With the passage of the federal spending bill on Saturday, Congress made a historic decision which contains protections for medical marijuana and industrial hemp operations. The immediate and symbolic message of this decision related to the war on drugs is far reaching and is a huge step forward for advocates of this industry.

The spending bill includes an amendment that will prohibit the Department of Justice from using funds to go after state-legal medical cannabis programs. It will also move the country one step closer to ending raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.

“When the House first passed this measure back in May, we made headlines; today we made history,” Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who in May introduced the medical marijuana protections amendment with co-sponsor Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), told The Huffington Post regarding the bill’s passage.

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As advocates of cannabidiol begin to find their voice on a national level, families continue to grow anxious at the speed that local and state agencies move towards bringing CBD to their state. CBD has, however, recently found advocates in elected officials, but stories of families being forced to take drastic measures continues.

Bonni Goldstein, MD, medical director of Canna-Centers, explains that “it’s often desperation — not rebellion against convention — that pushes parents to seek medical marijuana for their children.”

Families find hope in every story they read, many of which point to CBD as a solution for families desperate for any relief for their child. Goldstein recalls families moving across the country to California just to seek CBD for their children. This story is unfortunately not  a unique situation, as families have been reported to make the move to Colorado as well shortly after marijuana was legalized.

There are, however, still many unknowns and advocates continue to stress that government acceptance will help in bringing stronger clinical studies on the effects of CBD.

When Goldstein prescribes cannabidiol to children with epilepsy, she always clarifies to their parents that the long-term risks of the compound are unknown. “It wasn’t available 30 years ago,” she explains. Yet, “every single parent has said to me, ‘Well, I don’t know the long-term effects of the medications my child is taking, and the seizures haven’t stopped. I’d like to give my child the best chance possible.’”

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In Georgia, two of the most disputed matters from this year’s Georgia legislative session, medical cannabis and a private-insurance mandate for autism, remain on the docket for 2015. In an interview this week with Speaker David Ralston, he predicted an easy time in his chamber for one of those issues, but not necessarily the other.

Last year’s medical cannabis bill, aided by recent studies on the therapeutic aspects of CBD, gained strong momentum over the course of the session but eventually stalled. That was in large part because the Senate attached to it a separate bill, opposed by the House, to mandate autism coverage by private insurance plans. The House disagreed with that combination, and both efforts died.

HB 1, pre-filed by Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, would allow the parents of children who suffer severe seizures to have access to cannabidiol oil, which is made from an extract of the cannabis plant and has been effective in reducing the number and severity of seizures in some children.

Ralston said:

“I really, fervently hope that — and I expect — the House will move House Bill 1 quickly. And I hope the Senate will look at that issue on its own merits and join with us in passing that bill. Representative Peake has done as good a job pushing a piece of legislation as I’ve seen in a lot of years around this building. He brings great passion and just heartfelt concern for these families on this issue. But he’s done his homework. And I think you’re going to see a very well thought-out and very well put-together bill and I’m hoping we can pass that quickly and get it over to the Senate, and that they will pass it quickly and that we can address that issue.”

In South Carolina, a legislative committee met Thursday to discuss allowing the medical use of marijuana. The panel met to hear testimony in October in Charleston and in November in Greenville. The General Assembly went on to approve a bill this year allowing patients with severe epilepsy to be treated with non-psychoactive cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, which helps control seizures.

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As the understanding of cannabidiol (CBD) continues to grow nationwide, Colorado has been pushing forward on clinical trials to provide crucial data behind some of CBD’s impressive claims.

The Denver Post reports that Colorado State Public Health Department officials have recommended over $7 million dollars in grant funding to pay for a series of state-sponsored clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabinoids. These include two studies that will evaluate the use of cannabidiol for patients with pediatric epilepsy, two studies on post-traumatic stress disorder, and four other studies as part of the largest-ever state research program on medical marijuana and cannabidiol.

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