MARIETTA, Ga. — People will soon be able to buy medical marijuana in Georgia for the first time. Two dispensaries passed inspections Thursday afternoon and are now set to open Friday morning. They're part of five total locations a state commission approved Wednesday to sell medical cannabis.
Shannon Cloud, a Cobb County parent of a 17-year-old with chronic seizures, said she was elated to hear the news after trying to make progress in getting access to medical cannabis in Georgia.
"We’ve been waiting nine years for this to happen since we started this fight, so this is absolutely incredible that all the adults and kids who need this medicine will have a way to get it," Cloud said. "The thing with seizures is you never know when it could be the last. It could be the one that takes their life. The idea that there's any medicine out there that could stop those seizures is an incredible relief for parents."
The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission's decision allows two companies, Georgia-based Botanical Sciences and Florida-based Trulieve, to legally sell medical marijuana to registered patients in the state.
The commission issued five dispensing licenses between the two companies. To buy medical cannabis from the dispensaries, people need to have a state registry card. According to the state, nearly 30,000 people are registered with cards costing $25 that last for two years.
Gary Long, CEO of Botanical Sciences, said stores in Cobb County and Chatham County should open within a matter of weeks. They will sell medicinal marijuana with five-percent THC oil combined with other cannabinoids, Long said. Product can be sold in the form of tinctures, capsules, topicals and lozenges.
"Once we are complete with all the construction and the final permitting and approval by those municipalities, then the commission would come in for one final audit or inspection to make sure it satisfies all the rules and regulations we've been asked to follow," Long said. “Our product is in the process of being essentially packaged into its usable forms. As soon as the lab is authorized to actually receive product from us, we’ll be sending them product for their approvals.”
Meantime, Trulieve will open its first two stores to patients in Marietta and Macon Friday morning, according to CEO Kim Rivers.
"This means patients will finally be able to get relief in their home state, that they no longer have to have concerns about potentially traveling across state lines with product or obtaining that product that in some cases is absolutely life-changing," Rivers said. “We’re now officially able to open our doors and get product into the hands of those Georgians, who’ve been waiting for so very long to be able to access medical marijuana in the state.”
While some parents are continuing to push for expansion in the form of higher THC doses, more providers and more approved conditions to take medicinal marijuana, the progress made in a years-long battle to access and purchase the product in Georgia is a dream come true for Cloud.
"Some people argue that these two companies can support the entire patient registry," Cloud said. "Maybe they can, but ultimately, patients need more options. We need greater accessibility around the state, competition for better prices, and so we’ll see where it goes.”