Georgia’s medical cannabis laws could become more permissive under a pair of bills advancing through the legislative process this session.

Under the current law that former Gov. Nathan Deal signed in April 2015, Georgia’s medical cannabis program is limited to 5% THC oil, lotions, transdermal patches and capsules. It took the Peach State eight years before the first low-THC dispensaries opened in April 2023.

In addition to the product restrictions, Georgia limits participation in its program. For several qualifying conditions—from AIDS to Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease—a patient’s diagnosis must be “severe” or “end-stage” to gain access to the cannabis program.

This restricted access could broaden in 2025.

Georgia House lawmakers voted, 164-1, to pass House Bill 227 on Feb. 27, which, among three primary focuses, would update the list of qualifying conditions to include Lupus and remove the terms severe and end-stage.

Sponsored by Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella, the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act” would also change the term “low-THC oil” to “medical cannabis” and allow physicians and patients to be better educated about the program.

“I think it ought to be the patients and the doctors [who] decide when they have these conditions when they can use these products, and I wanted them to be able to use it before hospice was called in,” Dickey said last week on the House floor. “This is a simple bill and that is all it does: three things.”

The simplicity of the bill may not be enough to sway the legitimacy of the program in the eyes of many cannabis legalization advocates who have yet to view Georgia as a legalized state. Most cannabis advocacy organizations assert that medical cannabis is legalized in 39 states in the U.S.—that number excludes Georgia, Texas, where THC has a 1% cap, and Iowa, where qualifying patients are limited to 4.5 grams of THC every 90 days.

As of December 2024, Georgia had just more than 26,000 patients registered in its low-THC cannabis program—a relatively low number compared to its peers—according to the state’s Department of Public Health.

However, a more expansive bill is on the table in the Georgia Senate that could help grow the state’s patient registry.

Senate Bill 220, also dubbed the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act,” would not only accomplish the three goals of the lower chamber’s bill, but it would increase the state’s THC limit to 50% and allow for vaping, gummies and other products derived from cannabis. However, it would still prohibit raw plant material (cannabis flower and pre-rolls), food products (cookies and candies), and hemp products from the medical market.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, advanced out of the Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 26 and awaits a floor vote. The bill has bipartisan support, including cosponsorship from 10 Republicans and eight Democrats in the 56-member upper chamber.

Brass said many provisions in the bill resulted from the GA Access to Medical Cannabis Commission’s (GMCC) patient listening tour held at various universities in October and November. The tour engaged more than 125 participants, including patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, advocates, licensees and government employees.

“There’s a need for a more fast-acting [products] for some of these patients that an hour or two hours, whatever the normal wait time is, just isn’t taking care of these patients the way it needs to,” Brass told committee members last week.

“We’re making it very clear that you cannot use flower, or in the old days, I guess you’d just call it straight grass. Flower is the new term for the leaf product,” Brass said. “So, we’re making it clear that these patients can’t go buy a bag of weed and you can’t buy pre-rolled, the pre-rolls as they call them—basically, it’s my understanding that it’s kind of like a joint—but we’re not allowing anything in flower form, only vape.”

S.B. 220 also would strike the current 20-fluid-ounce possession limit from the law and replace it with 2 ounces of medical cannabis to broadly cover various product types.

The legislation would also authorize the GMCC to educate the public, patients, doctors and others about medical cannabis and the program, as well as for the state’s six production licensees to outsource education; however, advertising would remain prohibited.

“We learned in that listening tour that there needs to be more education out there,” Brass said. “So, we wanted to allow a third party—like [an] association can educate [the] public and doctors and patients. It can’t advertise for one particular brand over another. It’s just … they can educate.”

The six production licensees in Georgia currently operate 15 dispensaries, with the current law allowing for additional dispensaries to open when the patient registry grows.

Although S.B. 220 is the more expansive legislation on expanding the state’s low-THC medical cannabis program, the upper chamber has until March 6 to approve the bill before the Legislature’s crossover deadline—when bills must advance out of the chamber they were introduced.