Whether or not farmers in Georgia would be able to grow the crop this year was in doubt until the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the state’s hemp plan this month.  This is according to a report by local news outlet AJC.com, which states that the federal government had put Georgia’s plan on hold late last year but gave it the go-ahead when state legislators appropriated $200,000 to regulate the program in this year’s budget and proposed additional funding next fiscal year.

Quarantine caused by the global outbreak of COVID-19 is forcing people across the world to find ways to entertain themselves.

In Michigan, people are lighting up.

According to a Twitter survey conducted by the health blog bodynutrition.org, Michigan residents are smoking marijuana more than any other state during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Analysts used trends software with direct access to geotagged twitter data to arrive at the conclusion.

Millions of Americans now have access to medical marijuana. But millions more do not, and attempts to change that have hit a brick wall in some states. Medical marijuana is inaccessible to 34 percent of the states in the country and remains illegal on a federal level.

This fact is a fly in the face of national sentiment. Based on the most recent nationwide survey by Gallup, 66 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana.

Barely a year after the legalization of hemp by the federal government with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, state lawmakers in Georgia are pushing to re-criminalize possession of small amounts of the plant. Under a bill approved on Tuesday by the Georgia House of Representatives’ Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, anyone possessing “green leafy” hemp or transporting hemp plants would be required to carry paperwork proving they are working for a licensed hemp business.

For decades, the University of Georgia has tested new varieties of cash crops and plants at a farm near Athens. This year, it added a new crop.

"This is industrial hemp," said Dr. Timothy Coolong, a horticulturalist who had been specializing in onions before he became Georgia’s trailblazer in the production of hemp. 

"I’m actually pretty pleased" with the production, he said, surveying the leafy rows of hemp.

Dr. Coolong nursed this field of hemp, plus others that spanned the state.  It’s a crop that was outlawed until earlier this year.  Lawmakers had been wary of hemp because it looks and smells identical to marijuana.

But it has an important distinction: Hemp has virtually none of the THC that makes marijuana a popular illegal recreational drug.

Aides to Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston haven’t said why there’s no members yet for the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission. But until they do, the expansion is effectively sidelined. 

Researchers at the University of Georgia will study the effects of legalized medical cannabis on those suffering from chronic pain thanks to a multi-million dollar grant.

The project, announced this week, will seek clarity on whether medical marijuana laws alter the health behaviors of people living with chronic pain and whether they substitute or reduce traditional pain treatments while using medical cannabis.

As anyone who works in the CBD or marijuana industry will tell you, the laws around cannabidiol can be quite confusing. That’s why it is perfectly understandable to have questions about CBD oil in Georgia. This article starts by explaining what CBD oil is. It also details what Georgian law says about it and where you can buy high-quality CBD Oil in Georgia. Keep reading to get started.

CBD Oil Defined

CBD (cannabidiol) is one of the more than a hundred compounds in hemp and marijuana plants. CBD is more plentiful in hemp, while tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is found in higher quantities in marijuana plants. THC is the compound that gets recreational users high.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has signed legislation into law to facilitate the licensed production and distribution of oils and other products containing limited amounts of plant-derived THC.

Recreational cannabis use remains illegal in 40 US states, writes Calvin Hughes. But not all jurisdictions enforce prohibition with the same zeal. Some areas are more ruthless than others. With that in mind, here are the top 5 counties that have the highest rates of marijuana arrests, according to FBI data from 2016.