Comité Regulated Industries de la Cámara de Representantes, 9 de febrero de 2026

Transcripción

610 turnos. Seleccione un tiempo para reproducir ese momento del video.

1. 0:10:15

   I want to welcome every- Hello? Yeah, there you go. I want to welcome everybody to the House Regulated Industry- Industries Committee. Uh, we've got a few bills on the agenda today, and we do have a quorum. Yeah. Um, we've got one bill that's unfinished from the last meeting that, uh, action was suspended,

2. 0:10:45

   and that would be House Bill 504, and that house is back on the, uh, calendar for discussion. To the committee members, if y'all remember, this bill was amended, um, and the, one of the members, and I don't see him here, but he wanted to do another amendment and he didn't have it prepared.

3. 0:11:13

   And I don't see him.

4. 0:11:15

   Well, Palace, but Derrick McCollum is ... The amendment is in that substitute.

5. 0:11:19

   I know. Yes, ma'am. All right.

6. 0:11:24

   All right. Well, Chairman Martin wanted to amend it, and he's not here. So we have had discussion in the posture of this bill, and you should be working off LC 560567S, and this was the bill that was amended with Representative McCollum's language with that one last amendment. And is any of the members, are they prepared to submit Chairman Martin's amendment? Did he give that to any of y'all?

7. 0:11:56

   I, I do have a copy.

8. 0:11:59

   Of his amendment? Pass 'em out.

9. 0:12:06

   In all fairness to the, to the member.

10. 0:12:17

    Here

11. 0:12:30

    we go.

12. 0:12:31

    5067. Thank you.

13. 0:12:34

    You're welcome.

14. 0:12:36

    Thank you. There's a couple.

15. 0:12:49

    All right. And apparently, Chairman Martin is submitting this as a substitute.

16. 0:13:14

    In all fairness to Representative Mar- uh, Chairman Martin, it takes a member to submit a substitute,

17. 0:13:25

    and that action is now open to the members. If anybody wants to handle this for him, if they can figure out what his substitute was and the changes he made. Did he talk to anyone, ask anyone to submit it for him? Well, it takes a member to submit a, an amendment.

18. 0:13:47

    If not, what's the will of the committee?

19. 0:13:50

    Motion to pass.

20. 0:13:52

    We have a motion do pass. Now, any further discussion, any substitutes? Representative Jenkins, did I see your hand?

21. 0:14:02

    Second the motion.

22. 0:14:03

    We have a motion and a second.

23. 0:14:08

    And out of an abundance of precaution, we have given Chairman Martin ...

24. 0:14:14

    Oh, we have a question down there.

25. 0:14:15

    Yeah, I, I was just gonna-

26. 0:14:16

    Chairman Martin

27. 0:14:16

    ... at the proper time, add the ... I guess we have to accept the substitute, or are we making a motion as substituted, this LC?

28. 0:14:24

    The motion that you're dealing with right now is, um-

29. 0:14:29

    This is the original. This is Chair Martin's

30. 0:14:31

    ... is LC 560567S.

31. 0:14:35

    S.

32. 0:14:35

    That was a bill as perfected in the last meeting before it was suspension.

33. 0:14:40

    Sounds good.

34. 0:14:40

    So we do not-

35. 0:14:40

    I was just making sure we didn't have to accept the amended version of that

36. 0:14:43

    ... we do not have to accept it. So somebody is, some member of this committee has got to make the motion on that substitute, and if there's no one that's making that motion, we have a motion and a second. Now, further discussion, and this would th- be the time if anybody wants to submit that subst- substitute.

37. 0:15:05

    If not, we have a motion and a second on HB 504, LC 560567S. If not, all in favor say aye.

38. 0:15:15

    Aye.

39. 0:15:15

    Opposed? And the ayes have it. Someone be kind enough to let Representative Martin or Chairman Martin know. You mind calling him? All right.

40. 0:15:37

    All right. We have a couple of, uh, bills, then we're gonna have one or two that might have a little discussion. Um, Representative Chastain, are you here?

41. 0:15:49

    Yes, sir.

42. 0:15:49

    I think, I think yours should be a rather brief bill. It's been through subcommittee.

43. 0:15:54

    Yes, sir.

44. 0:15:54

    Uh, House Bill 1086. This is your Firefighters'-

45. 0:16:01

    Yes, sir

46. 0:16:01

    ... Safety Act.

47. 0:16:05

    Does that make me be brief?

48. 0:16:07

    That means the briefer you are, you get extra points from this chair.

49. 0:16:10

    All right. We'll be, we'll be brief, Mr. Chairman. We were here on, on Friday and presented before the subcommittee, and I'll go over that real quickly. I do have a good friend of mine with me today, um- retired battalion chief down in Florida for over 30 years, retired up in Blue Ridge. And, uh, Mr. Lee Hollins, and he was, he's been responsible for a lot of fire legislation all across the country. But he retired up in Blue Ridge and, and brought this legislation to us in our fire department there. So I'm gl- just acknowledge that Lee's with us-

50. 0:16:38

    Welcome, chief

51. 0:16:39

    ... here today. Thank you for your time. And this would be the same bill as we talked about on Friday, LC63-0086, uh, Fire Safety Bill. Um, this legislation will protect Georgia firefighters from, from injury and death. Uh, it's a, it's a fairly simple bill. It requires a simple, uh, very low-cost signage. We've got a picture of one here, and I passed some out. It won't be that big. That's a 12-inch. We're, I think, we've talked to the, to the fire marshal and the fire safety about an eight, 8-inch, uh, sign that would go there.

52. 0:17:13

    Um, and these systems would be known for, to, to display for early f- uh, fire failure. And these real light gauge steel and the lighter gauge trusses are what we're talking about. The, the ab- the, like the ones, they're, they're good trusses. They're engineered for, um... They don't bow. They don't crack. They don't twist. Uh, if you ever walked across the floor where it, where it squeaks, uh, these were built for that, so they're good trusses. They just fail really fast under, under, under high heat and, and fire.

53. 0:17:43

    And this bill, uh, the gist of the bill says we'd like to put one of these, uh, emblems up where the fire marshal and the fire safety folks suggest. There's, there's probably two or three different places for that. But, uh, for the firefighters and first responders to know that these type of commercial buildings have these, these lighter gauge trusses in there just because, you know, we've had fire deaths all across the country, um, under the, under, under these failures. And, and you would think it's more roof, but it's, it's a lot more in the, in the floors, in the floor trusses when they, when they go, when they, under the fire, they, they, they'll give way quicker.

54. 0:18:19

    And that's really what this bill says, Mr. Chairman. Um, we'll be glad to take any questions.

55. 0:18:25

    All right.

56. 0:18:25

    We are, we are naming this bill in honor of two, uh, really great firefighters in Georgia, um, Preston Fant, uh, who passed away in a fire just back in September of last year in DeKalb County, and, uh, Brent Chesney, who was a, a former Forsyth County firefighter that, that some folks on the committee know really well and, and both highly decorated firemen that we're gonna try to name in honor of this, in this bill.

57. 0:18:51

    Very good. All right. Questions? Representative Williams.

58. 0:18:56

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, two questions. The first one is the sign that you have is gonna be posted. That size looks pretty ample. You know, we're talking about a couple, three story building. H- h- has it, Chief, have you had any problems with seeing the 8-inch as opposed to the 12-inch, which to me does a little better job of letting you know?

59. 0:19:22

    Uh, no. The, uh, this, this bill is, uh, being designed, uh, after one that was passed in Florida that I was involved with, and those are 8-inch. And we haven't had any problems with, uh, firefighters identifying those. The state fire marshal would, would, uh, in Georgia, would decide, uh, what the emblem looks like, how big it is-

60. 0:19:42

    Okay

61. 0:19:42

    ... and so forth, but, um, and where it will be placed.

62. 0:19:45

    Mm-hmm.

63. 0:19:46

    And, uh, but no, there, there hasn't been any issues with that, um, as far as, uh, firefighters identifying this building has lightweight components because it's only 8-inch. I've-

64. 0:19:57

    Mm-hmm. Okay. I think that's it, Mr. Chairman.

65. 0:20:00

    Nothing else. All right. Chairman McDonald.

66. 0:20:05

    Uh, two things. Um, at the proper time I'd like to make the motion, but secondly, um, I was honored to be the second signer on the bill. And to answer, uh, Representative Williams, the, the state fire marshal, they don't, they did not want us to put any of that in, in language because they're gonna, as they go around the state, talk to people, they wanna see, they wanna have it in their rules on what, what their size is gonna be and what the design's gonna be. They did not want it to, to be designed in the language. So w- that I think the author of the bill honored them to let them do that within their office-

67. 0:20:37

    Yes

68. 0:20:37

    ... rather than in legislation.

69. 0:20:39

    Yes.

70. 0:20:40

    All right. Further questions? Any questions from any of the committee members? All right. What's the will of the committee? I think we've already had a, a, a motion. We have a second. We have a second. Any further discussion? Any amendments? If not, all in favor say aye.

71. 0:21:01

    Aye.

72. 0:21:02

    Opposed? And the ayes have it.

73. 0:21:04

    Thank you.

74. 0:21:04

    You're gone, you're gone to rules, and-

75. 0:21:05

    Thank you

76. 0:21:06

    ... if you'll wait for-

77. 0:21:07

    Thank you for your time

78. 0:21:08

    ... I could probably sign your, uh, voucher to get to rules.

79. 0:21:11

    Johnny, you oughta bring the chief with you. The look that was on his face, I didn't wanna vote no.

80. 0:21:18

    I'll do that. Thank you.

81. 0:21:27

    All right. We have in front of us Senate Bill 220.

82. 0:21:33

    Dr. Newton, if you would come up. This was a bill that, uh, had been authored by Senator Brass, that basically we're scrapping that bill. Dr. Newton is gonna be working from a lot of work from this past, uh, interim on the study committee on medical cannabis.

83. 0:21:54

    All right.

84. 0:21:54

    Is that a good preview for you?

85. 0:21:55

    That's a, well, except for the scrapping part. I never scrap the Senate rules chairman's bills. I, I res- respectfully, uh, offer-

86. 0:22:02

    Well, you're, when you're up here 36 years

87. 0:22:03

    ... a potential substitute for this committee's consideration.

88. 0:22:06

    When you're up here 36 years, you can show that level of respect to him, and-

89. 0:22:10

    I'll, I'll, I'm gonna write it down and remember that. Thank you, sir. And thank you for the opportunity to, uh, to be with you all. I do wanna just, uh, if, just real briefly, we did have several members of this committee who served with me on the speaker's blue ribbon study committee. Representative Al Williams- Representative Smith, Chairman Powell, um, Jordan Ridley. Is he on this committee? Maybe not. Um, so we did have a, we did have good representation, uh, from across this committee, but also many others. We have, uh, Dr. Robin Fowler, who's a citizen, uh, member of that committee, and Wesley Dunn, uh, both with a lot of years of experience in this area.

90. 0:22:47

    Our s- Blue Ribbon Committee, the speaker asked us really to look at two things. He look- asked us to, um, um, to look at hemp-based THC, as that was, uh, proliferating from the 2018 Farm Bill and, and the efforts we were gonna make to, uh, to figure out how do we make sure that's regulated in comparison somewhat to the medical cannabis program in Georgia, which was established over 10 years ago, uh, which is a lot more along the lines of a pharmaceutical grade. So we did look at that. There was not a request for a formal report, but the committee did come up with some, some general guidelines that are informed in this substitute.

91. 0:23:23

    I'm, I'm working off of LC339865S, is the version, version that I'm working with. During that Blue Ribbon Study Committee, we did hear from the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, um, uh, that is the group that is, is, uh, working with the licensees and the distri- dispensaries and the other ways to get medical cannabis, uh, to people. We did hear from, uh, they did a some statewide hearings that they informed us about, listening tour, talked to patients, dispensaries, and, and distributors in, in the industry. We heard from sheriffs and DAs, um, uh, from, from all sides of this.

92. 0:23:57

    We heard from highly respected individuals and groups who've, uh, examined a lot of the research. Everybody knows that in the background that, that cannabis or THC is a Schedule 1 drug. It's in the process potentially of being moved to Schedule 3, which would allow some research in the United States. But up till now, there's been minimal high-quality research, randomized control trials, things like that, uh, certainly in the United States. I will tell you that these, the, the decisions and the recommendations that are informed in this substitute for SB 220 are informed really about two things.

93. 0:24:30

    One is compassion. A lot of the, over the last 10 years and, and from the very beginning, some illnesses, whether it's seizures, severe cancer, MS, uh, Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS, different things like that, a lot of them medicine doesn't have an answer for. But we do have compassion, and there's a certain amount to where we thought maybe with MS or some other things that maybe, uh, uh, there was a way we can make lives better or at least offer options when medical care is not clear or that the potential for chronic pain, for example, some of the, the medicines are worse than the disease in certain cases when it comes to opioid addiction and problems like that.

94. 0:25:09

    So that, that's basically a- an important part of this. But so it's balanced with both compassion, but at the same time, science. We wanna make sure that if, if this substance, THC, is the active ingredient in most medical cannabis, but there's a lot of other active ingredients, but that's the main one that causes, uh, uh, some questions regarding, uh, um, uh, mood altering or, uh, uh, euphoria, whatever kind of conditions. We wanted to make sure the addictive potential was minimized.

95. 0:25:41

    So that's, uh, that's what's informed, uh, House Bill, I'm sorry, Senate Bill 220 and, and the potential House substitute. Um, I will contrast it briefly with THC that is derived from hemp, from the Farm Bill, much less regulated than the pharmaceutical grade, uh, production that we have here under strict regulations over the last five years. Um, it's, it's nearly unregulated in a lot of ways. There's so many problems and challenges with the vapes and gummies of questionable origin for potency, uh, consistency between one dose and the next.

