A two-year effort to legalize medical marijuana in Georgia may finally succeed, as the Senate passed a likely compromise that would OK a limited form of the drug for disorders including cancer, seizures and sickle cell disease.

Gov. Maggie Hassan said the list of organizations allowed to open medical marijuana treatment centers will soon be finalized and released to the public. One of the centers is likely to be in the southwestern part of the state.

During a recent editorial board meeting at The Sentinel, Hassan said she recognizes that medical marijuana advocates and those seeking relief from debilitating diseases have been waiting patiently for the centers to become a reality.

After N.H. legislators legalized medical marijuana in 2013, the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services was charged with sorting through applicants to open four treatment centers across the state, and developing regulations for the centers.

A Jacksonville law firm's claim that marijuana is already legal as medicine in Florida has other supporters of medical pot crying foul.

Health Law Services, formally incorporated as IJC Law Group, is telling clients that Florida's alternative health-care laws already say that doctors can prescribe otherwise-illegal drugs such as marijuana if they determine it is the only practical medicine for the patient.

So, the firm argues, Florida does not need to change the law or impose a constitutional amendment to make marijuana a legal treatment.

A joint public hearing on the legalization of the medical use of cannabis in Pennsylvania was held Tuesday at Pennsylvania Hospital, one of Penn Medicine’s medical facilities. 

The first of three hearings related to the use of medical marijuana, the session focused on the potential medical implications of legalizing medical marijuana, as well as the science behind the use of marijuana in treating various maladies. 

Chairman of the House Health Committee Matt Baker and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Ron Marsico spearheaded the meeting, with Baker presiding over the discussion. 

OTTAWA – Hundreds of medical marijuana users in British Columbia have been told the pot they thought could help them might harm them because it’s contaminated with bacteria.

Health Canada says Tilray, a Nanaimo supplier, is telling clients to stop using its Sativa House Blend, Hybrid House Blend and Indica House Blend.

The pot was contaminated with enterobacter, which is not associated with an acute health risk, said Joshua Eades, Tilray’s chief science officer.

He said the company doesn’t know where the bacteria originated.

“We are undergoing a top-to-bottom, rigorous review of our sanitation practices and procedures,” he said. “And we’ll be doing a root-cause analysis to understand what caused these results.”

MONTEVIDEO, Minn. – An eight-year-old girl whose parents worked to pass legislation legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota has died from a rare neurological disease causing severe seizures.

Katelyn Pauling's death comes just months before medical marijuana becomes available to families in Minnesota, as the first distribution center opens in Minneapolis on July 1.

"She put a face to the kids that are hurting," said Jeremy Pauling, her father. "She changed a lot of people in a lot of different ways, not only at the State Capitol, but our community and kids in our community. I think they will grow up better because of it."

Judge Kimberly Mueller, the federal magistrate who made history by granting defense requests for a five-day hearing on the constitutionality of the continued inclusion of cannabis in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, was originally scheduled to meet with the parties of US v Schweder et al for a status hearing this week — but has delayed that meeting until April 15th.

For several years I have postulated that marijuana is not, in the strict sense of the word, an intoxicant.

As I wrote in the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009), the word ‘intoxicant’ is derived from the Latin noun toxicum (poison). It’s an appropriate term for alcohol, as ethanol (the psychoactive ingredient in booze) in moderate to high doses is toxic (read: poisonous) to healthy cells and organs.

Can a private employer stop employees from bringing doctor-prescribed marijuana to work?

Sorry, human resources managers, the answer just isn't as clear as you'd hope. That's according to Jim Reidy, an attorney tackling employer questions regarding drugs at the Society for Human Resource Management conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"It's evolving. That's why this topic is really hot for employers right now," Reidy said.

While employers may have federal law and even local smoking bans on their side, the legal answer to that question hasn't been completely resolved if an employer allows other prescriptions to be taken at the workplace, Reidy said.

Medical marijuana(Photo: 13WMAZ)

Georgia Senate discusses medical-marijuana bill (Photo: Karli Barnett, 13\WMAZ)

UPDATE: The Georgia Senate passed state Rep. Allen Peake's medical-marijuana bill. It heads back to the House for final approval, expected this week.

The Senate approved just one amendment, which would allow employers to prevent workers from having and using medical marijuana.

Peake told the media Tuesday afternoon that he is "overjoyed" and will work next year to allow medical marijuana to be grown in Georgia.

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Today could be the day of decision for Allen Peake's bill to allow medical marjiuana in Georgia.