A state House panel Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that would permit medical marijuana to be grown and used in Georgia for treatment of patients with cancer, glaucoma and seizure disorders under tightly controlled restrictions. The Health and Human Services Committee’s passage of the high-profile legislation paves the way for the full House to vote on the bill.
Last week, the FDA recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers. The move follows a long debate over whether the drugs, which contain the narcotic hydrocodone, should be controlled as tightly as more powerful painkillers such as OxyContin. Rick Allen, director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, said Monday that he believes the switch could help decrease overdoses and addictions to painkillers.
Officials with the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency say a new database is expected to help doctors and law enforcement keep tabs on prescription drug abuse. Agency director Rick Allen said the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program has been available to pharmacists and physicians for less than a month, but already, 2,000 medical professionals have submitted prescriptions.
Georgia officials are working on a prescription drug database they expect will help with what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls an epidemic of overdose deaths. By next January, state law requires the new database to be online so doctors and pharmacists can track patients' prescriptions and spot potential abuse.
Georgia has been awarded a $400,000 grant to implement a prescription drug monitoring program. Thirty-seven states have prescription drug monitoring systems. Georgia has passed legislation to establish the program, but has not designated funding for it.