Marijuana
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, August 8, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Medical marijuana was a BIG issue this year in the legislature. The halls of the Capitol were filled with folks interested in H.B. 885 to amend Georgia’s 1980 law that legalized the use of marijuana to treat cancer and glaucoma. H.B. 885 changed the word “marijuana” to “cannabis,” and authorized its use as a non-smoking medication in clinical trials and research for the treatment of seizure disorders, glaucoma, cancer and the side effects of cancer treatment.
The 1980 law did not prohibit the smoking of marijuana for medical purposes, but H.B. 885 stipulated the product as “medical cannabis,” and defined it as nonpsychoactive extracts and compounds in non-smoking forms of liquid, pill, vaporization, or injection, which does NOT include recreational forms of marijuana. However, H.B. 885 died at the end of the session.
No doubt, the failure of Mr. Peake’s bill was influenced by horror stories coming out of Colorado, where new marijuana laws have resulted in major problems and negative cultural consequences. With properly written legislation, it’s possible to avoid such results here.
Fortunately, the issue is still being studied in Georgia and elsewhere. Just after the session ended this year, the Journal of Neuroscience published a report by Harvard and Northwestern researchers who studied the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds and were shocked at what they found. Half of the study group smoked pot recreationally and half of them didn’t, but even those who smoked only a few times a week had significant brain abnormalities in areas controlling emotion and motivation.
A co-author of the study summed it up this way: “There is this general perspective out there that using marijuana recreationally is not a problem – that it is a safe drug. We are seeing that this is not the case.” Another co-author added, “This is a part of the brain that you absolutely never ever want to touch.” Their conclusion: By destroying that part of the brain, the user has no feeling of reward for pleasurable activities such as eating, social interaction and sexual activity.
When S.R. 981 passed this session, it was amended to create a joint House and Senate committee to study the prescriptive use of medical marijuana for serious health conditions. Committee co-chairs Senator Unterman and Representative Peake have scheduled their first meeting for August 27th, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Room 450 of the State Capitol. I cannot overemphasize the value of these meetings. Both sides of the issue will be discussed and groundwork for future legislation will be laid. So, save the date and meet me in Room 450 at the Capitol, sit in on the meeting and learn step-by-step whether medical marijuana bills will be introduced in the 2015 session. If legislation is proposed, it must be tightly written to totally prohibit the recreational use of marijuana. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.