96. 0:26:14

    Nothing like what we expect and require out of our medical cannabis. So we did split those. The feds have now taken on the, probably more appropriately, what is the role of the 2018 Farm Bill and THC that's derived from hemp. And so we've set that aside, and that's not involved in SB 220 at all. Um, that's the stuff sold in convenience stores and vape shops, um, gas stations, things like that. Um, you know, there's questions also about heavy metal con- con- contaminants in some of those vapes that were produced overseas.

97. 0:26:46

    So i- I think even when the Department of Ag investigated, it was right at 50% that were non-compliant of the ones that were able to investigate, and the, the, the stores prolifer- proliferated much quicker than anybody could imagine. So that's set aside. We're just dealing with medical cannabis, highly f- highly regulated pharmaceutical-grade production type distribution and dispensaries and all that are, that have been in our law for over 10 years. So if you don't mind, I can, we do have a, a little, a little booklet that kind of explains. I'll just briefly give you the top five goals that we have, um, on the, the changes that we're recommending for a House substitute to SB 220.

98. 0:27:25

    And number one is expanding what I call the delivery methods. I deal with a lot of medications and, and, and anywhere in medicine, some are injectable, some are inhalable. Um, we've, we've got, um, Narcan and epi- ep- epinephrine that no longer is an injection, but it's available through a, a nasal form. So we have l- liquids, capsules, tablets, sometimes injectables. And, uh, so we wanted to make sure that in, in the 10 years that's passed since we first started allowing low-THC oil, one version of, of medical cannabis, that the different delivery methods would be available if those have seemed to be better for people, especially those, like I mentioned, with the conditions that we have such compassion for offering alternatives when, when we're still right now in the absence of high-quality research to tell us it works or it doesn't.

99. 0:28:16

    Um, so that's expanding the product forms, expanding the qualifying conditions. We do that in some of these end-stage, and the word end-stage or the word severe might not have been appropriate. In some cases, it is, it is. We don't want a disease that has a very, um, that, that recently has gotten very good cures or, uh, uh, A way to handle it like we do diabetes that's very well controlled. We don't, we wouldn't want, um, people to go to this as their first line or them to be misled by what something they might read on the internet or you see on YouTube.

100. 0:28:49

     We wanted to make sure that w- when we did qualifying conditions, that we gave careful consideration to whether medicine was able to meet the need or not. And some of them that, that we determined the term severe and end stage were not necessarily the best. Um, for example, in multiple sclerosis, there's some individuals with spasm problems, Parkinson's as well, and you'd rather take it while you're still functional. You don't wanna wait until you get really bad and then allow somebody an option. I will preface some of this by something that's clear in the rest of medicine, is that for any particular condition, there may be a medication and, and the hundred, you know, of all the patients that may have it, a third of them it may help a lot, a third of them it may help some, and a third of them it causes either allergic reaction or untoward side effects.

101. 0:29:38

     That's the case... I know I have a son in obstetrics, OBGYN, and that's the case with female hormone therapy, that some people's symptoms are not a problem, some are really a problem, some have risk for blood clots. We, we trust doctors to look at those medications and under the, under the care of a physician, a medical provider, to t- to take a medication. And if you, and we don't know who's gonna be in each of those thirds. Uh, some it makes life wonderful, some are 50-50, and some it makes their life worse.

102. 0:30:08

     We wanna make sure that as long as this, unlike hemp-based THC, if this is under the direction of a physician, which all medical cannabis in Georgia is, we wanna make sure that you've got somebody who's warned you about, um, the potential side effects. You have their number, you can contact them if you start to have some of those, and the physician, your physician will be able to tell you, "No, let's try something different." If it makes your paranoia worse with PTSD, we wanna make sure somebody's been warned that that could be a problem. If you've seen any antidepressive commercials, antidepressant medicine commercials, they'll say, you know, "Some of these, in some people, increase the risk of suicide." So they, they tell you, the warning on television will tell your doctor if you have suicidal thoughts or something like that.

103. 0:30:53

     What we, what we like about the medical cannabis program as opposed to hemp-based THC is that e- everyone in Georgia is under a Georgia licensed medical provider. So expanding the qualifying conditions, improving patient access, this is just looking at things across the state. We have a very diverse state and, and a diversity of, of access to healthcare in general, um, metro areas, rural areas, in between, so we wanna make sure... So some of the things we did in improving patient access. So expanding product forms, expanding qualifying conditions or clarifying them, improving patient access, expanding dispensary access, that has to do with some of the 1,000-foot setbacks.

104. 0:31:31

     And finally, strengthening transparency and oversight, um, on how we wanna make sure that the, the message is communicated to both the registered patients, to the medical providers who may wanna choose this. Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, I can go through the, the bill pretty quickly with the booklet that everyone has, and make sure s- to see if there's any questions at, at some point, or I'll, I'll go on through it. I will tell you one of the biggest things, our program used to be called, or I'm sorry, it's currently called low-THC oil. There's one, um, there's one delivery method, if you will, that's allowed, and that's 5% oil.

105. 0:32:06

     Um, w- we have chosen to look at this more like almost every other medication I and any healthcare provider deal with, and that's in milligrams. That's how things are, whether an antibiotic comes in a liquid or an injection or a, or a pill or a capsule, uh, it, all of them, what we're looking at is how do we get, uh, the milligrams. And so the, what this bill proposes doing is, number one, changing low-THC oil to the, to medical cannabis, which is the real, the accurate name of what we're offering to the public. We have been offering it, but this is, this makes clar- a little more clarity.

106. 0:32:39

     And by not just specifying oil, it specifies that you can deliver a certain number of milligrams, um, in a much more effective way, sometimes through a capsule or through an inhalation that's much more reliable. Um, I will tell you, for example, some individuals who under, under the current oil doctors who recommend medical can- I'm sorry, low-THC oil, they will tell somebody, "Well, give three rice-sized drops three times a day, or two black eyed pea dr- sized drops." It's, you know, droppers can be more accurate, but the whole delivery method is not as medical as we'd like it.

107. 0:33:15

     We'd like to know how many milligrams do you want me to take? How, how often? What is a, what is a, a risk of overdose and untoward side effects? What is an appropriate range? As we get more into the medical science, we start to do research with different levels of dosage. We think that milligrams of, of substance make much more sense. So we've gotten away from the 5% oil. Um, I will tell you the current, the current guideline, uh, if we look, um,

108. 0:33:46

     um, on, uh, well line 66 through 68 are the ones that deal with changing the wording throughout code from low-THC oil to medical cannabis. So that's kind of one of the... It's just, it's really nomenclature, but I think it's also an accuracy and it, and it reflects the, the medical nature. Um, when we, um, if we go on, on page, uh, there's some things that aren't included, and that would be any hemp-based products if you look on line 87. Um, and if we can, um, turn on over to lines, uh, 111 through 113, that's an important...

109. 0:34:26

     You know, we wanted to make sure we had a, a limit like at the current bill. Our current policy in Georgia limits you to 21-ounce containers of, uh, of 5% oil. If you do the math For our math, uh, or, uh, chemistry geniuses, that's about 28,000 milligrams of THC that's currently allowed in Georgia. We've proposed lowering that, and there's n- been no known opposition, lowering that to 12,000 milligrams, which would be a maximum of 1,200 milligrams in any one package and no more than 10 of those.

110. 0:35:00

     So that's what you see on line 113. It's actually less than half of the previous limit. But we've checked, and even at some of the highest doses for end-stage cancer, that's far more than a month's worth, um, times several months really, um, at the highest doses anybody regularly uses. Um, if we turn on over to, uh... If you don't mind, if you can turn over, um, to line 211, that's where we describe the 1,200 milligram limit.

111. 0:35:33

     Um, and once again, like I say, we, we have reduced by over half the, the maximum amount that someone can have in their possession, we think, without any harm in, in the ability of patients to have access to what they need or what their doctor has recommended. Um, we do on line 219 continue to avoid, um, any food products infused, cookies, candies, things like that. This is, you know, once again, that's one of our child-safe provisions.

112. 0:36:05

     Um, the, uh...

113. 0:36:20

     If we look on... I'm sorry. Um, on the la- in the language that we wanna talk about, about where can these be located as they're looking at those one, like I say, 1,000-foot circles around every... Or I'm sorry, 1,000-foot radius, a 2,000-diam- foot diameter circle around every church, whether it's a storefront or a church building, every school or, or any subset of a school. Um, it was determined that perhaps the, the best thing that was more workable was to use the same kinda guidelines against liquor stores that are pretty prevalent in almost every county.

114. 0:36:57

     They have guidelines. So what, what the bill does on, uh, lines 309 is make sure that we hold it under the same standards, you know, as far as the protection. You don't want it across the street or next door to a school or to a church. But in, most communities already have something well thought out that makes sense in their town for where distilled spirits or liquor stores would be. And so that's what that section does in 308 through th- through 312. Um, if you do look on, uh, on lines 323 and following, there's some language there to where we do expand slightly w- the, uh, the ability of, um, marketing.

115. 0:37:41

     I mean, it's not really marketing, it's really infor- public information, but it's really just two main groups, people who are already registered, so they need to know about what the options are for different, uh, types of medication that might be available, if THC-related or cannabis-related medication. They might need to know different delivery forms that might be better for one person than another. Um, and, uh, so we want the registered patients to understand, and, and then we want medical providers. Many don't know, with the name low-THC oil, they don't know that we have a medical cannabis program in Georgia and have had one for over 10 years, a compassionate medical cannabis program.

116. 0:38:19

     And so these are, um, those are, uh, the guidelines that we think is appropriate.

117. 0:38:28

     Which one did you say?

118. 0:38:29

     Uh, line, uh, 322 and following.

119. 0:38:33

     Okay.

120. 0:38:34

     And it, and it prohibits any medical claim unless there's scientific evidence. And, and this, once again, this is, this is, uh, providing information about medical cannabis directly to physicians and healthcare providers or to registered patients. So that's where you, you should not be seeing this on social media or on billboards in certain areas or whatever. It, it, it is, uh, still applying more. Frankly, we're seeming sometimes to be moving away from public advertising of prescription drugs.

121. 0:39:04

     At least there's been some effort to look into doing that nationally just because of the potential for confusion and maybe going back to the area where you, you, um... But that's still a work in progress on whether we're gonna keep seeing the drug ads that we do. But we shouldn't be seeing those. These should be related to, uh, getting the information to the patients who are on the registry or the, um, or the people who are taking care of them or, or will consider using this medicine as we, once again, as we get it a little more tightly than, like I said, two, two, um, black eyed pea size drops is not the kind of something, not the kind of dosing recommendation that many doctors are comfortable with.

122. 0:39:43

     But taking 10 milligram, or two milligrams at bedtime is something they might, or five milligrams at bedtime for in severe insomnia or something is something doctors might be, uh, more comfortable with. Um, i- if you go on over, we do, um, um, on line 400, 401 and b- and following, line 401, so we do both continue and even reiterate that n- no, uh, it's unlawful to smoke or any kind of combustion of medical cannabis products.

123. 0:40:18

     So nobody, there is no smoking of marijuana. There's no growing your own. There's no em- bringing it or buying it from someone and smoking it. There's no li- we've-- That's a very uncertain way to deliver a dose of medicine if we're still looking at this as medication, which we are in, in this bill. Um, vaporization, however, is a lot more, it's, it's, it's, um, it's better. It's much easier to deliver a certain amount per inhalation, um- that is, that is more appropriate and sometimes there is a quicker uptake.

124. 0:40:51

     Now there's, there was mixed, mixed discussion on whether quicker uptake is a good thing. In general, in some medications like opiates, we don't like quick uptake most of the time, um, because that can increase the risk of dependence or addiction. But at the same time, there are some conditions, and I can tell you, I give IV fentanyl regularly in the emergency department if your hip's out of place or you- your child has a badly broken arm or, or leg. So there is a place for it. It's just, uh, we're not gonna allow smoking.

125. 0:41:22

     We do allow vaporization, which is a subcombustion level, below that level to deliver in a vaporization manner. But it can't be done in any public place and only if you're over 21. So we don't want this out on the streets. We don't want somebody using a vape in a, um, in a bar near you or, um, an outdoor seating area or anything, even where smoking might be al- tobacco smoking might be allowed. We wanna make sure that, that we are still looking at this as medication and not recreational use.

126. 0:41:53

     And this is a medication that's real easy to be used, not in a public place, uh, and only, only by those over 21. So that's what lines 400 through 416 address. Um, we do have some, uh, uh, clarifications in lines 428 and following, uh, uh, really just make it, make it clear. There are some products the FDA has approved, uh, cannabinoids or THC-based ones that, uh, Epidiolex and some others.

127. 0:42:25

     So we did have to change some language that used to say, um, that, that you need to, to put in every dispensary needs to say that these are not FDA approved and have never been researched, because it's not true anymore. 10 years ago it may have been more true, but today there are some FDA-approved, not, not the ones that we're making in our dis- our, our facilities and dispensaries, but, but the, the line was not particularly clear. Um, we do have some caregiver information starting in line 460.

128. 0:42:59

     And, and once again, there are stages of these conditions that, and in particular, ones that do get severe, severe, where you do need a caregiver to have a, a capacity to help take care of you. Um, so we do make that clear in lines 458 through 450- 468, four- I'm sorry, 466, um, who can provide assistance with purchasing and, and it's legal for them to possess this otherwise illegal, um, cannabis product. But it allows them to possess the product under the restrictions, a caregiver.

129. 0:43:34

     So that's important, we believe. Um,

130. 0:43:40

     the, um, we did change a couple, like, uh, that used to say severe amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is Lou Gehrig's disease. It's incurable and it's, um, we, we took out the s- the severe end stage with regard to that one. Um, we did change on line 478, we changed Crohn's disease to inflammatory bowel disease. Down in line 494, we do have lupus as a condition that, that we, uh, we think it fits that earlier discussion of cannab- I'm, I'm sorry, of, uh, compassionate cannabis use or, or, or off- offer of that.

