A Georgia lawmaker is moving ahead with legislation that would allow state-licensed manufacturers of medical marijuana products to operate in the state.

State Rep. Allen Peake has officially filed a bill allowing between two and six medical-cannabis manufacturers to be licensed by the state and serve people with certain medical conditions and registered with the state.

In what he's calling a "civic protest against absurd state policies", Mike Buffington of Jackson County, is going against the grain and growing marijuana, right here in Georgia. His plan is to get that plant growing on his porch this spring.

Buffington is a co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. and has written his own story about bucking the law. He says what's currently in place prevents children from getting the help they need. So he's taking this bold move for his son and others who suffer from seizure disorders.

ATLANTA -- Only on 11Alive Wednesday, hours before the legislation is filed, Macon Representative, and architect of the bill, Representative Allen Peake, (R) Macon is releasing the details of new medical marijuana legislation set to ignite the 2016 Georgia Legislative Session.

On Monday, Peake will begin to introduce new legislation that builds on House Bill 1 which passed in 2015. "We're treating it like medicine which is the way it ought to be treated," said Peake. The representative is pushing for more patients to have access to medical cannabis, and to allow for highly regulated medical marijuana to be grown in the state.

Currently only eight diseases and illnesses are on the list of approved conditions to qualify for medical cannabis in Georgia.

Cowetan Stacey Wilson hopes to see in-state growing of medical cannabis that can treat her seizure disorder. She has a card that allows her to possess low-THC cannabidiol oil, but the oil is prohibitively expensive.

The Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis has voted against recommending in-state cultivation of marijuana to produce the low-THC that is now legal to possess in Georgia by those with certain medical conditions. 

And Gov. Nathan Deal, who has expressed skepticism about in-state growing of medical marijuana throughout the entire discussion, has come out against it again.

CANNABIS CULTURE – Now that Canada is poised to legalize cannabis for all adults, you may grow complacent about how much trouble marijuana can get you into in the United States.

Sure, we’ve got four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) that have legalized some possession of weed, with another five states (Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada) likely to legalize in 2016. You can even possess pot in our nation’s capital, Washington DC.

The war on medical marijuana is over - that’s what some are saying following a decision Friday by the federal government to ease its stance on the drug.

But the fight continues in Georgia.

Patients can have it, but they can’t get it in the state.

Despite overwhelming support from voters to grow medical marijuana in our state, the Georgia commission on medical cannabis recently said no thanks.

For the first time Allen Peake, the Macon representative behind the medical cannabis effort is speaking out about what he believes caused this massive setback.

GAINESVILLE — A state commission is backing Gov. Nathan Deal in refusing to support the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Georgia for medicinal use.

“There’s no appetite for cultivation,” said state Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, a member of the Commission on Medical Cannabis. “Until you have a clear model … there are too many vague concepts about cultivation for me to be comfortable with it.”

Lawmakers last spring approved the use of cannabis oil to treat eight medical conditions, but the prospect of manufacturing and selling the drug in-state was left for the commission to review.

The majority of members voted Wednesday to expand the number of conditions legally treatable with the drug, but declined to pursue the issue of access any further.

A quick expansion of Georgia’s medical marijuana likely went up in smoke Wednesday when a state-sanctioned board voted down a proposal to allow the plants’ cultivation within the state.

The decision by the Commission on Medical Cannabis came a day after House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wants to give Georgians access to cannabis oil made from homegrown marijuana.

The commission held their last meeting of the year and made initial recommendations about improving the state’s new law.

Activists still plan to push for better access

A state commission is backing Gov. Nathan Deal in refusing to support the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Georgia for medicinal use.

“There’s no appetite for cultivation,” said state Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, a member of the Commission on Medical Cannabis. “Until you have a clear model … there are too many vague concepts about cultivation for me to be comfortable with it.”

Lawmakers last spring approved the use of cannabis oil to treat eight medical conditions, but the prospect of manufacturing and selling the drug in-state was left for the commission to review.

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is skeptical of a Macon lawmaker’s idea of growing medical cannabis in Georgia, saying he is not convinced the state could control the use of the plant.

“I still don’t think we have sufficient information or ability to control something of that nature if we start production and processing here in our state,” Deal said Wednesday morning.

That puts a roadblock in front of a plan by state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, to try and legalize in-state growing as early as next year of specially-bred cannabis used to make medicine.

Georgians who have certain severe illnesses and who have a doctor’s recommendation can possess a liquid cannabis medicine under a state law that Peake pushed through the Legislature earlier this year.