Georgia State Capitol Building
The first of five hearings of the Georgia Medical Cannabis Joint Study Committee was held at the Georgia State Capitol, on August 27, 2014.
Three expert witnesses were invited to speak: Paige Figi and Matt Cook from Colorado; and James Bell, Executive Director of Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform and Education (CARE), from Atlanta. Figi advocates legalization for full medical cannabis, while Bell supports full legalization of cannabis; and Cook is an expert on legislation who assists states in writing legislation.
At these hearings, committee members are gathering information on medical cannabis from public testimony and expert witnesses to determine if it is appropriate to enact legislation that will allow for the prescription of medical cannabis for epilepsy and other medical conditions.
“We are going to learn from the hearings if there are other diagnoses that are worth looking at and evaluating to see if medical cannabis does provide a solution. In a terminal illness situation, I think it is something to look at,” State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) told APN.
Figi is the mother of Charlotte Figi who was the first pediatric patient in Colorado to try Cannabidiol (CBD) Oil for seizures. Figi testified that two and one half years ago Charlotte was suffering from Dravet syndrome, an intractable, untreatable form of epilepsy. At age five, she had fifty seizures a day or 1,200 a month. The family tried every conceivable medical option and eventually brought her home to die. In desperation, they started researching cannabinoids.
After the first test trial of CBD, Charlotte went from 1,200 seizures down to one or two a month. She received three doses of the CBD oil a day. Today, she is off all pharmaceutical drugs, oxygen, and feeding tubes; and she can walk and talk.
Read More About The Georgia Medical Cannabis Study Committee