In the United States, marijuana is legal in some form in approximately 40 states. But Georgia, a state located just above Florida, will in a few weeks become the first state to authorize the sale of cannabis products in pharmacies, solely for medical use.
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American pharmacies are a little different from what we know in France. They are independent or, more generally, integrated into national supermarket chains. They sell medicines but also birthday cards, sodas, paper towels, etc.
Only independent pharmacies, closer to the French model, will sell cannabis-based products. Their numbers are enough for 90% of Georgia residents to have access to cannabis within half an hour of their homes. It won’t be enough to go in and help yourself from the shelf. Authorization from a physician and a permit, provided by the state, will be required. This concerns less than 50,000 people at the moment.
A list of 16 diseases authorizing the medical use of cannabis
The head of Botanical Sciences, one of two producers approved by Georgia, tells CNN that he spent more than a year explaining to pharmacists that they were not going to sell joints. These are, as we recall, products for medical use, in which THC, the psychoactive part of cannabis, does not exceed 5%. It will essentially be cannabis oil, in the form of tablets or capsules for example. Cannabis can relieve people suffering from nausea, insomnia, cancer, post-traumatic stress and Parkinson’s disease, among other things. Georgia has compiled a list of 16 illnesses for which the purchase of medical cannabis is permitted.
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Access remains restricted because, although cannabis and marijuana are now legal in around 40 states, the substance remains banned federally. So there is a sort of gray area. The Georgia law, which authorizes the sale of medical cannabis in pharmacies, dates from 2019. It therefore took four years to implement it, the subject remains sensitive. Massachusetts requires the presence of a pharmacist in a dispensary, which until now was about the only place to legally find cannabis or marijuana, but it is not a requirement elsewhere. And Georgia pharmacists explain that having cannabis available at home will destigmatize a substance that can help patients, in addition to reassuring some, who will be able to seek advice, as they do for more conventional treatments.