131. 0:44:18

     We're not saying it cures something. We're just saying if your doctor believes it could help you, um, Georgia won't say it's illegal for them to try. We did add, too, that we're a little bit informed in 495 and 496 at, at some of our r- recommendation, including me, that, um, that there are a number of people, while there's been a lot of negative on hemp-based THC and it's unregulated and, um, um, really, uh, not meeting the consistency or potency or contaminant requirements that are carefully screened for in our medical cannabis, we did learn some people were using it for insomnia.

132. 0:44:55

     If you look at Ambien and opiates and even, even diphenhydramine in, in over-the-counter medicines, there's some that just don't react well with people. And there's a number of people that found when we lowered the bar on w- what you, when you could try THC had, had some significant relief from severe insomnia problems. So we elected to add that. And one of the conditions that affects a lot of Georgians is severe arthritis. Um, there are some, in addition to intake, there are some creams and balms and things like that, that I believe, that have been shown in some people.

133. 0:45:27

     Once again, we got that whole group, a third of them it might not help or make it worse and, but some it actually helps. And if it helps their severe arthritis and helps them either stay at work or, or continue, we wanted to offer that as a, as a suggestion for this committee's consideration to add those two in addition to lupus that was added in the Senate bill. Um, let's see. Uh, we do have a very crucial addition on, um,

134. 0:45:59

     um, line 500, 504 and 505. It's in the definition of a physician with regard to this section of code, and, uh, it, it was really to answer a, a challenge that had been brought up, um, by, really informed by that same dis- that same 100% of the patients I've mentioned a couple of times, is you need a doctor to be as- accessible to you and, and out-of-state doctors on telemedicine frankly are not. And if you happen to be in a group that's subject, and it turns out your, your family member or your, uh, constituent is in the one with bad side effects and you can't get to that doctor or get ahold of his, his or her practice, then, um, we don't think that's doing you the justice that the patient deserves.

135. 0:46:49

     So we include that the principal place of practice is located in Georgia. Um, once again, remember earlier, we are expanding the ability of, of both the Cannabis Commission and the licensees to inform healthcare providers about this program. And once again, I expect that to get more robust as soon as it goes federally from a Class 1 to a Class 3. And we should have, for Valley State and Georgia, which we're in the agricultural arena, who can start using this and testing it without worrying about and jeopardizing their federal funding for everything else they get.

136. 0:47:22

     So that is just one of the things we wanted to make sure of, is that these are providers who not only are treating you and, and know you, but are accessible to you. In particular, if, if you need your dosage adjusted or if you, up or down, or if you're having a question about whether your side effects could be related to your cannabis, we want your doctor to be accessible to you. Um,

137. 0:47:47

     I believe the, the rest of the language really has to do with how DPH delivers the cards. Um, we have tried to... You know, originally, this was under the Medical Board. We did move it more appropriately to the Department of Public Health several years ago. Um, we still keep the five-year card. We do recommend on, um, line 540 that the department can issue a, will issue a, an electronic card or both a- as the patient applies for the, the certification that they have one of the approved conditions.

138. 0:48:23

     If you look up on 534, um, the five years is, is still in effect. The j- card is good for five years, but there's no need to do an annual renewal if you have one of the conditions that, um, is irreversible or incurable. Um, ALS, as I mentioned earlier, or metastatic cancer, the, the, some of these, um, we, we deemed that it was not in the patient's best interest or the department's to try to require annual recertifications for a condition, uh, that will likely never change.

139. 0:49:00

     So that's, um... And, um,

140. 0:49:08

     I believe that, that answers, um, that answers a large part of what informed the, your, your special committee that the speaker assigned, um, the study committee, a lot of the information that we've gotten. It, it, it, that addresses that effort, um, to, um, to, to, to take care of each of those areas, those five areas I mentioned, to expand the product forms, to, to clarify the qualifying conditions, to make sure that patients through their card and the DPH process would have access, to make sure that that access, the other side of that access is where the dispensaries are, and then making sure the oversight and transparency are both tightened up by the fact that your doctor needs to be not just licensed in Georgia, but actually have a practice in Georgia.

141. 0:49:51

     Um, we think all those things can work together to where it balances the, the need for this medication, the res- the, the results, the f- the, um, r- r- relief that many patients have gotten from this medication for these very difficult conditions, but balances that with science as well. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. Glad to answer any questions.

142. 0:50:11

     All right.

143. 0:50:12

     Sorry for that.

144. 0:50:13

     Well, I wanna thank you, good doctor.

145. 0:50:13

     I don't think I did the brevity too well, but-

146. 0:50:15

     Well-

147. 0:50:15

     ... I know it's an important bill that this committee-

148. 0:50:17

     Well, I wanna thank-

149. 0:50:17

     ... has spent a lot of time on.

150. 0:50:19

     I wanna thank you, good doctor, for all your hard work on this. Uh, yeah, this was, uh, basically deemed the public policy of the state and the legislature some, I don't know, six or seven-

151. 0:50:30

     2015

152. 0:50:30

     ... six or seven years ago. And if it hadn't been for the children that needed this cannabis where medicines didn't work, and the parents had brought them forward, it never would've got over the hump then. But I still tell people, I remember probably one of the most joyous, uh, ovations that I'd ever seen was when the House passed the original cannabis bill and turned to the, uh, balcony, to all of those children-

153. 0:50:59

     Oh, yeah

154. 0:50:59

     ... that it was a m- a medical necessity. And since then, it's kinda dragged us way along. I mean, you know, we've-

155. 0:51:06

     That's what this bill is, uh, I believe, an attempt to take care of.

156. 0:51:09

     And I think now, and, uh, to the naysayers to this, I would say you n- need to take a good look. It's been cleaned up. It's been cleansed. We're moving forward with the progress. Or as I have told people, we're talking about medical cannabis. We're not talking about recreational. We're talking about something that helps. And I'm very noted for my opinion about medications. You know, the stuff that's made in the pharmacy, to me, are way more dangerous than something that God puts natural on this earth.

157. 0:51:39

     And that's my statement. I'm sticking to it.

158. 0:51:41

     You can- You, you can combine the two. You can provide natural products-

159. 0:51:44

     But it is also-

160. 0:51:45

     ... and you can make them in a pharmaceutical-grade, quality-

161. 0:51:47

     But-

162. 0:51:48

     ... clean location

163. 0:51:49

     ... but even on the federal level, probably the most inefficient form of government there is, they have now moved, uh, cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, basically misdemeanor-type offenses. So that being said, I appreciate what you've done in here. And you do have a number of, uh, questions. Chairman Carpenter, I think you've been up there for a while.

164. 0:52:13

     Thank you so much, Chairman. So yeah, I, I know last time we were in this room, we talked about, there was conversations about the potency of the product. In this legislation, I don't see touches that. Is there thoughts on that?

165. 0:52:26

     Well, once again, what we wanted to do in looking this from a medical viewpoint is, is not 5% or 25% or, or 17% or 50. It's really how many milligrams are being delivered. That's the way we do it with medical. And, and there'll be different concentrations depending on the, on the, um-

166. 0:52:45

     Oh

167. 0:52:45

     ... delivery method. So we really have just changed really completely from that original effort at 5% oil, but kind of a single pathway, um, to really it's the milligrams that matter. And that's the way it is in every, whether it's a, um, a teaspoon of a liquid or a small capsule.

168. 0:53:06

     Sure.

169. 0:53:06

     The percent in one might be different to deliver 500 milligrams of Rocephin, but the, um, or amoxicillin, but, um, the milligrams are what really matter, not whether it's five cc's of liquid or a capsule.

170. 0:53:22

     Sure, sure. Yeah, I mean, and I understand that argument. I just, I, I, I-

171. 0:53:25

     So we're silent on that.

172. 0:53:26

     I'm just trying to, yeah, I was just trying to see what's the... I know I've heard that the, the, the actual flower itself currently is around 30% potency. I think that's the conversation we had. I just, that's my only real heartburn is the conversation of if we're going to that 1,200, uh, or 12,000 milligrams, at what, at what potency? You see what I'm saying? 'Cause just, you know, 'cause on the street there's stuff you can cook, they cook it down and it, the potency's off the charts, and it might not be this big, but it'll, it'll cook you.

173. 0:53:57

     Mm.

174. 0:53:57

     So, um, I mean, that's the reality.

175. 0:53:59

     Yeah.

176. 0:53:59

     I mean, it's serious. Um, so that, that's my only concern is that I don't see anything that touches that at all. Um, and I don't know what the industry at, you know, if there's some industry standards, that would be great for us to know.

177. 0:54:13

     Um, once again, looking at this from a, um, a, a medical point of view, it's, it really does boil down to the, um, the milligrams that are delivered to the patient. And a 1,200 milligram package maximum is kind of, is, is the, the base of this bill as well. Um, many people may, for a lot of these conditions may take 20 to 40 milligrams a day, 20 milligrams twice a day. Um, that's not unusual dose that, uh, uh, for different conditions.

178. 0:54:48

     Well, that's 1,200 milligrams will last you a month at, at that. So it's a, um, there is a maximum. Obviously we had to put a maximum somewhere it could be in your possession, but that's a, typically one of these packages will last many people a month, sometimes two of the packages that... But it, it really is, it, a, a little chopped up pieces of, of, of, of a plant material weigh a lot less than a, a dropper full of oil. So one can have less or more milligrams, and even though it, it's really the amount of milligrams of THC that are delivered is what this bill encompasses.

179. 0:55:29

     Very good. Representative McCollum.

180. 0:55:34

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I don't have a question. I just wanted to thank you for this bill. Um, the, for my brother and sister veterans that have PTSD, this is absolutely a huge, um, and as well as arthritis from being in the military, it's a big deal, too. So, uh, thank you for this. And then also I wanted to thank you for making it. It's, it's, to, to be limited to their home, it's not out in public and all that. So thank you for that. That's the two things I wanted to say.

181. 0:56:03

     Thank you for that. Those were important to the-

182. 0:56:04

     Thank you

183. 0:56:05

     ... committee as we studied it as well. Thank you.

184. 0:56:08

     Well, let's see where we are. Grandpa Williams.

185. 0:56:14

     Yes, sir.

186. 0:56:15

     Thank you, Daddy. Uh, Mr. Chairman.

187. 0:56:20

     My senior.

188. 0:56:24

     Um, I did want to say and thank you, thank you, Representative, for chairing the committee. It was one of the best committees I've served on. I thought you heard everybody. It was, it was very fair, very in-depth. I know a whole lot more about this stuff than I ever thought I would. And two members that are sitting out in the audience, Dr. Robin, oh, it's good to see you, and, uh, Wesley Nunn, Nunn. Uh, their input was invaluable during the entire...

189. 0:56:58

     I thought about what the chairman was saying 10 years ago. I was in the legislature when those young people came and Governor Deal introduced them, and one young lady was experiencing about 100 seizures a day prior to this. And when I came to legislature 23 years ago, if you'd have said that medical marijuana or medical hemp or any of that would've been around, I'd tell you're crazy.

190. 0:57:28

     You're talking about a whole new generation before that comes to Georgia. Whole lot of people have been helped. Couldn't help but think about a person, raised as my brother, who was a first cousin. Last 35 years of his life, he suffered from severe arthritis from the waist down. He suffered with nothing that really helped. Some people complained about, from the potency standpoint, that it was not strong enough the way it was, that would really affect and help them.

191. 0:58:03

     I'm glad we went to the milligram because I'll be frank with you, some black eyed peas are bigger than others in South Georgia.

192. 0:58:14

     So I, I hate those. That's, uh, that's Kentucky vintage. So the milligrams, I think, moves a lot of confusion. But, uh, my, I, I had a question particularly, I think you said 1,200, but you meant 12,000. Or did you mean 1,200?

193. 0:58:32

     There are two, two restrictions.

194. 0:58:34

     Okay.

195. 0:58:34

     A package that can be sold is 1,200 milligrams maximum.

196. 0:58:37

     Okay.

197. 0:58:37

     It might be 800.

198. 0:58:38

     Okay.

199. 0:58:38

     It might be 400.

200. 0:58:39

     Okay.

201. 0:58:39

     The maximum total that you could have is really the equivalent of 10 of the packs at a maximum, so that's 12,000. Once again, current Georgia law allows 28,000 milligrams of THC under the current law. We're, we're reducing that as we look at milligrams to a more appropriate medical- Um, maximum. Mm. But I'm, I'm a little disappointed that we don't have Demuffet today- ... to testify at every one of- Oh, sorry ... our meetings. I wish- I take that- That last meeting didn't teach us much, but it certainly relieved us some.

202. 0:59:12

     But having listened to the testimony of so many people who suffered many of these illnesses, and to show, I, I think that we lose the word compassion if we don't do all we can to help them. I was disappointed when the, one of the young ladies who was really the face 10 years ago had to move to Colorado because we could not bring it up to the level that she could get the kind of relief that she desired. But this is a journey and it's, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

203. 0:59:45

     So we continue to work. But again, thank you for all of your help and all the members of the committee that meant so much to this bill. Well, thank you, sir. And, and I will say, once again, we heard from a lot. Compassion is two things, though. Compassion is when it's appropriate- Mm ... to allow it, to allow it in a safe way, in a controlled way, but it's also compassion to those that do have recognized that there are untoward side effects in certain groups of people. There are dangerous side effects in other people. Part of compassion is recognizing that both of those things can be true.

204. 1:00:18

     Mm-hmm. And by pulling it into Georgia, making it medical with milligrams, and putting some science into it with the hope that the feds are gonna let us test it more, I think we can take both sides of the compassion coin, which is be available for those with the side effects, while at the same time greatly improving the lives of those it helps. And I thank you for your work on the committee, sir. I would hope that the, the federal government would eventually eliminate prescription advertising. Well, that's the difference. I get all fired up when I see it, and then I'm scared to death when they give you the side effects.

