Proposed Laws

Proposed draft of a Bill to be sponsored and voted on in 2010 creating an affirmative defense to the criminal offense of possession of marijuana for terminally ill and AIDS patients who have a doctor’s recommendation and were not using marijuana in the presence of children or in public:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

To amend Chapter 34 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to Physicians, Acupuncture, Physician Assistants, Cancer and Glaucoma Treatment, Respiratory Care, Clinical Perfusionists, and Orthotics and Prosthetics Practice, so as to provide for an affirmative defense to criminal prosecution for patients using marijuana for the treatment of a terminal illness or HIV/AIDS with a doctor’s written recommendation; to  limit such affirmative defense to possession of less than three (3) ounces for personal medical purposes; to limit such defense to possession in private and away from children, to provide an effective date; and to repeal conflicting laws.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Article 5 of Chapter 34 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to use of marijuana for treatment of cancer and glaucoma, is amended by adding Code Section 43-34-127 as follows:

“43-34-127.  Affirmative defense to prosecution for possession of marijuana by terminally ill persons and AIDS patients.

(a) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for violation of Code Sections 16-13-30(j) that the person:

(1) Was, at the time of possession of marijuana, suffering from a terminal illness or AIDS, and was personally using marijuana to alleviate physical pain and suffering;

(2) Was in possession of less than three (3) ounces of marijuana for personal use only;

(3) Was using marijuana for medical reasons upon the written recommendation of a licensed physician; and

(4) Was not using marijuana in the presence of children under the age of eighteen, or in a public place.

(b)  No law enforcement agency in this state shall have any civil liability resulting from the lawful arrest of any person to whom this affirmative defense may apply.

(c) Nothing in this Code Section shall be interpreted as decriminalizing or legalizing recreational marijuana use, or preventing the enforcement and application of any part of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act in any case anywhere in this state, except as specifically stated herein.”

SECTION 2.

The effective date of this law shall be July 1, 2010, and it shall apply to any prosecutions in progress on that date and all future prosecutions.

SECTION 3.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

  1. Christopher Clark’s avatar

    Christopher Clark on November 17, 2009 at 10:49 am

    I understand the desire to protect mmj patients but I didn’t see a safe way for patients to have access whether the ability to grow own, or with a caregiver, or dispensaries/collectives. Is that something that can be added to this bill or does that have to be totally separate? I think its just as important to protect the right of the patient to safe procurement as well as possession.

  2. k’s avatar

    k on December 2, 2009 at 8:45 am

    Why would we not follow along in the 13 states that HAVE legalized mm? why reinvent the wheel, or “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

  3. Robert Hilton’s avatar

    Robert Hilton on December 4, 2009 at 12:15 am

    I agree with Christopher Clark on this. There needs to be something in writing on how a medical user can go about getting their medicine(growing). As a glaucoma patient, I feel that there needs to be some changes made in Georgia fast. I have yet to find a doctor who could prescribe me a government(another word for drug dealer) approved drug that gives me any relief. I think a person should at a minimal be able to have 4 ounces of dry medicine and 4 Adult Female Plants at one time

  4. admin’s avatar

    admin on December 4, 2009 at 8:28 am

    I agree that our ultimate goal should be straight up legalization. Realistically, on the medical front, I agree that 3-4 ounces and 4-6 female plants is sufficient for treatment, better for the environment, reducing crime, and safer for patients. A “phase two” bill will be posted soon. I am wary of the dispensary businesses that are springing up in CO and CA etc – they are easy targets for opponents of decriminalization bc of abuse that sometimes happens. If people are just allowed to grow in private that would be better. It’s hard to figure out a reasonable path to legalization that doesn’t mean some asshole getting rich and limiting supply.

  5. Dante’s avatar

    Dante on December 4, 2009 at 9:58 am

    Ideally this would lay out a system to procure your legal mm. But political reality in Georgia is that any such system would doom the bill. Hell getting even this bill passed will take some hard work and money.

