Augusta Planning Commissioners took a cautious approach in their monthly meeting Monday addressing the prospect of allowing a local pharmacy to dispense medical cannabis.
The Augusta Commission requested the Planning Commission consider amending a city ordinance to include criteria for allowing a special exception for low-THC oil dispensaries.
The Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 324, the Georgia Hope Act, or the medical cannabis law, in 2019, allowing the sale of low-THC medical cannabis oil.
In October of last year, Gov. Brian Kemp approved rules, then passed by the Georgia Board of Pharmacy, to regulate the licensing of pharmacies to sell medical cannabis. Georgia is the only state which allows independent pharmacies to hold licenses to dispense low-THC medical cannabis.
However, Georgia law also prohibits licensees — whether they be designated dispensaries, such as the Trulieve dispensary that recently opened in Columbia County, or pharmacies with dispensary licenses — from operating with 1,000 feet of schools, preschools and places of worship.
That same Georgia code, however, provides leeway for local governments “via existing zoning powers” to allow licensees to “service registered patients residing within a local jurisdiction.”
The city brought the proposed amendment before the Planning Commission on behalf of Living Well Pharmacy at 3736 Mike Padgett Hwy., which is approximately 700 feet away from a retail space in the nearby Food Lion building currently being used as a church.
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Pharmacist Vic Johnson, the proprietor of Living Well, told the planning commissioners that he was in the process of obtaining a dispensary license from the state pharmacy board, with the aim of servicing patients registered patients with low-THC products from Glennville, Ga.-based medical cannabis company Botanical Sciences.
Johnson underscored that specialized use of the products to treat symptoms of conditions such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and pain disorders. The products would be offered in tincture oil, lozenges, topical cream or tablet form.
“This is not the wild west. This is not anything that can be smoked or ground up,” said Johnson. “When we do obtain our permit … I won’t be putting up any neon green signs with a cannabis leaf on it, saying ‘we’ve got a dispensary here.’”
Johnson was accompanied by Tracy Smith, executive director of commercial operations at Botanical Sciences, further emphasized that the cannabis products would be “pharmaceutical grade.”
When Commissioner George Locke McKnight asked city attorney Samuel Meller about how regulated licensed pharmacies are, Johnson confirmed Meller’s response that the state’s oversight of medical cannabis sales—from growth and cultivation all the way to retail—was especially rigorous.
“You cannot become a dispensing location unless you are Botanical Sciences, Trulieve or an approved pharmacist, which has to go to the Georgia Board of Pharmacy,” Johnson explained to the commissioners.
Commissioner Debra Spencer expressed concerns about the repercussions of allowing one dispensing licensee a variance, and whether the precedence would ultimately undermine the ordinance.
Commissioner James O’Neal inquired about the source of 1,000 feet in the Georgia code.
McKnight motioned to table the item to allow the Planning Commission to acquire more information (such as the genesis of the 1,000 feet distance required, and whether other municipalities had made similar exceptions for other licensees).
Commissioner Michael Owens put forth a substitute motion to approve the special exception, but it was not seconded. Ultimately the commissioners elected to postpone the item for 30 days, per McKnight’s motion, with all but Owens voting in favor.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