205. 1:00:52

     And, um, there are a few that are very interesting at very late night, but thank you for your work. Yes, sir. I want to thank- And I want to thank, uh, Representative Williams. As I look across this panel in here, maybe a lot of our opinions and attitudes about this are different than some. But as far as I can tell, there's only two of us that lived through the Vietnam era that's sitting on this committee. Yeah. And we all saw, he and I both saw broken soldiers and people that came back, and it was nothing except an addictive pharmaceutical drug, maybe.

206. 1:01:33

     But we have seen the street weed that's been prevalent. And for the folks that talk about adulteration, if you don't accept what's, uh, under the medical clause, then these folks are still mandated to go into the streets to possibly buy stuff that's adulterated either with fentanyl or whatever else. Mm-hmm. And at the end of the day, I don't know anything that's more addictive than opioids- Mm ... quite frankly. This led to the rise of heroin because it's cheaper to buy heroin than it is to buy opioids for those that's been addicted.

207. 1:02:10

     Ah, enough of my soapbox. Number 27. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm ready. I got just a few questions. Um, and I've always, like, supported this, I just got a few questions I wanna clear up a little bit. So you don't have to have a p- the doctor's not gonna give you a prescription, right? That hasn't changed, correct. And he's giving you a recommendation? That's the idea. Okay. But you still gotta have a, a license in order to purchase. You have to have a card to, to legally possess, to obtain and possess it- Okay ...

208. 1:02:41

     from these medical sources, yes. So i- if we're doing, if, if that's what the plan is, why can it not be across from a school or a church? I mean, if you got a pharmacy, they put it across from a school or church and you're fine. So why are we not, if this is medical grade, why are we not, why does it matter where it's located at? Mmm, y- you raise a, an excellent question. This was probably a bit of a compromise to recognize that, uh, we've took all the restrictions off the, when the pharmacies, and I think once it goes to Schedule 3, I think many more pharmacies will be willing to carry it and not risk their Medicare federal funding that they get.

209. 1:03:16

     So that's, it's scared a lot of them now. But you raise a good point. We could have just made it the same rules as where pharmacies can go, which is, I think, anywhere. But I think in a s- spirit of compromise, common ground, I think it was, let's get rid of what's the onerous part that the dispensaries who are trying to locate their dispensaries have, have found how difficult it is, and they've agreed that this limited adjustment of that or decrease of those radiuses, if you will, I think will meet their needs, so. Okay. Um, a- and my next question is, you talk about vaporization.

210. 1:03:49

     Mm-hmm. Uh, but there are several different kinds. Um, there's, there's the, the card, and then there's the dab pen where it's a wax that's highly concentrated. Are, are we using, are we, is either of those, or are we just picking one? My understanding is that dab pens are not allowed in the w- in the construction of this, uh, bill when we talk about combustion and vaporization. Well, can you show me what section is that seen? 'Cause I didn't, I've looked through this thing two, three times, I couldn't see if there was a percentage or where it talked about, um, a concentration, a concentrated type.

211. 1:04:22

     No, we never had a, we did not ever specify a, um,

212. 1:04:28

     the, uh, we do allow the vaporization of medical cannabis. I'm sorry I'm not as educated or as- Well, the original- ... researched on dab pens ... because- I don't know ... I guess that's where I get a little bit kinda like, uh, Representative Carpenter down here was talking about, because I mean, you're talking about a whole lot of difference in, in the percentage-wise versus milligrams. I mean, if you're, you know, if you're talking about just like a regular vape cartridge at 80%, that's 800 milligrams. But if you go up to a concentrate, then whenever you're talking about-

213. 1:04:59

     You know, you're talking about a .5 gram is 80% is 800 milligrams. So there's a whole lot of difference because it's a whole lot more potent than, than a card would be.

214. 1:05:11

     A, a cartridge you mean?

215. 1:05:12

     I mean a cartridge, yes.

216. 1:05:13

     Um,

217. 1:05:16

     those are still limited to the, to, to the milligram maximums for m- for a delivery system.

218. 1:05:22

     So-

219. 1:05:22

     I don't know in a, in the... I'm not familiar.

220. 1:05:25

     Well, I guess the milligrams, though, they're, they're different depending on what, what you're using it for. If it, if it's liquid, that, I guess that figure would be different. It would come out to a different milligram than if it was concentrate. That would come out to a different milligram. The, the math would, would be a little bit different on each one of those.

221. 1:05:45

     My understanding is that the... And we have some people from the industry who may be able to speak to this at the, at the, at the testimony time. Um, I- I'm not familiar any, at all. I don't believe, uh, it, is it a dab pen?

222. 1:05:58

     Yeah. Or the... It's a highly concentrated, so it comes out into like a-

223. 1:06:02

     Is it a, is it a vape pen or is it something-

224. 1:06:03

     Yeah, it's a vape pen. It looks like a honey almost in it, but it's like usually about 80 or 90% THC, which is 800 milligrams, but it's a whole lot different. But, but it's only like, it only takes like .5 grams where a regular one would take one gram to equal that, and it's absorbed a whole lot quicker. Um, so that, that's the reason I'm asking.

225. 1:06:23

     I'll see if some of the industry can speak to the dosage-

226. 1:06:26

     Okay

227. 1:06:27

     ... per, um, um, delivery.

228. 1:06:31

     Okay.

229. 1:06:31

     I'm sorry.

230. 1:06:32

     Thank you.

231. 1:06:38

     Let's see. 27. 24.

232. 1:06:43

     24. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, and thank you, Chairman Newton, for bringing this bill in. I know all the work that was done on it, so grateful for that. Um, I had a question there, if you could just speak, e- educate me a little bit better on the requirement that the prescribing physicians be located in Georgia. I know you, you touched on it. I may have missed one point. Um, and I'm just curious right now, as it exists now, w- w- what percentage of medical c- cannabis prescriptions are coming from out of state? Is, is, has there been an issue or a problem related to out-of-state doctors making these?

233. 1:07:19

     That, that's part, that's part one of my question. Um, my understanding is that the doctors have to not only be located, physically located, but have a practice in Georgia in order to do this.

234. 1:07:31

     Well, they always have to have a Georgia license.

235. 1:07:34

     Right.

236. 1:07:34

     But they actually are practicing in Georgia primarily.

237. 1:07:37

     Practice, practicing in Georgia. Okay. And I know you had mentioned accessibility, so I was just curious because I know with the advent of telehealth and the growth of telehealth, um, my understanding was that has actually made medical care more accessible to a lot of Georgians, not less. I'm thinking of rural, rural areas. Um, I'm not saying, I'm not saying I'm opposed to that, that part of the bill. I'm just trying to understand, um, w- w- you know, why, why we don't want telehealth doctors prescribing and-

238. 1:08:07

     Well, o- once again, we, the goal is that the patient, once again, had three categories. The ones in, in the dangerous third, we wanna make sure they ha- it's a two-way street. It's not just somebody who prescribes something from a different state and is never available. We want the patient to be able to contact their doctor. Frankly, the Department of Public Health wants to be able to contact the doctor. Uh, and we've just found that that is almost impossible to go on telehealth and get the same doctor. I, it may change, and it may be a little different now, but it, I know it depends on when they're online, if you look up doctors on different tele- telehealth, um, um, yeah.

239. 1:08:44

     Then there's plenty of doctors in Georgia who do telehealth from urban areas or rural areas who offer telehealth within the state. They may be available to others outside the state. There were some reports that, um, a, a physician had certified 2,000 of our patients. Um, we think it was tele- it was online. I'm sorry I don't have the exact data, data on that, but that was raised. In particular, this is a Senate bill, and so we've had been informed somewhat in the committee from things that the Senate was look- were looking at, like adding lupus and, and other things.

240. 1:09:17

     But at the same time, um, we wanna make sure from a medical point of view with something especially that's still in, from a research point of view, in its infancy, even though there's lots of anecdotal and c- correlation studies that are all, all around. Um, there's also a lot of questionable side effect studies that are out there that we don't know which to believe. We wanna make sure that the patients have access to a physician. We think there'll be plenty of them, um, with the number of doctors licensed in Georgia that actually practice pr- principally in Georgia.

241. 1:09:48

     Right. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, that, that's what I was wondering, if there had been any abuse of this. One physician writing 2,000 prescription, that does sound like there's something maybe questionable. There's like a lot of patients.

242. 1:10:00

     And I have nothing against those patients-

243. 1:10:01

     Yeah

244. 1:10:01

     ... getting. I would like them to have... It makes me wonder whether that same physician is available when something else comes up.

245. 1:10:08

     Understood. Thank you for clarifying.

246. 1:10:10

     I might add to that. You know, when we passed this, I mean, it's kinda hinky the way we had to pass it because at, at that time it was a Schedule I drug. A lot of doctors, because of the federal regulations, they didn't wanna do the prescriptions for it. They were sc- scared that their federal drug license might be in jeopardy, and that's the reason the, the current way, and probably for a while the future, uh, way we've described these different illnesses. That if you have that illness, you go to your doctor, and that doctor only verifies that you have that disease, and then you go through the public health part to get a card and such as that.

247. 1:10:51

     And the telemedicine, and don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with it, but it kinda reminds me of something that I see on, uh, a lot of the junk mail that I get about you don't even have to go to the doctor. If you need a ED drug, you just call somebody out in Colorado. And they just write it to, for you. So I think there's a need that they verify that disease, and they have to have eyes on it, I would think. All right.

248. 1:11:20

     Let's see. Mr. Jackson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thank you, Representative Newton, for this, uh, bill. Uh, just two quick questions. On line number 407, uh, "In any manner, in any public place, by any individual." So will this also prohibit those, uh, adult facilities that says you can do vaping and hookahs and all that?

249. 1:11:50

     Would this inadvertently hurt those kind of, um, small businesses or establishments? Um, once again, this is not a recreational use. This is kinda take a dose- I- ... and wait four hours. It, it may not be the same goal as, uh, the, the kind of place you're describing. Um, this is a, uh, an im- uh, we thought with the expansion to allowing, as among many other delivery methods, vaporization, we wanted to make sure as best we could, we, um,

250. 1:12:27

     control the potential side effects of that policy, let's say. And, um, so i- it's not meant to, uh, damage a, a, a small business or that, that would, uh... I'm not sure anybody is delivering medical-grade cannabis in a public place. I mean, I mean, if I'm at a club, you know, I could take a aspirin. I mean, there's nothing saying I can't take a aspirin at a club. I'm just asking you, I just, I don't want a bill out there that's gonna inadvertently hurt a business. And when, so when I'm reading line 407, "In any manner, in any public place," by- This is medical cannabis, right?

251. 1:13:08

     If, if I'm taking a medicinal drug and I so happen to be at a public place, somebody's wedding, I, and if I decide to administer that medicinal marijuana, is this bill gonna preclude me from doing that?

252. 1:13:28

     Um- I, I understand it's not recreational, but if I'm, I got my card and I'm at a wedding, I'm at a church, I'm at a facility, I'm in a public place, and I want to administer this medicinal drug, there's nothing saying I can't do that. I can pop Percocets at church. I have a headache, I can pop Tylenol. I'm just trying to make sure I interpret line 407, 'cause 407 to me says, "In any manner, in any public place, by any individual." You raise a good point.

253. 1:14:06

     Um, the goal of this, and now that I look at it a little more carefully, the goal was to preclude vaping in public. Okay. All right. Um- You are correct that it does, it looks like it, it would preclude u- using oil or, um- Yeah ... other pills or whatever. Um- Good, because I got soldiers and sailors out there, and if they're having a episode- Mm ... and they're in a public place, Doc, you and I both know they need to, they need to administer that.

254. 1:14:40

     Well, we've, we tried to balance this with the, with the, um, the, the, most medications are not public, and frankly, there's no, most medications don't have secondhand consideration, s- like secondhand tobacco smoke or secondhand vaping. So in an effort to balance what is an increase in the number of people who are gonna be able to get this, the number that are gonna be eligible in Georgia through more conditions, through decreased on the severity requirement, and, and through more physicians being available as it comes from one to two on the schedule, DEA schedule, and more and more people doing it, we didn't want people exposed to secondhand vaporization j- uh, in the same way nobody likes to be exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke either.

255. 1:15:29

     Sure. And there's some danger with that. So this was an effort to balance it by saying, "You can use this medicinally, but you're gonna need to use it in a, not, outside of a public place." Um, I'm, I'm not saying it's perfect. It is a, it is a compromise. But it does recognize the fact that we are still learning about the, and u- understanding better the dangers of down- downstream tobacco smoke. W- same thing applies to, to, um, secondhand vaping of any sort.

256. 1:16:01

     And so that's what this effort was, was. It may be imperfect, um, but I think it was a reasonable place to be, and I, I'm not sure, I'd love to hear more, I'm not sure about w- a small business that this would significantly impact. Um, I don't- And I- I just gave a couple examples, is that- Yeah ... n- not business, but public place. Uh, a follow on, Mr. Chairman? You certainly may, and you're wel- and when we start the action on this bill, you'll be more than welcome to make an amendment- Okay ... to strike that sentence if you wish.

257. 1:16:32

     Yes, sir. Um, I, I did get a t- opportunity to sit in on one and two of your, your Blue Ribbon, and I appreciate the, um, work that you all put in, so I, I really do appreciate that. Um, compare to, com- when we compare what we're doing in Georgia against other states, 'cause that, you know, I know we tend to always like to compare ourselves to other states, where do we fall by implementing these changes that you're proposing to this, august body? W- would that make us go from the bottom tier to a middle tier?

