Georgia CommonsHB 440: Providing Effective Access to Cannabis for Health (PEACH) Act; enact
Last action February 19, 2025 · House Second Readers
House Bill 440 would rename Georgia's 'low THC oil' program as 'medical cannabis,' raise possession limits, remove the ban on certain ways of ingesting it, and add conditions like lupus and inflammatory bowel disease to the qualifying list.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Georgia currently regulates a low-THC cannabis oil program through a patient registry, licensed producers, and a state commission. This bill, called the Providing Effective Access to Cannabis for Health (PEACH) Act, renames 'low THC oil' as 'medical cannabis' throughout the Georgia Code and rewrites how it is measured, from fluid ounces of oil to ounces of cannabis or product, while roughly quintupling the lawful personal possession limit from 20 fluid ounces to 2.5 ounces measured differently but effectively higher trafficking thresholds. It removes an outdated research-program carve-out, repeals the section banning certain methods of ingesting the substance, and lets caregivers include a designated adult helper or a healthcare institution, not just parents or guardians. The bill also expands the list of medical conditions that qualify a patient for a registration card, adding lupus and a catch-all category for conditions where an opioid could otherwise be prescribed, and removes many 'severe or end stage' qualifiers that previously narrowed eligibility for diseases like cancer and Parkinson's. It also excludes lawfully possessed medical cannabis from Georgia's general marijuana and controlled substances definitions.
What the bill does
- Renames 'low THC oil' as 'medical cannabis' across multiple titles of Georgia law, including agriculture, criminal, and public health statutes.
- Rewrites criminal possession thresholds and penalties in O.C.G.A. § 16-12-191, changing the measurement basis and setting new felony and trafficking thresholds and fines up to $1 million.
- Repeals O.C.G.A. § 16-12-234, which banned certain ways of ingesting low THC oil or products, removing that restriction.
- Expands the legal definition of 'caregiver' to include an adult designated by the patient or a healthcare institution, not just a parent, guardian, or legal custodian.
- Adds lupus and a broader catch-all category (any condition for which an opioid could be prescribed or a physician believes cannabis would help) to the list of qualifying conditions in O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-18.
- Excludes lawfully possessed medical cannabis and products from the definitions of 'marijuana' and 'tetrahydrocannabinol' under the Georgia Controlled Substances Act.
Who it affects
Registered patients and their caregivers, physicians who certify patients, pharmacies and dispensing licensees, the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, designated universities and colleges conducting cannabis research, healthcare institutions, and people charged under Georgia's cannabis possession and trafficking laws.
Why it matters
Patients could legally possess more medical cannabis, use it in more forms, and qualify under a wider range of medical conditions, while caregivers gain more flexibility. Criminal penalty thresholds would shift, changing what quantity triggers a misdemeanor, felony, or trafficking charge under Georgia law.
Key provisions
- Section 1-1 gives the bill its short title, the Providing Effective Access to Cannabis for Health (PEACH) Act.
- Sections 2-1 through 2-3 replace 'low THC oil' with 'medical cannabis' throughout agriculture, criminal, and tort code sections, including hospital and provider civil liability protections.
- Section 3-1 rewrites O.C.G.A. §§ 16-12-190 and 16-12-191, redefining medical cannabis, changing possession limits from fluid ounces of oil to ounces of cannabis or product, and removing the old research-program exemption.
- Section 3-2 revises definitions in O.C.G.A. § 16-12-200, updating terms like 'product' and 'registered patient' and adding a 'registration card' definition.
- Section 3-3 clarifies that the required distance between cannabis licensees and schools, churches, or early care programs does not apply to State Board of Pharmacy dispensing licensees.
- Section 3-6 repeals O.C.G.A. § 16-12-234, ending the prohibition on certain methods of ingesting the substance.
- Sections 3-7 and 3-8 amend the Georgia Controlled Substances Act to exclude lawfully possessed medical cannabis or products from the definitions of marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinol.
- Section 3-9 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-18, broadening the definition of caregiver, expanding qualifying conditions to include lupus and an opioid-alternative catch-all, and removing several 'severe or end stage' disease qualifiers.
From the bill
“An adult who is designated by a patient as being an individual authorized to provide assistance, and who is willing to provide such assistance, with purchasing, possessing, and administering medical cannabis or products for such patient's use”
“Any other condition, disease, disorder, or syndrome for which: (i) An opioid has been or could be prescribed pursuant to generally accepted medical practice”
Status timeline
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- David Clark (R, HD-100)
- William Werkheiser (R, HD-157)
- Brian Prince (D, HD-132)
- Karen Mathiak (R, HD-082)
- Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-004)
- Alan Powell (R, HD-033)
Topics
- medical cannabis
- drug possession penalties
- Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission
- patient registry conditions
- cannabis licensing