Georgia Senate | Mixed Up Mommy

Let’s start with the TL;DR. If you read no further, check out this video created by a supporter.

I’m over it. My enthusiasm and January gung ho attitude of years past are long gone. 2017 is the fourth legislative session in which we will continue to fight for medical cannabis in Georgia. I’ll be honest. Before my son’s seizures and getting involved in cannabis advocacy, I didn’t pay much attention to state politics. Now that I do, the corruption and hypocrisy constantly makes me sick.

This year is already shaping up to be the same old garbage. The support we have comes from the House, while the Senate schemes to screw over sick people. Some names are no surprise. Sen. Renee Unterman (R, Buford) has been at it since this all began, so when Senate Bill 16 dropped, a bill that aims to lower the amount of THC permitted in Georgia from 5% to 3%, taking away options from patients, the only surprise to me was that she was a co-sponsor, rather than the lead.

The lead sponsor still came as a bit of a surprise, though. Doctor and Senator Ben Watson (R, Savannah) was a representative when all this started. He was very supportive of the original bills introduced by Allen Peake. He was even interviewed in his medical office, wearing his white coat, for the documentary Growing Hope: Georgia’s Fight for Cannabis Oil. In fact, check this video out at the 2:08 mark. (Side note: That’s my adorable kiddo at 2:02).

Yes, you heard him right. He said, “To say that marijuana, or THC, or cannabidiol has no medicinal value, I think, is just immoral.”

And yet, now he leads the charge to decrease the amount of THC permitted by people who hold a Georgia cannabis card? It’s not enough that the Governor has used the Senate to block cultivation and families have to travel out-of-state to get the higher THC products, now he wants to take away their rights to possess and use it in the state of Georgia?

Sebastien Cotte is father to Jagger who has mitochondrial disease, and Sebastien has been a huge advocate from the start. He has already been down to the Gold Dome and here is part of his Facebook post about his first day of advocacy in 2017. This was his account of a conversation he had with Watson.

Ummm… Georgia has an opioid epidemic going on. Are you being serious right now, Senator?

Oh, by the way, the Georgia senate has also passed a law limiting the number of opioid treatment clinics while they set up a committee to investigate why Georgia has the largest number of clinics in the region.

Katie McKoy, a fellow special needs mom of three, dug these up for me within five minutes of my posting on Facebook about Sebastien’s conversation. Let’s stroll down memory lane and remember when we had Watson’s support.

http://news.wabe.org/post/doctors-can-sign-patients-medical-marijuana-registry

https://www.savannahbusinessjournal.com/news-categories/featured-columnists/4746-apr-21-columnist-state-senator-ben-watson-state-house-report-wrap-up.html

http://gareport.com/story/2015/03/24/senate-passes-medical-marijuana-bill/

So what changed? He supported us in the House of Representatives, where the powers that be are behind us. But then he moves to the Senate, where Casey Cagle and Renee Unterman routinely try to stick it to sick people, likely at the behest of Governor Nathan Deal (who has proven that he’s only interested in photo ops with sick kids, not actually helping them) and suddenly he’s taking the lead on moving Georgia’s very limited program backward.

Five out of six of the senators who signed as sponsors of this new bill previously voted to pass our current (thoroughly gutted by the senate and governor) medical cannabis bill. Why wasn’t that gut job enough? Now that Rep. Allen Peake is introducing two new bills, one to expand the protected medical conditions, and another to put medical cannabis on the ballot for citizens to decide, I guess the senate needed leverage to shut those down. It’s sick. Nothing but games for these elected individuals. And FYI, whereas Peake’s bill adds several medical conditions to be permitted cannabis use, the senate is only adding autism.

The sponsors of SB 16 are:

Ben Watson (R, Savannah, District 1) 404-656-7880 ben.watson@senate.ga.gov

Renee Unterman (R, Buford, District 45) 404-463-1368 renee.unterman@senate.ga.gov (Votes in favor, just tries to strangle it behind the scenes).

In 2014, she admitted to WSB’s Lori Geary she was holding the bill hostage until her bill was heard.She also said, “These parents don’t understand how the General Assembly works but this building is nothing but politics.”

Francis Millar (R, Dunwoody, District 40) 404-463-2260 francis.millar@senate.ga.gov

2014:

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2016:

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Greg Kirk (R, Americus, District 13) 404-463-5258 greg.kirk@senate.ga.gov (When in-state cultivation was proposed said he wasn’t sure we should go down that road).

Nan Orrock (D, Atlanta, District 36) 404-463-8054 nan.orrock@senate.ga.gov (Has been vocally supportive on the floor, so I’m not sure why she’s co-sponsoring this).

Chuck Hufstetler (R, Rome, District 52) 404-656-0034 chuck.hufstetler@senate.ga.gov (Hufstetler is the only sponsor who has never voted in favor of medical cannabis. He likens Colorado to the “Wild West.” He’d feel better if the FDA approved it — the same FDA that approved pure hydrocodone, an opioid five to 10 times the strength of Vicodin).

[Update: Judson Hill stepped down from the state senate in 2017 to run for the the seat left empty by Tom Price, who accepted a role in Donald Trump’s administration. Please read this if you are considering voting for him]

Dear Senator Judson Hill,

I am shaking with anger right now. The Georgia Senate just voted moments ago on HB 885, the medical cannabis bill. As it was discussed, my son’s 12-day seizure free streak ended at my feet. The bill passed 54-0. Two people didn’t vote. Where were you?

You have constituents that have tried to reach you for months. You have blown us off. You have tweeted and posted about your work on on SB 98, a bill to prevent healthcare plans from funding abortions. But you are silent on two bills that help children who have already been born. Two bills to benefit children: one bill to make insurance companies provide coverage to children who need therapy due to an autism diagnosis and another to help parents obtain a medicine that could help children with severe seizure disorders, and you did not vote on either. Why? Clearly, you have constituents that want to be represented. Perhaps I’m outnumbered? Maybe you heard from more people that didn’t want you to support these measures than did support. In that case, you didn’t represent them either.

I first e-mailed you on January 9. I did not hear from you, but given that the bill started in the House, I figured there was time, and that I’d hear from you when it became a Senate issue.

I e-mailed you again on January 31.

And February 6.

And February 24 in regards to SB397–the autism bill you didn’t vote on.

And March 7. Twice.

And March 11.

Plus an e-mail from my husband.

On February 5 we had a scheduled face-to-face meeting. I came down to the Gold Dome with my son and arrived at your office at the scheduled time. You were not there. You had not come in yet that day. No one could tell me when you would arrive.

On March 10, I attended your town hall meeting that you scheduled. You did not show up.

I tweeted you on several occasions:

March 8

and March 11

and March 13

and March 19. Twice.

I have never received any response from you whatsoever. I do not know of anyone in the district that has, and I won’t even get into how many times you’ve been contacted by others I have talked to. My efforts to reach you pale in comparison to the efforts of another nearby family who has a far more dire situation.

I guess you can afford to treat your constituents that way when you are unopposed.

But someday you won’t be, and I can’t wait. I will be there and I will be vocal.

Sincerely,

One of your many irrelevant constituents

Update:

I finally sorta kinda made contact with Judson two years after I posted this letter. Apparently, the key to getting his attention is his wife. Rep. Allen Peake had posted on his public page about his disappointment in the failure of the 2016 Georgia legislature to expand medical cannabis. Senator Hill’s wife commented and the following thread resulted on that post.