258. 1:17:06

     Just, just out of curiosity. Well, if you sat in one of those committees, um, who's bottom tier and, is on one person's is top tier on the other. Right. So it's a little tough to say, uh, uh, put it in a tier level, but I do believe by opening up, I believe we may be one of the few that doesn't allow vaporization as a, um, a-

259. 1:17:25

     As a delivery method

260. 1:17:26

     No, no. That just, vapor, I'm just talking with the-

261. 1:17:28

     Oh, t- yeah

262. 1:17:28

     ... the, the entire bill as a whole.

263. 1:17:30

     'Cause I-

264. 1:17:30

     'Cause I remember sitting in during the summer-

265. 1:17:31

     Increasing the severity, increasing the number of conditions. A lot of people would say that's, that's dramatically, uh, inc- improving it from a patient point of view. Tightening up on the physician's role and location is a way to tighten up the medical component. So really it, it goes... I'm not sure if you can put them all in the same, uh... We've, we've relaxed the ability of DPH to, to deliver these cards. They can deliver them immediately electronically. Frankly, it's not a may, it's a shall if the patient asks for it.

266. 1:18:01

     So we've dramatically lowered the barriers in some areas. We have tried to make sure that, like I say, secondhand smoke, if you will, or d- vape, um, i- is eliminated, and I'm not sure what other states have done about that. But, um, I, I don't, I don't... Sorry, I don't know, um, how the, how we compare to other medical, um, cannabis-

267. 1:18:24

     From a medicinal standpoint. Right. 'Cause I just recall a couple of parents when I stuck my head in the door, um, they were saying how they need to go to Colorado to do... A- and again, I didn't get the full context-

268. 1:18:37

     Right

269. 1:18:37

     ... but it sound like th- this, this family have to go to Denver, Colorado because we have restrictions or limitations here in Georgia. And so I was just trying to figure out-

270. 1:18:48

     This, this bill will lower some of those restrictions-

271. 1:18:51

     Okay

272. 1:18:51

     ... from people who determined that they needed something other than the oil, which is what a lot of them wanted, is an alternative delivery method to the, to the one way we can do it here, which is 5% oil. So, um, I think we've answered some of those in this with the, with the ability to, especially by milligrams, the ability to get different strains that people are convinced one strain helps them more than another. And I, I gotta be honest, I'm not sure about all the science. There's frankly not a lot of what I would call real science because it's been unable to really do it.

273. 1:19:25

     But I look forward to being able to do it, and I think this bill will move us forward, and it'll move the, uh, ability of people to, uh, to get information and then to act on it better.

274. 1:19:35

     Right here in Georgia. Okay.

275. 1:19:36

     So thank you.

276. 1:19:36

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

277. 1:19:37

     Thank you. Mr. Ridley again.

278. 1:19:41

     Yes. I just have one question. You said that, that the DPH shall issue a license if a patient asks for it.

279. 1:19:50

     I, I can, uh... We're looking on line 541. I think that the goal of that is that, that if, if somebody has been certified today and wants to go get medicine later today and signs on or the doctor, the physician who certified them, uh, it says they shall issue an electronic registration card. Obviously, it was taking two to four weeks to get a card in the mail once someone was already certified.

280. 1:20:19

     Sure. But, but you're saying I can self-diagnose myself with any of these and-

281. 1:20:21

     No, no, no. The doctor has to fill it out.

282. 1:20:24

     Oh. Well, 'cause when he was talking, you said that, that, that it says that-

283. 1:20:27

     Oh, yeah. Once they're... I'm sorry. Once they're, once a physician has reviewed it, i- if, if you look up in lines 529 and following, once they have, um, um, certified the patient, then the registration card can be done.

284. 1:20:46

     So I gotta send something in from the doctor to DPH to whatever?

285. 1:20:49

     You gotta contact a doctor and s- and be evaluated by a doctor.

286. 1:20:53

     And then he gives me the prescription?

287. 1:20:55

     Well, the doctor-

288. 1:20:55

     The doctor-

289. 1:20:55

     He can... No

290. 1:20:56

     ... sent, the doctor transmits that to DPH.

291. 1:21:00

     And, but it's not a prescription. It's just saying that this person has-

292. 1:21:04

     All they do, all the doctor's role is to ver- is to verify the disease or the condition. And then they forward that on probably electronically, and they send that to DPH.

293. 1:21:16

     Okay. Thank you.

294. 1:21:17

     Right. That is the 526 and following. The board will require the doctor to have a doctor-patient relationship.

295. 1:21:23

     All right. Let's see where we are here. Number 18 again.

296. 1:21:29

     Representative Jackson. Asking for more. Okay. Did you have another question? All right. All right. I don't see any more questions. Now, we have had, uh, hearings on this issue last year under the Brass Bill and subsequent bills. So what I'm going to do, we normally don't take testimony, so what I want to do is we have a number of folks who wish to speak for or against.

297. 1:22:00

     I would encourage you as I call you out, you've got 60 seconds, because I see the redundancy out there that we've heard time and time again that went on and on and on. Mary Adams?

298. 1:22:21

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

299. 1:22:22

     Thank you.

300. 1:22:22

     It's nice to see everyone again. I'd just like to thank you on behalf of the 33,000 patients that we have on this, uh, effort to move the cannabis program forward. My only recommendation would be in regard to the medical physicians, not to require out-of-state doctors to be prohibited since most of them are at least educated in medical cannabis. We have less than 700 doctors here. Half of them have no idea about medical cannabis. So I would encourage education as part of the bill.

301. 1:22:54

     Thank you.

302. 1:22:55

     Thank you so much. Okay. Uh, Terri Hord. Terri, we're gonna bring you a mic over there if you don't mind, or just come on around to the table.

303. 1:23:06

     Yeah, who's next after Terri Hord?

304. 1:23:08

     Chris Puswell.

305. 1:23:09

     Chris Puswell, Mr. Chair.

306. 1:23:14

     Yep.

307. 1:23:15

     Okay.

308. 1:23:15

     Yeah.

309. 1:23:20

     Okay.

310. 1:23:20

     Okay.

311. 1:23:20

     Can everybody hear me?

312. 1:23:22

     Yeah.

313. 1:23:22

     Does the microphone work? Okay, great. Um, I'm Terri Hord, and I live with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. I also have an identical twin that lives with MS, and we're both, both paralyzed from the neck down. I just have a little bit of...

314. 1:23:44

     my left hand. Um, I would have loved to have had medical cannabis when I was diagnosed 30 years ago. You see, what our disease is, is invisible. You have spasticity, and you don't see it. Sometimes I have clonus, where your body just spasms. I- it crazy, but if I didn't have the tinctures that are medical prescribed by my doctor, I would not be able to be here today, because I call this my bewitching hour.

315. 1:24:24

     Between 4:00 and 6:00 every day, I'm exhausted, but I'm able to be here. I love to advocate. I'm advocating for others with other types of diseases, because it's important to me. It's really important for the, uh, Department of Health to be sure that they deliver the medical, uh, cards quickly. When I first started getting mine, I was denied.

316. 1:24:58

     Denied in the same condition I am right now. I was shocked that I would be withheld something that has worked so well for me. So I feel it's so important that we continue on with medical grade, not going to your gas station and buying what's off the shelf. It needs to be controlled, medical grade, by the physician, prescribed, and then we go to the appropriate place.

317. 1:25:29

     But also, um, I feel it's really important to be able to know what you're getting, and also for, for us to be able to have these things. My life has been so improved. I, I'm part, I sit on the board for the National MS Society. My identical twin and I have Twins Coast to Coast, where we advocate, inspire, and educate. Education is so important. So we need to make sure that all of you are understanding what cannabis is doing for patients like us, and it's vital.

318. 1:26:12

     Ms. Hord, we sure do appreciate you taking time to come up.

319. 1:26:16

     Thank you.

320. 1:26:16

     Does any of the committee members, would y'all like to ask Ms. Hord a question? Anything more than she has already said? We thank you so very much.

321. 1:26:29

     You're welcome.

322. 1:26:29

     All right.

323. 1:26:29

     Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you, Dr. Carpenter.

324. 1:26:34

     Mr. Michael Mumper.

325. 1:26:45

     Thank you, Chairman and members of the committee. Um, I have a l- a lot of respect for everyone here. Um, I'm really glad that, um, the person who just spoke is getting support from the current medical marijuana program. Uh, let's keep in mind that if we, if we had the same... We have 35,000 people on the medical marijuana program. If we had the same proportion of our population that Florida does, where they have 5% of the population has a medical marijuana card, we would have about 500,000 Georgians who have medical marijuana.

326. 1:27:16

     When we consider that marijuana at 50% THC is addictive and, um, impairing, we're talking about 500,000 daily users of marijuana, high-potency, by Georgians. This is, um, when we talk about milligrams, 7.5 milligrams to 10 milligrams will get you high. 10, let's just say 10 milligrams. Now, if we're gonna give someone 40 milligrams a day, 12,000 milligrams is 300 days' supply.

327. 1:27:55

     Or really tempting to take a little bit more today, and a little bit more the next day. So we're really giving s- people almost a year's supply, even at this lower amount. Why is this important? 50% THC, it's no longer a natural plant. This is, uh, synthesized. It's not FDA-approved. It's not supported by medical associations. Medical doctors do not get extensive training in this in school, nor do pharmacists.

328. 1:28:27

     There is research, peer-reviewed, that shows the harms of medical marijuana, and if you wanna read more, you can go to our website, www.gamarijuanapolicy.org, and go to the public statement, and we have a lot of published, peer-reviewed stuff. And I, I'm gonna leave with this thought, that be- even if we didn't have a lot of research on medical marijuana, when we're greatly expanding it to the state of Georgia, we've gotta think to ourselves, is there any risk we're gonna duplicate what happened to nicotine in the '90s, when seven heads of tobacco companies testified that nicotine was not addictive?

329. 1:29:13

     Or are we gonna risk what's happened to, in the late '90s, with OxyContin, when Purdue said it wasn't addictive? Before we jump to that level of expansion, let's wait for that science to, to, to prepare us for that. Thank you so much.

330. 1:29:32

     We appreciate that. Mike Griffith. Probably the only person in this room that can vote for me.

331. 1:29:40

     Amen. 'Cause you and I have said, I'm your number one constituent. My name is Mike Griffin. I'm Public Affairs Representative with Georgia Baptist Mission Board. You have a copy of resolution that we passed in '25. Uh, we do represent 1.4 million Georgians and over 3,400 churches. And I, I met with Senator Matt Brass last year. We sat there in his office. We had eyeball-to-eyeball contact, prayed with him. He, he explained everything to me. And, you know, I was here when this all passed 10 years ago.

332. 1:30:14

     We never opposed it. Um, and so we don't categorically, as a denomination, oppose medical marijuana. Our concern is the continued expansion of it. And the original bill, of course, had that, the 50% THC. Of course, it had smoking and vaping. Now, this only has vaping. And again, our concern is that if we keep going in this direction, at, at some point we've gotta draw a line because it seems like every time we go an inch, we get a mile. And so we gotta be careful that we don't have a de facto recreational marijuana legalization of our state if we keep going in this direction.

333. 1:30:51

     So we think that we need to maintain these limits, uh, be careful at continuing to add other type of, of issues that then it can be treated with. We need to maintain of where it started out at and maintain that same type of principle. I appreciate Chairman Newton. I got an opportunity to testify in one of his hearings, and just did a great job of working, and I think he's done a great job here at trying to give you a good bill. We still do have some concerns about this, so thank you, Mr.

334. 1:31:21

     Chairman. Thank you, Mike. And, uh, any questions? If not, we appreciate it. Thank you. Uh, Elmore. Oh, what is it? Uh, Alexander.

335. 1:31:36

     Apologize for my handwriting. I'm a physician, so

336. 1:31:46

     Good evening, Mr. Chairman and, uh, Committee. Uh, I'm, I'm really, uh, excuse me. I'm ha- I'm, I'm pro- I'm having... I had surgery and I'm having some problems with my throat. Um, I'm happy to be here because I think that I can bring a different perspective as a physician who is treating and who has been trained in cannabis medicine. And so, um, what Dr. Newton talked about as far as milligram dosages, I am struggling right now to take care of patients like, um, especially the, uh, veterans.

337. 1:32:23

     A lot of my veterans have a lot of problems with, uh, not only anxiety, but the control of their conditions. And the medications that we have right now, that I have, uh, at my disposal, is not allowing me to be able to take care of them adequately. We also don't have enough diagnosises to take care of them. It's one thing to have a, a soldier who has come home after serving and get a diagnosis of PTSD, okay?

338. 1:32:55

     But a lot of them have just severe anxiety. The PTSD by itself is excluding those people who have the same symptoms. They can't sleep. They can't engage with their families. They can't go out in public. But they still have the, the, ex- ex- uh, the same symptoms of PTSD, but they haven't been diagnosed, but they have a diagnosis of anxiety. I can help these people, but I cannot help them under this, the current regulations.

339. 1:33:28

     So what I'm asking for is, one, please look at these formulations that Dr. Newton talked about. Doing milligram dosages gives me a lot more flexibility to be able to treat my patients. Not everybody needs 10 milligrams or 20 milligrams. Some of them, especially my seniors, they need one or two milligrams, but that's to sleep. And if a person gets to sleep, they have less fear. When they wake up in the morning, they have less anxiety. So there's a lot of things that, that, that we're not considering when we look at these individuals and how much they're suffering.

340. 1:34:04

     And I tell you, I, I'm seeing them now. Right now, I have two patients waiting on me this afternoon, and I'm doing them by telemedicine. Telemedicine, they called. I had to get to this meeting, so I could not do their appointment. But they are suffering so badly, I was almost ready to send both of them to the emergency room because of the amount of stress and anxiety they have within their homes, and these are seniors. The last thing I will say about this, so we don't drag this on, is that there is a part of the process that is slowing us down greatly, and that is the notarized waiver.

