ATLANTA — The state Department of Public Health it is working hard on getting a registration process ready for potential users of medical cannabis oil in Georgia.

#The registry is created by House Bill 1, which allows some Georgians with medical conditions to have access to medical cannabis. The measure establishes a process whereby patients with one of eight diagnoses, and a recommendation from a doctor, would register for cannabis oil use with Public Health.

Losing a child is the worst nightmare any parent could imagine, a nightmare that is much harder to bear when you know that there may have been something you could have done to prevent such an awful tragedy. As unimaginable as this scenario is for most parents, preventable deaths are happening at an alarming rate as politicians argue about whether or not marijuana is medicine (we did some checking, it is). At this crucial time in history, a moment when the science on medical marijuana has become crystal clear, our government leaders can no longer afford to move slowly on reform measures. The lives of our children depend on this.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose upset many cannabis activists in late April with her criticism of the City of Vancouver’s plan to license marijuana dispensaries.

AUGUSTA — An effort before the Legislature to set a blood limit standard for marijuana-impaired drivers was criticized by pot advocates on Thursday who said science doesn’t support it.

Marijuana-impaired driving was a main focus of this year’s Maine Impaired Driving Summit, run by the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety and AAA at the Augusta Civic Center. Medical marijuana is legal in Maine, and in 2016 voters could be asked to decide on dueling proposals to legalize recreational marijuana, which only Colorado, Washington and Alaska have done so far.

Georgia State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon shows a bottle of medical cannabis oil as he presents his House Bill 1 on Feb. 3, 2015.

1. House Bill 1, the "Haleigh's Hope Act," took effect immediately on Thursday, and makes it legal for people in Georgia who suffer from eight illnesses to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil if a physician signs off. Read more about the law from the AJC's Greg Bluestein.

Medical marijuana in the form of cannabis oil will likely become legal in Georgia on Thursday. Those with the proper license would be allowed to possess up to 20 ounces of the oil once Republican Gov. Nathan Deal signs the bill into law.

Story highlights

• Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to sign a medical marijuana bill at 11 a.m. Thursday
• The bill is inspired by Haleigh Cox, a 5-year-old whose seizures threatened her life

"This means the world to us," said Haleigh Cox's mother, Janea Cox.

Gov. Nathan Deal is scheduled on Thursday to sign a bill that will legalize low-THC cannabis oil for certain "medication-resistant epilepsies," while creating an infrastructure, registration process and research program for the drug. (THC is the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana.)

The bill is dubbed Haleigh's Hope Act.

We know the end is coming, but pot prohibition is going to have to be undone state by state. Here are the ones least likely to jump on the bandwagon.

Marijuana prohibition in the US is dying, but it isn't going to vanish in one fell swoop. Even if Congress were to repeal federal pot prohibition, state laws criminalizing the plant and its users would still be in effect—at least in some states.

And it's probably a pretty safe bet that Congress isn’t going to act until a good number of states, maybe more than half, have already legalized it. That process is already underway and is likely to gather real momentum by the time election day 2016 is over.

ATLANTA — Patients who have to go out of state to get cannabis oil say they will face risks and hurdles even after medical marijuana becomes legal in Georgia on Thursday.

Gov. Nathan Deal will sign a law that makes it legal to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil in Georgia. But patients who need the oil still have to go out of state to get it, because it remains illegal to produce at home.

That means families have to travel out-of-state to get the oil, and it is unclear whether the federal government will tolerate that.

Atlanta — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Friday said he would sign into law a bill that would make the Peach State the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana, continuing the rapid expansion of cannabis into the Deep South and underscoring a dramatic shift in pot politics for social conservatives in the US.