The following is basically an educational rant about the ridiculous state of Georgia’s perspective on cannabis (hemp and marijuana).
The big question for this post is “why is cannabis still illegal in Georgia”… I’ve been wondering this for a while.
As a licensed hemp farmer in the state, I see an alternative perspective on cannabis in Georgia. The current state of the hemp industry in Georgia is a joke, at the very least, and at most, a disaster for farmers and processors. The farmers and processors in the industry, have dealt with politicians ruining any legislation related to medical cannabis, legal cannabis and industrial cannabis (hemp).
Georgia’s hemp farmers and processors are priced out of the national market with Georgia’s numerous financial burdens for our industry. Why are we charged so much for compliance checks and licenses? So much so, that we cannot even come close to other state’s hemp market prices. From what I can tell, it’s the use of fear tactics as a distraction.
The politicians will tell us that we need these high costs to make sure no one is growing or processing high THC cannabis. They want to “protect our youth and citizens” from the infamous and dangerous “marijuana”.
This argument is nonsense, and I will explain why below.
Medical Cannabis in Georgia
First, some background. If you don’t know, medical marijuana has been legal in Georgia since 2015. But to date not one legal bottle of low THC oil has been sold, and not a single legal marijuana plant has been grown for this program. From my perspective, the program was never intended to be successful, only profitable for the state and a select few.
The legislation only legalized low THC oil (5% and under), which in itself is disheartening. Many patients who would benefit from medical cannabis wouldn’t get much benefit from only consuming oil with less than 5% THC; this would include cancer patients and many more. Plus, cannabis oil is only one of many ways to consume cannabis, and limiting patients to this one product isn’t helpful at all.
We aren’t even going to go into detail about the high-priced license fees, limited available licenses, and various hindrances built into the medical cannabis bill. Which has stalled the industry for medical cannabis in our state.
With a thriving cannabis black market in Georgia, why would any patient limit themselves to the just low THC cannabis oil? Additionally, these state legal products will probably cost more than buying products from out of state on the black market.
So, 7 years after medical cannabis (low THC oil) was legalized in Georgia, we have yet to see a legal product produced or sold here. We have nothing but wasted money/time, and not a single legal medical marijuana cardholder can purchase a single bottle of legal low THC oil.
Here’s a great article about the state’s current medical marijuana program, if you want more insight into the Frankenstein like bill our politicians created.
http://www.leafly.com/news/politics/why-is-georgias-medical-marijuana-still-in-limbo
Hemp in Georgia
Here’s where all this gets real interesting. Before we go into detail about the hemp program, I want to bring up an important fact that relates Georgia’s medical marijuana program with the hemp program that very few are talking about.
Above I mentioned how there’s been no low THC oil sold legally in Georgia. Well, there is a legal source for the oil already available in our state, that’s the hemp program.
Yes, the thousands of medical marijuana cardholders in Georgia could have had access to low THC oil, grown and processed in our state. When hemp oil is processed, the THC content of the oil usually starts out “hot”, or over the legal limit of THC, and that oil must be diluted with another oil to bring it down to the legal limit of .3% THC.
The hemp industry could be providing the low THC oil for the medical marijuana bill currently in place. Yet, none of the legislators want to discuss that.
This fact would provide a bigger market for hemp growers and more product for processors to create, while also solving the issues of no legal low THC cannabis oil available in Georgia.
You must keep in mind that transporting marijuana products over state lines is still illegal, so the only legal cannabis oil that can be sold in our state must be grown and processed locally.
Failing Georgia Hemp
Currently, the hemp industry in Georgia is failing. We are financially burdened by the license and compliance costs, and that in turn affects our processing costs. It’s cheaper to buy processed products from out of state than grow and process our own products in the state. The Georgia hemp industry just can’t financially compete with other states.
As a farmer, I must pay $100 per pound to package my raw flower for resale, I can get a pound of packaged flower from out of state for $100-300. To process my oil in state, I must pay more than it costs to buy prepackaged oil from another state. Those prices don’t include the initial costs of licenses, plants/seeds, supplies, or the compliance test ($600 or more per harvest).
In Georgia, the state requires a compliance check. That is basically a form that is filled out about the crop and a small sample to make sure it’s not illegal (high THC) cannabis. The cost for the form portion of the check starts at $300, then the tests for each type of hemp grown are additional costs. So, between the license fee ($50 per acre or greenhouse) and the site check fee for a single harvest, it’s nearly $800 per year my small farm pays for 1 acre and a small greenhouse permit and the compliance check costs.
We just cannot compete with that, Georgia hemp farmers and processors are being financially strangled by the legislation. The amount of hemp licenses fell by around 60% from 2021 to 2022, and we just started legal hemp here in 2020.
I’m not sure what any of us small farmers can do about any of this. Very few politicians want to hear our perspective, or at least not from what I can tell.
Legal Cannabinoids from Hemp Farming Act
Now to the meat of this story. Under the federal farm act that legalized hemp, many of the various unknown cannabinoids were legalized. As many of us aware of the market have seen, these various cannabinoids have consumed the hemp market. Many of these legal products are used for their psychoactive effects. In other words, they are legal hemp products that have the effects of “marijuana” (high thc cannabis).
At every gas station I have stopped at the last few years, I have found these products. One of the first popular cannabioids was THC-delta8, a variation of the THC-delta9 that is the main component of medical cannabis. When delta8 became wide known, it was a hit across the states that cannabis was still illegal. Many people now found a legal alternative to one of their favorite past times, illegal cannabis.
At this point, the federally legal hemp cannabinoids that can cause psychoactive effects are numerous. They can include such names as delta8, delta10, thco, thcp, hhc, and the list goes on. All having slightly different psychoactive effects, but nonetheless all making you feel like you were smoking illegal cannabis (marijuana).
So, why is cannabis illegal in Georgia?
We can find legal cannabis alternatives in the hemp product market at every gas station now. So the political argument about “keeping people safe” has gone out the window. Anyone can get legally high at their local gas station and no one can say anything about it.
Wouldn’t it be safer for our state to legalize cannabis in total at this point? It’s one of the most useful plants on the planet, and we are ruining peoples lives over it, and making it almost impossible to have any kind of cannabis market (legal hemp or otherwise).
