The Libertarian Party of Georgia encourages its members and allies to oppose House Bill 847, which would outlaw possession of the legal hemp flower, a product of a valuable Georgia industrial crop, because of its visual similarity to the buds commonly known as marijuana.
It’s easy to tell your legislator you oppose this bill, thanks to a handy form offered by NORML. Tell Georgia lawmakers, we want legalization, and you’re going the wrong way!
Here’s what’s happening:
A few years ago, Georgia lawmakers legalized very limited production of industrial hemp and hemp-derived products, as long as the THC concentration (psychoactive compound) is below 0.3%.
Some time later, law enforcement officers realized they couldn’t tell the difference between legal hemp flowers and still-illegal, psychoactive cannabis flowers. Instead of taking obvious, humane step of just not arresting people for possession a plant, state actors are now seeking to criminalize the possession and transportation of the currently legal hemp flowers.
Not only is this a step in the wrong direction (making more Georgians into criminals) it demonstrates the whack-a-mole nature of regulating what individual, peaceful people, carry and consume for their own purposes. If you live in Georgia, we invite you to contact your state legislators. Ask them to vote against House Bill 847, and further, to decriminalize cannabis and hemp in all forms.
To send a message to your lawmaker, use this form made available by The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.