Heather Kelley
Engl 1101
Essay 3
Hayleigh’s Hope Act: The Legalization of Medical Marijuana in Georgia
Recently, Governor Nathan Deal has signed a controversial bill into law, the legalization of medical marijuana in the state of Georgia. Medical marijuana has been a very hot issue of debate in the past few years. Medical marijuana has been beneficial to the other thirty eight states that have legalized it in some form. Making marijuana legal for medicinal use in Georgia will benefit its citizens more than harm them.
Medical marijuana has been used to treat several disorders and diseases. The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes was first brought to Georgia’s attention when a five year old girl named Hayleigh who suffered from seizures was seen to have improvement in her seizures after obtaining medical marijuana from Colorado. Hayleigh went from having over two hundred seizures per day to being able to live a fulfilling life with limited seizes. (Sennett) The bill is actually named after Hayleigh and called Hayleigh’s Hope Act. Although severe seizures is what first brought this to Georgia, medical marijuana has also been known to treat cancer, HIV, Crohn’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, depression, and lupus to name a few. (Bikoff) In the state of Georgia, however, medical marijuana will only be used to treat seizures, cancer, sickle cell disease, Crohn’s disease, mitochondrial disease, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. (Six) No other medication on the market can treat all of these ailments and more. This makes medical marijuana somewhat of a wonder drug, even though it is currently listed as a Schedule I substance.
One other benefit to making marijuana available for medicinal use in Georgia will be a lower incarceration rate. As of the last conducted census, Georgia’s incarceration rate was 533. This means that out of every 100,000 people, 533 are incarcerated. (United) On a national average at that time, one in...