Monthly Archives: January 2019

January 25, 2019 Weekly Commentary

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“Misgendering,” “Deadnaming,” and True Pronouns

Georgia Insight’s Weekly Commentary, January 25, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

You’ve heard about the Decatur City School superintendent’s July 2016 mandate that preferred transgender pronouns will be used, regardless of biological sexual identity or whether or not using the opposite-sex pronoun to refer to an individual is okay with students, faculty, parents, school board or community. To be clear, he mandated that any boy who identifies as a girl shall be identified as a female; will use intimate facilities girls use, try out for girls’ sports, and room with other girls on field trips.

Six months later, parents learned of the superintendent’s policy on Facebook and, appropriately, took their complaint to the local school board that had a public hearing, then upheld the policy.

After implementation of that policy, a “gender fluid” boy assaulted a five-year-old girl in Oakhurst Elementary School restroom for girls in 2017. Although that incident had no effect on the school district’s transgender policy, the USDOE Civil Rights Office has opened an official investigation since Decatur schools receive federal funding.

A Virginia high school French teacher fired in December for not using a transgender student’s preferred pronouns said this in a television interview, “I used the new name, I avoided feminine pronouns, but male pronouns were a bridge too far. I did everything in my power to accommodate and show respect towards this student and this student’s choices.” Continue reading →

January 18, 2019 Weekly Commentary

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Will Georgia Legalize Pot?

Georgia Insight’s Weekly Commentary, January 11, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Although the Georgia General Assembly passed laws authorizing the medical use of low potency THC for patients on the state registry, folks who want marijuana grown in the state are not satisfied.

Since the 2018 legislature adjourned last spring, two special study committees have met to find ways to accomplish two goals: (a) in-state cultivation of marijuana to provide retail sales of THC oil, and (b) in-state cultivation of hemp-grade marijuana for manufacturing multiple retail products.

Whether it’s grown for hemp or THC oil, marijuana is a dangerous, addictive, hallucinogenic product when it’s smoked.  Also, there is noproven medical benefit for THC oil that’s taken by mouth or injected.  The tension in this debate is between scientific fact and emotional need.

Scientists say the medical benefits of cannabis have been debated globally for 150 years.  After a hundred years of listing cannabis extracts as sleep aids and treatment for convulsions, the British and U.S. Pharmacopeia took cannabis extracts off the list for the same reasons debated today. Continue reading →

January 2019 Newsletter

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Three-pronged Pressure to Cultivate Marijuana In-state

1. H.B. 65 Study Committee on Low THC Medical Oil Access

The official quest for in-state cultivation of marijuana in Georgia began in 2015, when H.B. 1 became law authorizing tetrahydrocannabinol1 (THC) treatment for eight2 specific conditions.

A 2017 law provided reciprocity for states requiring state-issued cards for THC treatment, cut physician reporting to twice a year, and made hospice patients and six more ailments3 eligible.

In 2018 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and intractable pain were added when H.B. 65 passed to create a ten-member Joint Study Committee on Low THC Medical Oil Access. After holding five public meetings across the state, committee co-chairmen filed the following final recommendations:

H.B. 65 Study Committee Recommendations

1. Reclassify THC from a Schedule I drug to Schedule II, to legalize physician prescriptions.

2. If marijuana is not reclassified federally, the 2019 General Assembly should do so.

3. The Commission wants marijuana to be exempted from the Georgia Seed Law4.

4. Licenses: 10 for cultivation, 10 for manufacturing, and license dispensaries as necessary.

5. The Commission recommends control of labeling and state-wide laboratory testing.

6. The Commission recommends that the Georgia Department of Health oversee the process.

7. The Commission recommends prohibiting pesticides and insecticides on marijuana plants.

  • To read the rest of this newsletter in PDF format, please click here.

January 11, 2019 Radio Commentary

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Start-Date for Schools

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 11, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Last session, two bills were introduced concerning the date schools start in Georgia.  Representative Ben Stephens introduced H.B. 936 on Valentine’s Day requiring the school year to start no earlier than the third week in August.  It didn’t pass, but the subject didn’t die.

On March 16th Senator Steve Gooch introduced S.R. 1068 that passed March 27th authorizing the creation of a senate committee to study the school-year calendar for Georgia public schools.

Senator Gooch expects committee research to answer questions such as these: Is a later school start date feasible; would families have better opportunities to vacation together; and would it increase the availability of summer jobs for teenagers?

By September the eleven-member study committee had been appointed and met for the first time in October.  When Senator Gooch asked them why summer break had shrunk to two months, no one was able to answer.  However, a Georgia Department of Education spokesman explained that the state DOE has no authority over school calendars, and DOE’s policy director said attendance calendars are timed around school testing.  Continue reading →