341. 1:34:41

     The notarized waiver is really slowing me down. I'm not opposed to the waiver, but right now in medicine, we have what is called implied consent. So when someone signs that, that document, it says that, um, they now have consented to whatever care we're gonna do, or in the p- in the case of the waiver, it talks about the, um, the potential problems that you could have with cannabis. It doesn't have to be notarized.

342. 1:35:11

     My seniors can't get to a notary. My, um, some of the caretakers are having difficulty getting to a notary, and it's also costing them to get those forms notarized, which is an additional cost on top of what the state is charging them and the offices that we're, we're charging. So if we could take out the notary, that would speed the process as well. Thank you. May we have a question or two to the author? Oh. Thank you, Mr.

343. 1:35:41

     Chairman

344. 1:35:43

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, on lines 567 through 70, we did eliminate the waiver requirement from the board. And it doesn't r- that's not a section that just deals with another i- another ization, but that may have been something additional that was put on by DPH that did, did require a waiver. And it was the waiver that we mentioned in the presentation where there's no FDA-approved use for this, and there's no, um, scientific evidence or clinical benefit.

345. 1:36:13

     And both those have really changed, and to a degree, with some FDA-approved THC products and with the fact that there is some research, I know it's debatable like all research, but I believe we've gotten rid of the waiver, but that's... You r- you raise a great point. There may be a- another place and, and- There's no other place ... I think we were trying to deal with that on the board requ- requiring, taking out the requirement that there be a waiver that a patient says, "We understand there's no clinical evidence, and none, none of this has ever been FDA-approved," because those things are not true anymore.

346. 1:36:45

     Well, that would help with an immediate card as well, because, um, like these two patients that I have, I know they need immediate help. They have been on traditional medications, and they're actually feeling worse. And so that's why they reached out to me. And, and yeah. I appreciate your support of the, of the milligram method of, of, of, of making this medical program better. By the way, is, your practice is primarily located in Georgia? It is. Good. Thank you. It is. But I do most of the cannabis medicine by telemedicine. Sure. Yes. That's still allowed. Yeah. And, and we do actually... So we were talking about, you were, you were asking, like, what is the, the doctor's responsibility.

347. 1:37:20

     I would love to be able to do a prescription actually, actually, because that's how I treat my patients, and I try to follow them that way. And we're actually asked to report twice a year on our patients. But right now, the, the most I can do, and I write it like a prescription when I send it to them, it's a recommendation. And I- but I'm very clear to my patients that this is a recommendation. But I write it like it's a prescription. I find out what they're on. I look at their medications. And so there are physicians who are trying very, uh, with, with, with all sincerity to do the best we can with this cannabis because we know it helps.

348. 1:37:55

     It does work. All right. It does work. You have a couple of questions, I think. Chairman Carpenter. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I, I hear what you're saying, that the, the, the elderly may only need 2.5 milligrams, uh, and somebody else may need 10 milligrams. But as this legislation reads right now, just my understanding is we got, we've got drinks, for instance. We got five percenters, 10 percenters, 50 percenters. This would allow a single can to have 1,200 milligrams of THC if they so chose.

349. 1:38:28

     I'm not saying they would. There's no medical cannabis in beverages. Let me make a correction. This doesn't deal with CBD. This is- No, no, I understand that. I understand that. But they, they could, the switch back could... It could theoretically be it or no? No. No. Those are milligrams. No. It's not percent. They're milligrams. They're milligrams. But s- but this is 1,200 milligrams, correct? We're saying a s- a, a person, a, a person can have 1,200 milligrams. In a package. In a package. In a package. So theoretically if, if- Can be a package or packed vessels ...

350. 1:38:58

     but it's not, but this bill does not allow food, so it wouldn't be in a drink. So you're not gonna... What I'm saying is you're not gonna get a medical card, go to a pharmacy or dispensary and be able to buy a can of THC with 1,200 milligrams in it. I'm not saying that, that, that, that, that they make it that way. But this legislation, as I read it, would allow them to make it that way. Is that not correct? Okay. I mean, I may be confused. I just want to make sure. All right. Ch- uh, Mr. Ridley. Okay. All right. Yeah. To what he's saying, kind of the same thing.

351. 1:39:28

     Milligrams are in one ounce. If, if I can go to the dispensary though and get a pack of gummies that's 1,200 milligrams, correct?

352. 1:39:36

     The way it's written, yes. Yes. And I could take all of them, and I could go back tomorrow and get another one? Look, look, there is a max that, for the month, that people could get. No gummies. 10 packs. Now, potentially, I mean, just like anything, I mean, just like alcohol, right? People can abuse it, and there's different formulations of alcohol. I mean, you have, um, you know, various drinks that have very little alcohol in them, and then you all way... you go all the way up to grain alcohol. That's true. We can't stop people from trying to hurt themselves, but we can give them recommendations.

353. 1:40:07

     Okay. Well- And- ... I know it's gonna be a big surprise to everybody in here- Yes ... but I take Adderall. Yes. They give me 30 pills a da- a month. I can't go back and get more than that until after that time runs out. That's true. So, so to what may h- what I think me and you were saying the same thing is if, if, if you give me a recommendation for gummies that are X amount, I go and I get my 1,200 or whatever. I can take them all, and I can go back next week and get another 1,200. You may be telling me to only take half of one a day per, per milligram, right?

354. 1:40:41

     Is that correct? Are, are you giving me a dosage when you write a recommendation? I want you to take 20 milligrams a day twice a day. Okay. You're asking a great question. And okay, I'm gonna be honest. That's great. Thank you, sir. Um, I would like to see, like some other states, that if I'm going to have the responsibility of certifying someone as a physician, I would like to be able to have the control as well.

355. 1:41:11

     Okay. And so I would like to be able to see a prescription. But as the program is written, the best I can do to take care of my patients is write a recommendation. And so yes, I write the recommendations, but I follow my patients, and I try to make sure they're safe. Okay. Can I follow up quick with questions? Yes, sir. All right. If you tell me to take 20 milligrams a day- Yes ... and I go and I take 200 milligrams a day, and, and I do something stupid and I get killed, can you be sued?

356. 1:41:42

     No. Do you have immunity from it?

357. 1:41:45

     As far as I know, because I'm not, I'm, again, right now, I am not writing a prescription.

358. 1:41:51

     That's correct.

359. 1:41:51

     I am making a recommendation. So my recommendation, if I tell someone, "Go take two Tylenol," and they take eight-

360. 1:41:59

     Right

361. 1:41:59

     ... and they get liver function problems, that's on the patient. That's not on me because I made a recommendation. So that's the way the program is set up, is that we are recommending, and it is our duty to try and make sure that we pass along, you know, accurate information to our patients. And so that's why we get the additional training. That's why I have it.

362. 1:42:19

     Okay. A- and then my last question is this: Do you agree or disagree-

363. 1:42:24

     Mm

364. 1:42:24

     ... that the way the milligrams are set out per, per percentage differs by the way that's prepared? If it's a concentrate, that percentage versus milligrams is different than one that's not concentrated, and the mil- and percentage THC versus those milligrams.

365. 1:42:42

     Well, I, I think, again, I think it depends, right? Um, it depends on the formulation, and it de- depends on the delivery system, but, but there's a different effect with cannabis in each way that you ingest it as well. So-

366. 1:42:58

     Okay. Well, let's just say on a vape pen.

367. 1:43:02

     Okay.

368. 1:43:02

     You give me a regular vape pen with a cartridge. You tell me to take... It- it's supposed to do 20 milligrams per hit, right? For a puff or something.

369. 1:43:12

     Two.

370. 1:43:12

     Whatever. I, I'm just making up numbers.

371. 1:43:14

     Yeah. Okay.

372. 1:43:15

     But, but I walk into that dispensary-

373. 1:43:17

     Mm-hmm

374. 1:43:17

     ... and he says, "Hey, here's this pen that's concentrated. It has more in it." I can get that pen, correct?

375. 1:43:25

     Well, I think yours right-

376. 1:43:27

     Well, you can't get it right now.

377. 1:43:27

     Yeah.

378. 1:43:27

     No.

379. 1:43:28

     Go ahead, Representative Newton.

380. 1:43:28

     Not, not right now. Nobody's prescribed or recommended-

381. 1:43:31

     Yeah

382. 1:43:31

     ... this yet because-

383. 1:43:32

     Yeah

384. 1:43:32

     If we pass this bill

385. 1:43:32

     ... they haven't been allowed yet. Oh, yeah, if we pass the bill, yeah.

386. 1:43:35

     Yes, if we pass this bill, then you tell me to go get a cartridge or go get a vape pen and take this, this amount of milligrams. I go into the dispensary, he sells me something other... I mean, it's still a vape pen, but it's completely different. I mean, it's like buying a bottle of liquor and a can of beer. It's completely different, the alcohol content.

387. 1:43:57

     I can't answer that because right now I'm not well-versed in how the vapes are different and the delivery of them. And, but as they become a part of what we're doing in Georgia, that will be a part of my training so that I can advise my patients appropriately. So and that's just like any other delivery system that we have in medicine right now. Um, when those medications come out, we have to be trained on them, how they affect the body. But you know, something else to consider, you know, we're, um, the gentleman was talking about the concentrations.

388. 1:44:29

     We have patients that have different tolerances and, and cannabis has a different effect in everybody. So five milligrams in one person is not five milligram effect in another.

389. 1:44:40

     I agree.

390. 1:44:40

     So that's why, again, you have physicians involved, so that when the patient says, "Hey, five milligrams was too much," then I tell them how to back it down. You know, we teach them how to self-dose. But at the same time, there are people who can handle 40 milligrams with no problem because of things like narcotics. Their metabolism is much different. If somebody has been addicted to narcotics, they're gonna need a much different dose than somebody who was on, like, five milligrams or who was never on nar- narcotics. So they're gonna probably need a 40 milligram dose because their metabolism is going to be different.

391. 1:45:14

     You're gonna have people who have different organ systems that are not functioning the same, and they may need a higher dose, or they may not need a dose at all. For instance, someone who is missing a gallbladder, th- they're gonna need a different delivery system. I can't help them right now because they need an inhalant in order to be able to, uh, get the absorption of the product. If we give it to them orally, they're not gonna have any effect.

392. 1:45:39

     Oh.

393. 1:45:39

     So, so this is one of the reasons that we need a variety of different, um, delivery systems.

394. 1:45:45

     Okay. Thank you.

395. 1:45:47

     But I know what you're asking, yes.

396. 1:45:50

     Can I ask one question, Chairman?

397. 1:45:51

     25.

398. 1:45:53

     Okay.

399. 1:45:55

     Somebody at number 25 talked.

400. 1:45:58

     No?

401. 1:45:58

     Just punched.

402. 1:45:59

     No? All right. Well, let's go number 15 then. That'll be Commissioner McCollum.

403. 1:46:06

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, uh, to follow up on, on their, their question, it'd be to both physicians, so if you prescribe somebody, uh, oxycodone, and you give them a prescription, and then they come back and you give them 30 days, they come back in 15, and they're, a- and they're out, w- normally a physician would eventually cut them off, would they? Would they not? Uh, I'm just asking.

404. 1:46:32

     That sy- that system is already in place.

405. 1:46:35

     Right.

406. 1:46:35

     Um-

407. 1:46:35

     So would it not be the same for, for this? Are there stop gaps in there, uh, for this i- in the bill? Matt?

408. 1:46:44

     Well, um, if you're asking could... Is, is there potential that someone could take their, what they were not prescribed but recommended by their physician and use it inappropriately? That is possible. Th- th- there's, there's frankly, it's because of the fact that it's not a prescription, um, the, the, the dispensaries are just limited to whatever Georgia says the maximum is. But they wanna be responsible players as well. Um, I think it's, it is the same. You're right. Everybody, somebody could take the whole bottle of oxycodone at once, unlike what their doctor told them.

409. 1:47:16

     It, it, it would be a problem, but...

410. 1:47:20

     So follow-up, Mr. Chairman?

411. 1:47:22

     Sure.

412. 1:47:23

     So we're not comparing, uh, narcotics to this 'cause there's not really a, a, a piece in there that regulates it on that aspect. I mean, obviously, when you go to the pharmacy to fill your oxycodone, the pharmacist has a, a duty, I guess, because they're obv- you know, trained in that as well. Um, so w- we're sending them to a dispensary that really has no obligation to uphold... I mean, what, what's their consequences at the dispensary?

413. 1:47:54

     And what is the consequences to the physician if they keep prescribing this? I mean, I, I guess I, I'm not, I, I think this is a, you know, something good. But to, to their point, what do we have in place to, to stop... I mean, I, I know you can't legislate everything, but-

414. 1:48:14

     Well, that is true. Uh, the, the effort has been to say, what is the most, the, the worst con- By putting a maximum that's legally acceptable to have in your possession, just like it's 28,000 milligrams is the current maximum. We looked again more closely at that and said, what's the condition that would be the highest dose they need for the end stage Lou Gehrig's disease or whatever? And, and said, what, what, how much would somebody like that need? 46 times a day? I don't... We tried to imagine... We didn't wanna restrict patients' ability to get the medicine, just like we don't- we, we give higher doses of, of opiates when it's appropriate, sometimes near the end of life.

415. 1:48:52

     I think the, the milligrams allow it and... but I think it's a, um, um, uh, y- it's a, it's a balance. You, you... Maybe we should have 6,000 as the maximum. The problem is for the person who ends up needing 8,000, we've done them a disservice in, in a month, for example. So I know the dispensaries are pretty responsible. They're not pharmacists-

416. 1:49:12

     Yeah

417. 1:49:12

     ... and those are not pharmacists that are doing the dispensing, but that they want, they don't want this program to get in trouble with somebody diverting it to other people or misusing it themselves.

