Medical marijuana sales, cultivation pitched in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) The Georgia legislature is set to consider bills allowing for the sale and cultivation of medical marijuana based on a study committee's recommendation.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a joint House and Senate committee last week recommended lawmakers should consider providing 10 grow licenses, 10 manufacturing licenses and an ``adequate number'' of dispensing licenses. Lawmakers' next legislative session will begin in January.

Current state law allows individuals with 16 specific conditions to possess low potency marijuana oil, but marijuana remains illegal to grow, buy, sell and transport.

That has created a legal conundrum where about 6,000 Georgia patients are registered to legally possess the drug but can't legally obtain it.

Some critics in the state, which has some of the toughest marijuana laws in the country, fear that expansion of medical marijuana could lead to recreational sales.