Georgia governor Nathan Deal will sign a bill legalizing the use of medical marijuana after the Georgia House overwhelmingly passed the bill. This makes Georgia the latest in a long line of states to legalize the drug for medical use. At the same time, the latest bill presented at the federal level has been killed in committee.
The bill's sponsor, Representative Allen Peake (R-Macon) dubbed the measure "the Haleigh's Hope Act" for five year old Haleigh Cox and her mother Janea Cox, both of whom watched the passage of the bill from the back of the room.
"It's so emotional. Because it was a hard fight last year. And to see it pass this year you can finally take a deep breath," said Janea Cox afterward.
The Georgia legislatur's passing of the bill legalizing medical marijuana will finally allow Haleigh's family the chance to leave Colorado and return home, joining other medical refugees were supported the bill's passage.
"To come home to this is just amazing. It's a huge weight off our shoulders that we don't have to stay in Colorado another year to wait for legislation to pass. So it's giving my husband and I a chance to be a family again," Cox sai.
"This has been a long time coming," Peake said moments before the vote.
While medical marijuana supporters celebrate this victory, the use of cannabis as a legalized drug for medical use has failed to gain support at the federal level. While a proposed bill has been working its way through Congress, it died a quick a death in the House Judiciary Committee.
The issue has proved to be controversial at best with many supporters lining up on both sides of the bill.
"Legalizing marijuana for medical purposes is both unnecessary and a slippery slope," executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, Tami Fitzgerald says. "We oppose House Bill 78. It could open the door to legalizing marijuana for recreational use."
"This is not about recreation. A lot of folks wave that red flag about recreation. This is about medicine. This is about doing things to help sick people get better. This is about improving the lives of 800,000 veterans in North Carolina right now," Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, told the committee.
For now, it seems, the states will have to continue to take the lead in the legalization of medical marijuana. Already, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized some form of marijuana use, mostly for medical purposes and this trend will likely continue whether the federal government chooses to act on the issue or not.