418. 1:49:21

     One more follow-up, Mr. Chairman, if you, if I may. So, um, I know we have a p- something in, in place now for pseudoephedrine, uh, because obviously they've used that for meth, and when you go in to buy pseudoephedrine, you have to sign a thing, and they can track who bought it, uh, extensive amounts. Am, am I correct on that?

419. 1:49:41

     Correct. Correct. Correct.

420. 1:49:42

     So are the, the, they tracking this when you go in to sign up, Ken? Do we have a database that says, this, this person went and got 40,000, I mean, you know, over a, a, a two-month-

421. 1:49:57

     Right, right

422. 1:49:57

     ... period or whatever? Or what would... Well, they're limited to 10,000. What is it? I'm sorry.

423. 1:50:02

     1,200 per package, and 10 of those packages max.

424. 1:50:05

     So, so that'd be-

425. 1:50:06

     12,000.

426. 1:50:07

     So they're at 12,000 per-

427. 1:50:08

     12 grams is what it is, by the way. It's 12 grams.

428. 1:50:10

     Per month?

429. 1:50:12

     Um, ever in your possession.

430. 1:50:14

     Oh, period. So-

431. 1:50:16

     They, they do report this to the c- the Medical Cannabis Commission already, right now. They, they keep a list, I guess, by- It's an electronic- ... a patient- ... electronic database ... so electronic, electronic database is currently in effect.

432. 1:50:29

     So you could-

433. 1:50:29

     To follow this

434. 1:50:30

     ... you could pull up John Smith with how to, with the, I guess his-

435. 1:50:35

     Yeah

436. 1:50:35

     ... medical number and say he's got-

437. 1:50:36

     It's really s- it's, it's similar to the PDMP that we have for opiates and other addictive, but it's a different system, 'cause it's through the, through the Cannabis Commission. But we have the same thing. I could look anybody up if I had the right, uh, uh, approvals, uh, on... That's obviously on a patient. I can look up their opiates and other addictive, benzodiazepines and other addictive substances too. Pharmacists can look up every medicine you have through an even better system. But-

438. 1:51:00

     But wait. W- but, but the dispensaries aren't pharmacists, so they don't have the, the dispensaries-

439. 1:51:04

     They're report- they're, they're overseen by the Georgia Medical Cannabis Commission.

440. 1:51:09

     Okay.

441. 1:51:09

     And they have to report electronically to them.

442. 1:51:12

     Okay. All right. Well, I, I was on board and then they brought that question, so that, that actually, it, it's, it is a, a tiny bit concerning that, that nobody's tracking them, so.

443. 1:51:22

     They are being tr- They're, they're bar, are being reported.

444. 1:51:26

     Okay.

445. 1:51:27

     And one more question, sir, if you don't mind. Is, um- Yeah ... you mentioned if you had a different delivery system available for a patient who can't swallow or, or doesn't, has liver problems and c- and you don't want the, the oral, uh, GI tract transfer, um, would you still aim for the number of milligrams that you want them to get, whether it's through a two and a half milligram, um, um, inhalation, and if you wanted them to have 10 milligrams, you would tell them four inhalations of this particular vape pen instead of a 10 milligram oral that wasn't working for them?

446. 1:52:00

     Is that, if they needed 10 milligrams, right?

447. 1:52:02

     Absolutely.

448. 1:52:03

     Okay.

449. 1:52:03

     You know, I mean, it, it doesn't matter what, what delivery system. What we're trying to do is treat the symptoms, and so we want the, the, the lowest, most effective dose to treat the patient to avoid any type of side effects. But getting to the side effects, uh, again, when you talk about opioids, you know, there are a lot of deaths and, and there's a lot of variation in how dangerous these medications are. There have not been any, um, any deaths that have been reported from, um, the amount of cannabis that someone's taking THC.

450. 1:52:35

     So you know, I'm not a proponent of people taking more than they need. That's why we wanted to have the medical. But at the same time, it is a safer option than opioids.

451. 1:52:49

     You know, you went past your 60 seconds, but it wasn't your fault. I think, I think if this continues, I need to borrow some of your Adderall, Jason. All right. Last up, Gary Herber.

452. 1:53:08

     Mr. Herber, welcome.

453. 1:53:10

     Thank you very much, and thank you, uh, for your service to, uh, to the State of Georgia. And, uh, my name is Gary Herber. I had the privilege of serving as a sergeant in the United States Army. And in 2009, uh, my unit, the 10th Mountain Division, deployed to Afghanistan. And, um, I came home with a traumatic brain injury, and I also came home with some unseen injuries and, and, uh, things that happened during that time. And I just want to, first of all, thank you for, for allowing veterans like myself from here in, in Georgia to, uh, benefit from a program like this.

454. 1:53:48

     It's absolutely changed my life for the better. Like I said, I came home with a traumatic brain injury and intractable pain and, and, and some neurological damage to my neck and spinal cord that caused severe pain. And the VA treated me with, um, opiates for the better part of 10 years. And I'm glad to say that as of this year, I'm ni- I'm nine years clean off of all, uh, all controlled medications, and medical cannabis has been a big part of that. And, um- Thank you.

455. 1:54:19

     No, every one of you ha- has made my life easier to, to deal with. As of now, I've lost more battle buddies and more comrades to suicide and to overdose than I did to combat. These overdoses are happening with, with controlled medications delivered straight to the veteran's, uh, mailbox on a regular basis, and it was ruining my life. I was on Dilaudid for over six years, and I absolutely was a shell of the person you see in front of you.

456. 1:54:50

     And it's, it's because of this program that I've been able to, uh, break out of that shell and actually be a, a functioning member of society, and now proud to represent my, um, my veteran community in, in a positive light. Um, and as far as... I think all the, all the questions have, have been answered, um, as far as anything that I could say to help you guys understand the benefits of this. And to the gentleman on the end, I'd like to just, uh, anecdotally say, personally speaking, you take too much, you're not gonna do it again.

457. 1:55:27

     Okay? Th- this is a medicine that, that helps, but also make, can make your day really une- une- uneventful or, or unspectacular. And I have over, uh, extended my dosages in the past, and I'm careful not to do that because that's not a fun experience. And, um, so thank, thank you again for letting me speak, and thank you for your service to this, this great, this great state.

458. 1:55:50

     Thank you, Mr. Herber. We appreciate you and for all of your sacrifices you've been. All right, committee. Oh, my goodness. Mr. Jackson, I'm sorry.

459. 1:56:04

     S- sorry, uh, Mr. Chairman. Um, Ms. Terri Ward, uh, made mention about, uh, a number of doctors who, um, we will limit, uh, with this bill. Uh, and I just wanna get the clarity, Ms. Terri, if you could, 'cause I've been trying to find where you were talking about the, the number of doctors who in state, out of state, or something like that you mentioned. Yes, ma'am.

460. 1:56:31

     Um, currently at the Department of Health, they've listed at less than 700 physicians in Georgia right now.

461. 1:56:40

     Okay.

462. 1:56:40

     Most of them are not educated in cannabis, as you well know. Um, we do have out-of-state doctors that are registered in Georgia. All they have to do is provide the Medical Composite Board with their credentials in the state that they're already in, and I believe there's a fee of $500 to the Medical Composite Board to certify them here.

463. 1:57:01

     Whoa. So out-of-state doctors... Thank you for that clarity.

464. 1:57:04

     They don't have a Georgia license.

465. 1:57:04

     So out-of-state doctors-

466. 1:57:06

     They gotta have a Georgia license.

467. 1:57:08

     Yes. They have to send their information to the Medical Composite Board to prove that they have a license in another state. Then within 30 to 60 days, the Medical Composite Board in the State of Georgia grants them a Georgia Medical Cannabis Li- grants them a license to practice medicine in Georgia. Then they have to submit to the Cannabis Board to be approved as a cannabis physician. But that's only a list. There are no requirements to get on the cannabis board, uh, to get on the cannabis list.

468. 1:57:36

     Okay.

469. 1:57:37

     Is that what you're asking?

470. 1:57:38

     Right, but there's nothing in th- in Senate Bill 220 that, that p- prohibits out-of-state doctors from, from doing this, correct?

471. 1:57:46

     Yes. They are trying to prevent out-of-state doctors by requiring them to have a physical practice in Georgia.

472. 1:57:53

     So-

473. 1:57:53

     And that's not currently a requirement.

474. 1:57:56

     Is that, is that true?

475. 1:57:58

     That it... Yes. That is, that is true. We, we are, uh... The, the effort is to, to give the kinda care that really just was just described, and the fact that it is different in every person. And out-of-state located telemedicine is not the same degree of, uh, commitment to Georgia patients as in state. Uh, I think that one of the other questions about there's not enough educated is one of the goals of this bill as well, to encourage, not just allow, but to encourage education of medical providers.

476. 1:58:30

     And I believe the other, other piece that's going on outside our purview though is the s- is the change from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. That has been a fear of a lot of doctors to be willing to get involved. And, um, a- as you mentioned, it's not the normal way of practice. With writing a prescription, you have to write a recommendation for a dose and how many times, but it's not, goes through a pharmacy. So I think we've got, we're trying to answer the questions that were raised, that there's, there's there not enough doctors. And what I would say-

477. 1:58:58

     Doctors who are able to respond to the, to the downsides of this. As you would've heard briefly, there are some people who recognize there are downsides to these me- this medication for certain people. We wanna make sure that the communication is available two ways. We think that would be improved if they had a practice primarily in Georgia. We're gonna get more people edu- more physicians educated, and the schedule change is gonna make people more willing to do this. And so I think it will answer that 700 doctor, um, number problem.

478. 1:59:28

     M- Mr. Chairman, a follow-up, sir?

479. 1:59:32

     Sure.

480. 1:59:33

     So since COVID, um, I've, I've seen this august body, Regulated Industries, we've done more compacts for doctors and nurses and other license for a reason, because we don't have enough nurses, we don't have enough neurologists, we don't have, you know, fill in the blank. And so having a requirement for them, for this physician to actually have a practice in Georgia, right?

481. 2:00:08

     I mean, they may be licensed in Georgia, but they actually live in Virginia, but they have a license in Georgia and South Carolina. And so we've done compacts of this august body to help make sure that Georgians have the necessary care. And so w- w- I think this would do more harm than, than, than good, that saying, "We're requiring for you to have a place of practice," but they, when they're in Georgia for two weeks, three weeks, the, the travel nurses, travel doctors-

482. 2:00:45

     Yeah

483. 2:00:46

     ... they may be at Emory, they may be at Grady for two weeks. So would that not suffice?

484. 2:00:54

     I think the, uh, the goal of the bill is to, uh, is to have a- as your primary location. The doctors like the one we heard from is at, a great example of the fact that the, the w- the physicians who are familiar with this may not be, may not be distributed across Georgia for physical, so we're still ... Co- of course, we still allow certification by a Georgia-based, Georgia-licensed physician, um, and the telemedicine he mentioned, so we allow it by telemedicine.

485. 2:01:25

     What we had seen, as we mentioned, somebody asked about, what about the, have we seen any problems? I think, uh, Representative Earhart mentioned it. We have seen, we've seen some questions as to whether or not there was really other parts of Georgia law that you already have a doctor-patient relationship with this individual, that you treat them for this condition. This is in current Georgia law, not 220. That's, that's, that's in current Georgia law. We think that was being overlooked or maybe even violated, um, by, by out-of-state doctors with no practice in Georgia.

486. 2:01:55

     And so in an effort to do that, we wanna allow telemedicine, but make it with a physician that's in Georgia. And they'll, they can still have ... A- and frankly, if they're available to their patients, if they're, if they're educated on both the current and newer methods that are gonna be allowed, I think that's what's best for the patient. Remember, this is a highly controlled substance, maybe one of the most controlled that we've ever discussed. It, it, it, uh, I mean, oxycodone, as was mentioned, is Schedule 2, not Schedule 1. So w- there is a tight control over this.

487. 2:02:27

     Tighter, tight, we would never allow Schedule 2s to be prescribed by out-of-state l- Georgia-licensed doctors. We don't allow that. So, uh, it, it, it was reasonable. And in the current state, it's still a Schedule 1 medication as we sit here now. Even when it's a Schedule 3, it's gonna be a highly, um, I won't say highly risky, but it's, it is a highly controlled substance still, even if the schedule changes at the DEA level. And I think it warrants a degree of oversight that's, that's just better done if someone is in the state for their practice.

488. 2:03:04

     And I do believe with education of the physicians being called for in this and, um, and the upcoming federal change, there's gonna be plenty more physicians available both in person and by telemedicine, as the, the, the presenter described, the physician described a moment ago. I think there's gonna be ample opportunity for everyone to, uh, who has a m- family member or, or themselves that need this, I think, in a highly controlled area. It is tightly controlled, though. You're right.

489. 2:03:32

     Okay.

490. 2:03:34

     Thank you, Chair.

491. 2:03:35

     Chairman? Representative Williams.

492. 2:03:37

     Oh, thank you. Thank you. Let me say this. I have, um, gonna be brief because while we're trying to make sure nobody has to go to jail by getting the regulations right here, for there be another meeting making sure we keep them in when you do send them. But I have great respect for the lady. I've listened to your several testimonies and, and, and I know you're more versed on this than I am, but let me just say this, that, and I'm listening to Dr. Newton here. But I know it comes as a shock, but not all doctors are crime-free.

493. 2:04:16

     So I wanna make sure that a doctor who is ... This is a relatively new industry. We gotta be able to get ahold of them. I don't want some guy in Virginia who, it's very tempting. This is, can be very, very lucrative for a 10-minute authorization over the telephone, thousands of dollars. I remember what happened with all these pain clinics we had. My goodness, they were here and were robbing us blind.

494. 2:04:48

     We've got to have some control, and the only control is to have somebody practicing where the GBI can go knock on the door this evening, not tomorrow.

