Georgia Medical Cannabis Commission Appoints Executive Director

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has appointed Andrew Turnage, the leader of the state boards that oversee cosmetology and nursing, as its executive director, according to Saporta Report.

The commission is responsible for establishing rules to regulate Georgia’s medical cannabis program, and Turnage’s appointment comes more than a year after Gov. Brian Kemp signed the program into law in April 2019.

State officials appointed members to the commission late last year, including three doctors, a police chief, a health policy professor, the president of the Georgia Board of Pharmacy and a small business owner. The commission is chaired by Dr. Christopher Edwards, the principal surgeon for the Atlanta Neurological & Spine Institute.

The commission held its first meeting in December, and will ultimately license six companies to cultivate medical cannabis and turn it into low-THC cannabis oil (containing less than 5% THC) that will be distributed to qualified patients.