Marijuana buds with a THC oil concentrate filled vape pen
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Georgia governor has signed a bill that expands the state’s medical cannabis program, easing access to cannabis vapes and removing the THC potency cap.
Signed this week by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, Senate Bill 220, known as the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act,” marks a further expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program.
With the new legislation, the language that defines cannabis changes, with the replacement of the term “low-THC oil” with “medical cannabis.” The law also expands qualifying conditions to include lupus, removes the previous THC potency cap, which was set at 5% THC, and instead allows up to 12,000 milligrams of THC per labeled container. Under the legislation, patients over 21 can now use vaporized medical cannabis, though smoking remains prohibited. Patients with incurable or irreversible conditions are now also exempt from annual certification requirements. The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission also gains broader authority over licensing, tracking, inspections, enforcement, and public education.
The new legislation marks a further step in the expansion of Georgia’s medical cannabis program. The state has long maintained some of the country’s most restrictive cannabis laws.
Recreational cannabis remains illegal, while medical cannabis, legalized in 2015, was initially limited to low-THC oil containing up to 5% THC for a narrow list of qualifying conditions.
The program has grown steadily since then. A 2016 bill opened the door to more patients by expanding which medical conditions qualify, and lawmakers kept adding to that list in 2017 and 2018. Then, in April 2019, Georgia took a bigger step, approving in-state cannabis cultivation and allowing the sale of low-THC oil. Two years later, the state expanded again, this time greenlighting cannabis tinctures, transdermal patches, lotions, and capsules.
The first two licensed dispensaries in the state opened in Macon and Marietta in 2023 and are operated by Trulieve. Today, more than 15 locations across the state are licensed to sell medical cannabis products, which serve more than 33,000 patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program, according to the state’s cannabis agency.
Gov. Kemp said in a statement that Senate Bill 220, sponsored by Republican Sen. Matt Brass, makes changes that “while meaningful to the affected patients, do not materially alter where Georgia sits in the national landscape on this issue.”
He also said that, despite his opposition to the bill, it passed with a constitutional majority in both chambers of the General Assembly. “I, like many of those who expressed opposition to this bill, have reservations about the legalization of recreational cannabis.”
“Many states that have legalized recreational cannabis have come to regret that decision,” he continued. “I also recognize that for some patients, medical cannabis provides significant relief to symptoms that would otherwise go untreated or would be treated with even more harmful opioids. I do not believe that a well-implemented medical cannabis program must inevitably lead to the legalization of recreational use in Georgia, nor is the question of recreational use anywhere in the bill on my desk for signature.”
The expansion of the medical cannabis program in Georgia comes as at least 40 states have laws that allow the use of medical cannabis in the United States, and amid a historical policy shift in medical cannabis policy. In late April, the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump saw the U.S. Department of Justice officially reschedule state-licensed medical cannabis and FDA-approved cannabis products from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.
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