495. 2:04:59

     And, and, and get this straight, this is too delicate. Once these schedules are adjusted by the feds, I think you'll see more physicians coming in because they won't have that thing hanging over their heads. Let's give this system a chance to work some before and see can't we build up the numbers. Is that fair?

496. 2:05:19

     Mm-hmm.

497. 2:05:19

     Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I take it you're for the bill.

498. 2:05:24

     Yes, sir.

499. 2:05:26

     Hal, I take it you're in favor.

500. 2:05:28

     Yes. Are we gonna vote, Mr. Chairman?

501. 2:05:30

     We are fixing to vote.

502. 2:05:31

     I'm gonna leave until you vote.

503. 2:05:32

     If it's, uh... All right, I see that we have, uh, a just about unlit board now. All right, committee members, you have in front of you a substitute to Senator Brass's bill, and I'd be remiss if I didn't make one editorial comment to this. And I listened to this issue for several years, and I was on the original panel when we did the, uh, medical cannabis. And I've always thought things were somewhat hypocritical to the fact that we have the most readily available illegal substance.

504. 2:06:07

     It was a Schedule 1 at the time, and it's called street weed. And one of the issues that we had concerns about was making legitimate, organically grown product available, unadulterated. No fentanyl, no heavy metals, none of that kind of stuff. And there's no... And I will tell this committee from the questions that were asked today, there's nothing perfect, there's nothing, until the day comes that it can be totally legalized as far as a medical product.

505. 2:06:41

     But that day won't come because I don't know how many folks will do it because you got so many folks who are afraid of the demons. So this is the best thing to be done. I commend Dr. Newton for trying to clean this up. When we started these meetings back in the spring or summer last year, whenever it was, I told the men that my views was that we have been treating this and we legalized it as a medical product.

506. 2:07:11

     And let's quit being hypocritical about it and treat it as a medical product-

507. 2:07:15

     Yeah

508. 2:07:15

     ... that the doctors prescribe strength and delivery system. Now, I have heard from a lot of my vet friends, you know, they've been smoking weed for 50 years since they come out of Vietnam. You know? And they d- and they, they're hard to buy into it. They can still go out on the street and buy whatever they want to, probably a lot cheaper. But at least this is pure, it's unadulterated. So there's where we are. There's nothing perfect about any legislation.

509. 2:07:48

     So that being said, Mr. McDonald?

510. 2:07:52

     Yes. At this time I'd like to make a motion that we pass SB 220.

511. 2:07:57

     Second.

512. 2:07:58

     We have a motion and we have a second. Mr. Ridley?

513. 2:08:03

     Oh, I'd just like to make one comment. I don't know this place, but you're saying that you gotta go to a doctor to be able to get a prescription. And is there a dispensary and a doctor together that's going ahead and issuing license right now? Well, on Friday at 3:30 somebody went and got one in Chamblee. So how's that happening?

514. 2:08:28

     They got a card or...?

515. 2:08:29

     They got a card at the same place.

516. 2:08:32

     Oh, I don't know that you can't contact, but I don't know how you... You picked up a card somewhere?

517. 2:08:36

     They got a card. They got the card. They got the, the prescription or the recommendation and a card at the same place.

518. 2:08:43

     I, I, well, I'm not- I think we need to say hallelujah, praise Jesus. Because if they got the Department of Public Health to issue that-

519. 2:08:50

     Mm-hmm

520. 2:08:51

     ... that quick, that's a shock. They, they pre-read this bill.

521. 2:08:54

     Well, that's what I'm saying. That, that's my concern i-

522. 2:08:56

     So I would be more-

523. 2:08:57

     ... are we issuing cards anywhere else besides-

524. 2:08:59

     I, that, I'd be concerned that that was a, a counterfeit card or an illegal issued card if it didn't come from Public Health.

525. 2:09:05

     Okay, so they all do have to come from Public Health?

526. 2:09:07

     All cards have to come from Public Health.

527. 2:09:09

     Okay.

528. 2:09:09

     Correct. All right. We have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any comments, any amendments?

529. 2:09:19

     I got it. Here you go.

530. 2:09:23

     No, wait. You go. Uh, thank you, Chairman. It's more of a comment. Uh, first of all, I appreciate all the changes that you've done. I can go down the list and I think everything's a good move. I believe in the vaporization. Moving forward as this legislation goes, I, I do hope two things. One thing is there's a conversation about the potency or at least how much cap, how much, how many milligrams can come in one serving somewhere, whether it's two and a... I know we say two and a half for a vape. An- I, I hope there's conversations about that.

531. 2:09:56

     And then the other piece is, I don't know how the m- how the cannabis board works from the reporting standpoint that they're talking about, but if there's a way to put stuff in this legislation to make sure that if somebody's abusing it in that reporting, that, that you, you know, you, maybe you put their card on, on hold for a month or something. Some kind of suspension, uh, some kind of s- if you got somebody abusing the system. And th- they may be in there, I'm not a prof- You know, I don't know how it all works, but I think having that conversation's important as we open this thing up, so.

532. 2:10:27

     You raise a good point. And frankly, the PDMP, which controls all other scheduled drugs, especially as this one comes off Schedule 1, it'd be great. I'd support adding it to that one that we have to check before we prescribe any controlled substances. So I would support that as well. Thank you. All right. Representative Gaddys.

533. 2:10:48

     Mr. Chairman, at the appropriate time, I'd like to strike out line 407.

534. 2:10:55

     Ooh.

535. 2:10:55

     Problem. You're making a motion-

536. 2:10:58

     Making a motion, yes sir

537. 2:10:59

     ... on line 407 that we strike from three parentheses through individual Which would say, "In any manner, in any public place by any individual." And that would in fact strike the whole section-

538. 2:11:13

     The whole section

539. 2:11:14

     ... entirely.

540. 2:11:14

     Yes, sir.

541. 2:11:15

     All right.

542. 2:11:16

     Second.

543. 2:11:16

     All right. We have a motion.

544. 2:11:18

     Can I mention something, Chairman?

545. 2:11:20

     Yes, sir.

546. 2:11:21

     Um, the, the goal of this section was on, primarily on smoking and, and vaporization and the, uh, the potential effect of downstream smoke on other people. Would the, would the member consider changing the line 407 to just say, "By vapor- vaporization in any public place by any individual," that's, it's unlawful. We really felt pretty strongly that, that, um, that vaping your private medical, uh, that, that the use of a vape pen, which you may need to take four puffs of a vape to get 10 milligrams.

547. 2:12:01

     It's about two and a half milligrams a, a puff. The idea of that going on in public places with, um, with all the downstream, um, potential effect on other people, um, that are exposed to that, I wish... I agree with you 100% that somebody that needs it should be able to take a, a gummy or a, or a, a dose of medication if they need to. But, but vaping in public, of cannabis, it has a strong odor, it has a lot of, it has a potential effect on other people.

548. 2:12:37

     Um, I, I sure wish we could, uh, I know I'm not a member of the committee, but just as the, as the bill's sponsor-

549. 2:12:45

     All right.

550. 2:12:45

     I would prefer if you would be willing to just prohibit, to let the line continue to prohibit just vaporization in any public place by any individual. But that's my, just a request.

551. 2:12:56

     May I respond, Mr. Chairman?

552. 2:12:57

     You certainly may.

553. 2:12:58

     S- so I was just at a Super Bowl party last night.

554. 2:13:03

     We're bringing it timely.

555. 2:13:04

     And there were gentlemen and, um, no ladies, but all gentlemen vaping and smoking cigars. I never smoked in my life, and I hate cigarette smoke. I hate cigar smoke.

556. 2:13:20

     Grr.

557. 2:13:21

     Right? But I didn't want to impose on them. We were at a public place, sports bar, watching the Super Bowl, right? Now, someone could say, "Derrick, if you don't like cigar smoke, just leave." That's, that's a choice. But I'm just saying if I have one of my sailors that served with me for 22 years and they were having a crisis last night at a Super Bowl game, I want them to resolve their crisis and not having to think, "Man, I'm breaking the law 'cause I'm at a sports bar." I want them to get their crisis mitigated.

558. 2:13:59

     So all I'm saying, because of what just took place last night with myself, and I'm reading this, I'm like, when I'm reading this verbatim, and that's why at first I was just, I'm like, "I just have a problem with it. I just have a pro-"

559. 2:14:14

     I understand.

560. 2:14:14

     There's a level of personal responsibility, and if we're trying to legislate that, 'cause when you say, "In any manner-"

561. 2:14:22

     Well-

562. 2:14:22

     "... in any public place by any individual," that's anything.

563. 2:14:28

     As I said, if it just prohibited vaporization, there's two reasons. One is that it's a potential effect on other people, which we don't know yet because it hasn't been allowed or, in Georgia at all. It's also I think not just a threat to downstream-

564. 2:14:40

     Yeah

565. 2:14:41

     ... uh, secondhand smoke. It, there is a question of whether it's a threat to the entire bill, because if all of a sudden we have vaping of medical cannabis in all sorts of public spaces, not the cigar bar you mentioned, but all sorts of others that's all perfectly legal, I believe that could raise a threat to even the expansion that's offered in this bill. But, uh, that's just sponsor's opinion.

566. 2:15:03

     Well, I made a motion and it's, and it's second.

567. 2:15:05

     All right. We have a motion.

568. 2:15:06

     Yeah.

569. 2:15:06

     Comments? I see two. The lights are up again. Num- uh, Representative Jenkins.

570. 2:15:13

     Yeah. I just want to say f- first off, thank you for all the work the committee's done. We have to realize that when we're talking about this, th- this does challenge some societal norms, and I think in, in re- and we've talked about a lot of those today, the, this is the logical next step in its current form. And, and that, you know, I, I don't think we're done with this. Like we, I imagine in a few years we might work on this a little more. But I do think this is a logical next step with all the, you know, may- maybe some quirky stuff, like this kind of stuff.

571. 2:15:44

     We just need to accept that, move on with it. And, uh, so I, I, I oppose the amendment and would just like to see it passed like it is. And, uh, and let's just work on it again in a few more years once we get more comfortable and this, this ferrets itself out a little better.

572. 2:15:59

     All right. Thank you. Al Williams. Dr. Williams.

573. 2:16:04

     I really wouldn't go say anything because I understand things are much easier in the Navy than they were in the Army, so-

574. 2:16:12

     Hear, hear

575. 2:16:12

     ... it's, it's easy on you guys. We had to go down in the rabbit hole, they shot from 20 miles away, but- But in all sincerity, here's, here's the only thing I'm saying, and, and, and, and I didn't want to get in the middle, but breastfeeding is essential. When a baby's ready to be fed, for to be fed-

576. 2:16:39

     What the hell did he say?

577. 2:16:40

     But we s- Not, I was not speaking to the chairman, but anyhow.

578. 2:16:44

     That's coming from across the room.

579. 2:16:45

     It's a, it's a hot, it's a hot mic.

580. 2:16:46

     Yeah, that's what, that's what scares me.

581. 2:16:48

     Yes, sir.

582. 2:16:49

     But we set up feeding stations where they would be private because I, I, I should not have to watch you breastfeed your baby. So it's completely private. If, and again, I'm following my medical advisor here, and advise always, if there's a potential that this vaping can affect those that it's not supposed to affect, I got a real problem with it.

583. 2:17:19

     Because if I'm there, and I'll be honest with you, I enjoy a good cigar, but I never light one. I'm an anomaly. But I don't go on Monday night cigar caucus because I can't stand to stand around and then I can't wear the clothes anymore that week. But all I'm saying is, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask folk to refrain while you're in a public setting. You can, and, and if you reach the point where you reaching a crisis, excuse yourself and go down the street and get you a hit and come back, but you shouldn't do it in a crowd, 'cause I have no choice then but to inhale something I might not want to experience.

584. 2:18:05

     Now, that's just Al Williams old dog face soldier. Uh, okay.

585. 2:18:12

     Thank you, sir. I believe we've heard. No, I've heard a little bit about everything, and when you bring out breastfeeding

586. 2:18:21

     Only he would look at it. All right. Thank you. Mr. Ridley, one more time.

587. 2:18:26

     I won't second the man's motion down there. Hell, I might not know I need it until I get a little taste of it.

588. 2:18:32

     All right, we have a motion and we have a second. Amen. All right. And as long as we can quit damn scurrilously talking about people who smoke a good cigar, then let's move on with it. We have a motion and we have a second. Second.

589. 2:18:48

     On, on the amendment?

590. 2:18:50

     We've got two seconds. Amendment. All right. Any other comments? Good. There's none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

591. 2:19:04

     No. I think it's a no. Yeah. All right. Do we have any other amendments? If not, you have before you LC339865S. We have a motion on the table, no further, uh, controversy or off-the-cuff comments about certain issues we don't want to hear about. Um, if not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

592. 2:19:31

     Nope.

593. 2:19:31

     No.

594. 2:19:34

     It is a day when Jason Ridley votes against this.

595. 2:19:37

     I used to gold label that.

596. 2:19:38

     All right, the ayes have it, and your bill is on the way, and thank you for all the work you did.

597. 2:19:43

     Well, thank you to you and your committee, sir.

598. 2:19:44

     Yeah.

599. 2:19:44

     Thank you.

600. 2:19:46

     I hope I didn't have one. We have one last bill in front of us, but I think we have run out of time. We're, we're actually 20 minutes past, so-

601. 2:19:56

     Mr. Chairman, I put a lot of work and a lot of thought into this.

602. 2:20:00

     Well, it's appreciate.

603. 2:20:00

     Yeah.

604. 2:20:00

     We'll try to help.

605. 2:20:01

     Are you able to-

606. 2:20:03

     House-

607. 2:20:03

     Can I have that quickly?

608. 2:20:03

     We'll bring up House Bill 10-

609. 2:20:05

     Finally to-

610. 2:20:05

     We'll hear House Bill 1095 at the next meeting. Thank you