    This is a good start and it’s a bill that has a fighting chance.

    Let’s support it!

  6. C. Clark’s avatar

    C. Clark on December 6, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Uh duh, why didn’t I think of this sooner? Because we are spread out in GA, the use of the internet is vital to our efforts. I think it should be a club goal for us to have at least 1 person in every district in GA. If there are no persons in a given district, we will find some. The internet is a very powerful tool and can be used to recruit others to the cause easily. It should be the goal of that person(s) to persistently contact their rep about the MJ issue. If they do not support it and will not change their views, then find a competing politician in that area who will and we will show support to the politician in favor of our views. If we get people in every single district sending thousands of letters to their reps, I think we will increase the chance of speed in GA.

    These letters, phone calls, and internet searches take only a few minutes a day. I usually spend less than 5 minutes a day on it, but I get so many letters sent out. It is hard to send to reps outside your district, so we need to catalogue members who will help in this effort and organize our efforts to try to get a better/faster/more desired result not to mention more dispersed all over GA.

    Also, I think hemp farming is going to be a good entrance strategy to get GA politicians on board (because we are 1 of only 2 states that still doesn’t allow the sale of alcohol on Sundays). You know GA politicians will have to be spoon fed this in baby steps on a long journey to re-legalization (in any form that may come). This state is famous for procrastinating until its too late to make any real money off of something b/c everyone else has already done it and they all have a foothold in the market. Farming is vital to GA’s economy and with GA’s land volume and excellent growing climate, hemp farming could really boost our employment and revenue. Politicians listen to farmers and usually try to appease them in GA.

    We also need an online place (facebook, chat room, web page, whatever)to do this so the information will be available to all of us and it can be organized so we can deliver efforts where needed. I WILL GLADLY VOLUNTEER TO HELP MAINTAIN SUCH A FORUM!!!! I work from home and all my work is done via the internet, so that is something that I am basically doing already. I am pretty good at data mining too.

    I am in District 1 Rep Jack Kingston. He does not support MMJ, MJ, or hemp farming. However, since the recent announcement from Eric Holder and the American Medical Association, his response letters have changed slightly in that he might actually be willing to entertain this provided the govt wants to back off. He does support keeping the govt out of citizens lives (which always baffles me that they would want the govt to tell me what I can put in my body and get between me and my doctor). He is a big fan of Marinol and used to be an insurance exec (which explains to me why he doesn’t want a public health care option). His biggest opponent does support MJ however will not be running next election.

    The GA Senators Isakson Website: http://isakson.senate.gov ATL: (770) 661-0999 DC: (202) 224-3643 and Chambliss Website: http://chambliss.senate.gov ATL: (770) 763-9090 DC: (202) 224-3521 respond through email and usually very fast. Their offices pick up the phones on the first ring.

    It took me literally 10 minutes to find all this info through the web, make a couple phone calls, and send out a few emails. I send them letters weekly via http://norml.org and http://mpp.org. My responses from Jack Kingston are always written snail mail. It is so fast and easy and so many people can make a difference. There are a lot of important bills out there that your politicians want to hear from you on. I just wanted to demonstrate to ya’ll how easy this can be and require less than 10 minutes a week to do. I cannot do this alone and my impact is limited to my district b/c of the way voting is done. I need other districts. Every email and phone call equals thousands of voices to politicians. We will show all the old southern bible belt republicans that we will not stand for the injustice of prohibition any longer and our voices will be heard.

  7. Christopher Clark’s avatar

    Christopher Clark on December 7, 2009 at 11:04 am

    I’m down for growing my own. Got a room ready to go already, just need the legislation

  8. admin’s avatar

    admin on December 7, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    The consensus at the meeting last Sat was to also promote a bill that decriminalizes personal use amounts so that nobody can get arrested for less than an ounce and cannot be sent to jail. I’m gonna draft such a bill and post it here. Chris, I would love to have your help with either this site or some other online forum for intelligent discussion about proposed legislation. Pls email to ganorml@gmail.com your private email so we can talk.

