill is mainly unworkable and contains some poison pill provisions. But a key state Senator says the original might have had unintended consequences.
Georgia could approve hemp, medical cannabis grows this year — but time running low
One might ask if high-THC marijuana for sale on the street might be grown in the middle of a field of hemp.
Fulton County commissioners urge Georgia to decriminalize marijuana
Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners has not only decriminalized the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in a small portion of the county, the board has called on the State of Georgia to stop jailing folks for holding less than an ounce of marijuana.
“God, guns and ganja,” a Q & A with the owner of Atlanta’s “Pot Shop”
By Lyle V. Harris
If you think Paul Cornwell is a stereotypical pothead, think again. Dressed in a bright green shirt emblazoned with the words “Ganja Talk” and a gold marijuana leaf, the 66-year-old Atlanta resident is the owner of “The Pot Shop” in Little 5 Points, the unofficial capital of the city’s small but bustling countercultural scene.
Georgia lags but national cannabis reforms getting national buzz
Did you have a Happy 420 Day? While cannabis advocates in Georgia didn’t have much to celebrate this year, “marijuana momentum” is spreading across the country, giving prospects for the legalization of the plant the distinct whiff of inevitability.
The “Peake” of medical cannabis leaving Georgia Legislature
By Lyle V. Harris
After 12 years in the General Assembly, Rep. Allen Peake, the soft-spoken Macon Republican who’s considered the “godfather” of Georgia’s medical cannabis movement, is calling it quits. Sort of.
Although Peake, 57, is not running for re-election, he vows to stay involved in the issue with which his name has become synonymous
No place like home for Georgia medical cannabis patients
Lawmakers shouldn’t be forced to behave like outlaws. Nor should sick and suffering Georgians be treated like criminals merely for seeking the medicine they need. But that’s the twisted reality of our state’s conflicted and confusing cannabis policy. It’s time for that dynamic to change and voters deserve the opportunity to make it so at the ballot box.
R.I.P. James Bell, long live cannabis reform
By Lyle V. Harris
If there are cannabis dispensaries in heaven, I’m betting James Bell is celebrating in one of them right about now. He’s certainly earned it.
DeKalb family in court challenge to federal marijuana ban
In a new lawsuit, a group of medical marijuana entrepreneurs and advocates, including one from DeKalb, are telling a federal court that Congress’ ban on cannabis is seriously misguided.
Making “green the new Black” in cannabis industry
It appears a budding “cannabis rights movement” is slowly taking root in Georgia. A group of African-American advocates and activists in Atlanta last week launched the Minority Cannabis Coalition, an organization working to ensure “equity and access” for Blacks and other minorities interested in joining the nation’s multi-billion dollar marijuana market.
Young adults may use pot, tobacco, e-cigarettes based on flawed evaluation of risks
Consider this comment from a young adult quoted in a new health study led by a researcher at Georgia State University: “I smoke [pot] recreationally, but it still has those medical effects because I work and UPS, and I lift boxes all day. … I’m sore a lot of the times. But I don’t even notice these days because I’m so medicated.”
Sorry Mayor Reed; cannabis is no “gateway”
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he believes marijuana (cannabis) is a “gateway drug” that can lead young people to experiment with dangerous narcotics. That theory has been around since the 1970s and is often floated as the rationale for punitive anti-cannabis laws at the national and local level. Although this popular bromide tugs at our heartstrings, it has one major problem: There’s no evidence that it’s true.
A mother’s love vs. Georgia’s “reefer madness”
Bridgett Liquori is an outlaw, not that you’d know from looking at her. This petite 34-year-old single mother’s crime? She loves her children and is risking everything to keep them as happy, safe and healthy as possible.
If that means breaking state and federal laws to get the medical cannabis her kids need to treat their daunting illnesses, then so be it.
Q & A with State Rep. Allen Peake, Georgia’s “Dean” of Medical Marijuana
Republican lawmaker Allen Peake of Macon has emerged as Georgia’s unlikely “dean” of medical marijuana. Peake strongly opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use. But he’s a staunch champion in the fight to provide legal access for Georgians suffering with chronic illnesses who benefit from cannabis oil, a form of marijuana that offers relief without getting users high. In the first installment of the I-420 Georgia travelogue series, I interviewed Peake at his office in Bibb County. Peake spoke openly about the challenges that advocates face in expanding Georgia’s existing medical marijuana law, and the unusual (and illegal) steps he’s taking to aid patients in the meantime.
New “I-420” columns highlight marijuana reform efforts
And so it begins.
After quitting my good government job four months ago, I’ve been on a journey without a road map or any guarantee that I’ll reach the final destination in one piece. I confess this adventure seems a little bit nuts. Scary too.
But, throwing caution (and what’s left of my 401K) to the wind, I’m planning a regular feature on SaportaReport called “I-420 Georgia.” The goal is simple: to create a rolling travelogue highlighting the people, places and businesses being impacted by Georgia’s existing marijuana laws.
