January 31, 2014 Radio Commentary

“Every Lick is Like Taking a Hit!”

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 31, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. For your information: A U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Capitol on July 4, 2013 was made of hemp, which is an Asiatic herb (cannabis sativa) with tough fibrous stems used in rope-making, sailcloth, etc. Its leaves and flowers are used to make substances such as marijuana and hashish.

Here in Georgia it took years to stop the sale of marijuana-flavored candy in neighborhood stores. The first bill to stop it was designed to protect children from drug use later in life. It was introduced in 2006, but it died.

Representative Judy Manning had death threats after introducing her bill that passed the House in 2007 and the Senate passed it in 2008. But it lay dormant in the Senate until after a group of Cobb County students in white t-shirts with red slogans lobbied at the Capitol on April Fools’ Day, 2008. The students wanted the bill passed to protect their neighborhood, where any child with $4.00 could buy a “pot sucker” or other marijuana-flavored candy.When that bill became law, it became a crime in Georgia to sell lollipops and gumdrops that taste like marijuana or hemp. The slogan for advertising “chronic candy” or “kronic kandy,” or “pot suckers” was, “Every lick is like taking a hit!” Since 2008, selling it has been a misdemeanor, punishable by fines of $1,000 for each offense. Each sale is a separate offense.

Now marijuana, itself, has become a legislative issue. H.B. 885 introduced January 28th would legalize medical cannabis for the treatment of seizure disorders, glaucoma, cancer and related treatment. That bill must be delayed until a committee authorized by S.R. 756 has completed studying and researching the pros and cons of marijuana. The committee would make its final recommendations on December 1st, in time for legislation to be introduced in the 2015 session.

Parents of children with certain disorders are actively lobbying Georgia legislators to legalize medical marijuana with laws similar to those in Colorado and California, where marijuana is dispensed in the form of oil and available in marijuana-laced goodies, such as brownies.

The New York Times was first to announce the intention of New York’s governor to issue an executive order to make New York the 21st state to legalize medical marijuana. Twenty states and DC already allow it. Since January 1st anyone 21 or older can buy marijuana in Colorado. During the Obama administration, requests for medical marijuana jumped from 50 to 300 percent, after his signal that federal laws won’t be used to override state laws against marijuana.

Contact Senator Unterman at 404 463-1368 and ask her to please pass S.R. 756 out of her committee so a marijuana study committee can be created to research the issue. Other members of Senator Unterman’s Health & Human Services Committee are Senators Balfour, V.Ch., 656-0095; Millar, 463-2260; Burke, 656-0040; Butler, 656-0075; Carter, 656-5109; Henson, 656-0085; Hill, Judson, 656-0150; Hufstetler, 656-0034; Jackson, Lester, 463-5261; Ligon, 656-0045; Orrock, 463-8054; and Shafer, 656-0048.

For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.