While the solicitor in neighboring Gwinnett County has decided to forego prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana cases in light of Georgia's new hemp farming law, that won't be the case in Hall County.
Hall County Solicitor Stephanie Woodard said in a meeting earlier this week her office will continue to prosecute lower-level marijuana cases because possession is illegal.
"The very easy bright line is that possession of marijuana is still illegal. Period. Marijuana and hemp are from the same genus and species...they're very, very close in botany, but they are still distinguishable," Woodard said.
The line has been blurred, however, because law enforcement and criminal justice agencies say they need a new drug identification test to readily differentiate between illegal marijuana and legal hemp. The GBI, as the state forensic agency, would be responsible for formulating such a test. Therefore, some agencies - mostly those in the larger metro counties - have opted to overlook misdemeanor marijuana crimes until a new field test can be formulated.
Woodard said she speculates the volume of cases might have weighed on Gwinnett County Solicitor Brian Whiteside's decision to overlook misdemeanor cases for now. The caseload in Hall County is manageable, she said.
"What I saw the Gwinnett solicitor reference was three to four thousand cases," Woodard said.
That compares to 220 cases on the books in Hall County as of Wednesday afternoon.
"That's a doable assessment," Woodard said.
Lt. Don Scalia with the Hall County Multi Agency Narcotics Squad, who was among local law enforcement at Wednesday's meeting, said experienced officers will have no problem knowing the difference in marijuana and hemp -even misdemeanor amounts.
"I've been at this 24 years and to my knowledge have never seen hemp," Scalia said. "Hemp is an industrial grade product that has 0.3 - that's three-tenths of a percent or less - of THC. Good marijuana has anywhere from five to 10 to 20-percent and up of THC...you're not going to get high on hemp...nobody's going to have a pipe full of hemp - that's not how it works."
Scalia said suspects who are caught with marijuana might try to claim it's hemp, but he said the testing local officers do - even without a new more sensitive field test - will allow them to tell the difference in the two substances.
Woodard said she would be surprised if an investigator brought a marijuana case before her office and it turned out the substance was hemp.
"Certainly my folks know, though, that I want them to be aware during this time period," Woodard said. "We are so intentional about how we handle substance cases in general, I cannot imagine one slipping through."
Woodard said she's hoping the GBI will have a new field test will be in place in the next two months, so that confusion over the new hemp law will be eliminated.