  9. CanabisJane’s avatar

    CanabisJane on December 9, 2009 at 5:56 am

    So this new bill is just to improve the old MMJ laws here in georgia?? How come only aids, cancer and glaucoma patients only get relief when there are other illnesses that MMJ can treat?

    Wisconsin has added PTSD to their list of illnesses/disabilities to treat on it’s proposed bill. Also there needs to be a bill that CLEARLY states how a med patient is able to obtain their meds. If you want a good guidline to follow to write up the laws in Georgia, check out OMMP in Oregon. They have one of the best programs right now. Patients need to be able to grow their own meds, and the laws need to be clear on how dispenseries/compassionate club will be operated so that we don’t run into problems in the future of the law not being clear enough, because that is what is happening in CA right now.

    Decrim is not the answer in my opinion, med patients need protection from jail time! And lets not limit who can get a med card to just aids, cancer and glaucoma!

  10. Christopher Clark’s avatar

    Christopher Clark on December 9, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    Thats a bad address ADMIN. Mailer Daemon undeliverable

  11. admin’s avatar

    admin on December 21, 2009 at 8:32 am

    COMING SOON: a draft bill for medical marijuana in Georgia legalizing possession and manufacture of recognized medical use amounts and dispensaries. ALSO a bill making non-violent misdemeanors including possession of less than an ounce NON-ARRESTABLE and NON-JAILABLE offenses. This would make getting busted just like a speeding ticket and allow a “tax” on marijuana possession. Ultimately, of course, we want nothing less than full legalization.

  13. Christopher Clark’s avatar

    Christopher Clark on December 21, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    We need folks in the 4th, 9th, 11th, and 12th districts. All of the current bills are in the House Judiciary Commitee and the House of Energy and Commerce. These are the GA legislators that can actually vote on them. I am in District 1 and my Congressman is on the House Appropriations Committee, so it is useless to mail him, bc he can’t vote on it.

    You can use a fast and easy email template service via http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/ to ask them to support House Bill 3939, House Bill 2835, House Bill 1866, and House Bill 2943

    If you are in the 4th District: DeKalb County, Rockdale County, or Gwinnett County Contact Rep Hank Johnson at http://hankjohnson.house.gov/index.html

    If you are in the 9th District: Dade County, Walker County, Catoosa County, Whitfield County, Murray County, Gordon County, Fannin County, Pickens County, Gilmer County, Union County, Dawson County, Lumpkin County, Forsyth County, Hall County, or White County contact Rep Nathan Deal at http://www.house.gov/deal/map.shtml

    If you are in the 11th District: Bartow County, Carroll County, Chatooga County, Cobb County, Floyd County, Gordon County, Haralson County, Paulding County, or Polk County contact Rep Phil Gingrey at http://gingrey.house.gov/

    If you are in the 12th District: Baldwin County, Bullock County, Burke County, Candler County, Chatham County, Effingham County, Emanual County, Evens County, Glascock County, Hancock County, Jefferson County, Jenkins County, Johnson County, Montgomery County, Richmond County, Screven County, Taliaferro County, Tattnal County, Toombs County, Treutlen County, Warren County, or Washington County contact Rep John Barrow at http://www.barrow.house.gov/

    All Ga Residents: Contact your Senators Saxby Chambliss (202) 224-3521 and Johnny Isakson (202) 224-3643 and urge them to support Senate Bill 714 which will be voted on Dec 24th!

  14. Harry Hydro’s avatar

    Harry Hydro on January 16, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    Christopher,

    I’m in the 9th district and can tell you that Deal is brain-dead against any legalization. Hopefully with him running for governor (McBerry is our friend), someone will get elected in the 9th that is a little more open-minded…

    Harry

    I gave you my card at the meeting, e-mail me about the message forum.