Pubdate: Fri, 21 Mar 2014
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
Copyright: 2014 Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/992
Page: B4
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

GEORGIA LAWMAKERS FINISH IN A FLURRY

ATLANTA (AP) - With just hours remaining in Georgia's 2014 legislative
session, sick patients and their caregivers were waiting to see if
state lawmakers could compromise to create a program authorizing the
medical use of a marijuana derivative. The Associated Press Georgia
Rep. Sam Teasley, R-Marietta, looks over the Georgia State Capitol
during a dinner break during the last day of the legislative session
Thursday in Atlanta.

By law, the General Assembly meets just 40 working days annually. Any
legislation not approved by midnight Thursday automatically has failed
for the year.

That fate awaited the so-called medical marijuana initiative as
legislators made last-day maneuvers in an election-year session that
was otherwise generally tame.

Proponents pushed a program that would allow people suffering from the
side effects of cancer treatment, glaucoma and some seizure disorders
to take oil derived from cannabis in the hope it would ease their symptoms.

Few lawmakers opposed the idea on principle, but senators used it as a
last-minute bargaining chip. Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, attached
the legislation to a separate proposal that would require insurance
companies to cover behavioral therapy for Georgia children 6 and under
who have been diagnosed with autism.

Republican House leaders balked at the insurance requirement because
they are concerned it will raise costs for employers and workers.
Unterman said she expected the differences to be worked out in a
compromise committee of senators and representatives.

"It's a mandate," said Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon. "It's always been
problematic for our side."

In other moves, the state Senate voted 29-22 to allow the government
to drug test people who seek or get government assistance to buy food.
Those tests could be administered if a state official has a
"reasonable suspicion" that a person is using drugs.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal abandoned a previous law to test welfare
recipients after federal courts invalidated a similar Florida law. The
measure was pending in the House.

Sen. Don Balfour, R- Snellville, said most residents would find the
testing requirement reasonable. "They get drug tested when they go to
work. They get drug tested if they are on the police force," he said.
"They are drug tested if they are on the Georgia National Guard. This
just says if you're getting ... benefits, we want to know if you're
clean or not."

Other Republicans countered that Georgia will wind up in court. "I do
not see how a state bureaucrat, not a law enforcement officer, is
supposed to determine what the phrase 'reasonable suspicion' means,"
said Sen. Joshua McKoon, R-Columbus.
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MAP posted-by: Matt