Pubdate: Mon, 10 Feb 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Christina A. Cassidy, Associated Press

MEDICAL POT GAINS TRACTION IN DEEP SOUTH

ATLANTA (AP) - Medical marijuana has been a nonstarter in recent 
years in the Deep South, where many Republican lawmakers feared it 
could lead to widespread drug use and social ills.

That now appears to be changing, with proposals to allow a form of 
medical marijuana gaining momentum in a handful of Southern states.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical 
marijuana, and this year powerful Republican lawmakers in Georgia and 
Alabama are putting their weight behind bills that would allow for 
the limited use of cannabis oil by those with specific medical 
conditions. Other Southern states are also weighing the issue with 
varying levels of support.

The key to swaying the hearts of conservative lawmakers has been the 
stories of children, suffering up to 100 seizures a day, whose 
parents say they could benefit from access to cannabidiol, which 
would be administered orally in a liquid form. And proponents argue 
the cannabis oil is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the 
psychoactive compound in marijuana that makes users feel high.

"I'm an unlikely champion for this cause," said Georgia state Rep. 
Allen Peake, a businessman from Macon who attended the evangelical 
Dallas Theological Seminary. "Once people realize it's not a 
6-year-old smoking a joint, most folks realize this is the 
compassionate thing to do."

Mr. Peake's bill has already earned the backing of more than 80 state 
lawmakers, including several members of the House Republican 
leadership, who signed on as co-sponsors, and the state's largest 
professional association of doctors.

The bill would revive a long-dormant research program allowing 
academic institutions to distribute the medical cannabis and would be 
"limited in scope, tightly restricted, well regulated and managed by 
doctors," Mr. Peake said.

Alabama state Rep. Mike Ball, a retired state trooper, is behind a 
bill that would allow people to possess the cannabis oil if they have 
certain medical conditions. It passed a key committee vote Wednesday.

"The public is starting to understand what this is," said Mr. Ball, 
who is chairman of a powerful House committee and is a prominent 
voice on law enforcement issues. "The political fear is shifting from 
what will happen if we pass it, to might what happen if we don't."

The bills in Georgia and Alabama still have more vetting, and their 
ultimate prospects are not certain. But what is happening offers a 
strong signal of what's to come in other states.

In Louisiana, although a bill has yet to be introduced, a recent 
committee hearing at the Capitol on legalizing medical marijuana drew 
a standing-room-only crowd, and Gov. Bobby Jindal made comments last 
month indicating he was willing to consider it.

"When it comes to medical marijuana ... if there is a legitimate 
medical need, I'd certainly be open to making it available under very 
strict supervision for patients that would benefit from that," Mr. 
Jindal said, according to a report in The Advocate newspaper of Baton 
Rouge, La.

Technically, both Georgia and Louisiana have laws on the books from 
the 1980s and 1990s that allow for the use of medical marijuana, but 
those programs essentially ended before they could start. Georgia's 
law established the academic research program for those diagnosed 
with glaucoma and for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and 
radiation, but the program stalled when the federal government 
stopped delivery of legal cannabis.

Louisiana's law allowed for glaucoma and cancer patients and those 
suffering from spastic quadriplegia to receive marijuana for 
therapeutic use, but regulations to govern the program were never developed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom