The commission shall have the following powers, duties, and responsibilities:
(1) To apply for, receive, and administer state funds appropriated to the commission,
private grants and donations, and other funds and donations. The commission's annual
distributions shall be capped and limited to funds received from the sources specified in
this paragraph. The commission shall ensure that its funds are not used as a supplement
or secondary payor to any other third-party payor;
(2) To execute a contract or contracts to purchase or obtain medical
cannabis, cannabis, cannabinoids, or any other derivative, compound, or substantially
similar products from any available legal source and to provide logistics related thereto
in accordance with this article. Such contract or contracts may be executed with one or
more qualified corporations or with one or more governmental entities. Purchases made
pursuant to this paragraph shall not be subject to state purchasing laws contained in
Article 3 of Chapter 5 of Title 50 or in other provisions of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated;
(3) To utilize funds appropriated to the commission as may be necessary to purchase and
transport medical cannabis and products to the State of Georgia for use by
registered patients;
(4) To develop, establish, maintain, and administer a medical cannabis and
products distribution network to obtain and distribute medical cannabis and
products to registered patients in this state and to coordinate the best use of facilities and
resources to operate such distribution network;
(5) To establish procedures for inspecting production facilities operated by designated
universities;
(6) To establish requirements and procedures to ensure quality control, security, and
oversight of medical cannabis and products production in this state,
including, but not limited to, testing for purity and dosage levels and verification that
product labels accurately reflect product content;
(7) To provide for oversight of tracking systems;
(8) To coordinate and assist in the collection of data to evaluate the provision of
medical cannabis and products in this state;
(9) To study the provision of medical cannabis and products in this state to
determine the best practices and methods of providing such services, to determine what
changes are needed to improve the provision of medical cannabis and
products, and to report any proposed legislative changes to the General Assembly each
year;
(10) To coordinate its activities with the Department of Public Health;
(10.1) To engage in public awareness activities concerning the medical cannabis
program in this state and effective uses of medical cannabis and products, including, but
not limited to, publishing materials and conducting outreach and public education
activities to inform members of the public, law enforcement, and healthcare providers
about the medical cannabis program in this state and the potential benefits that medical
cannabis and products may have to eligible patients;
(11) To employ an executive director and other staff and to establish duties and
responsibilities of such persons;
(12) To employ and manage consultants, as deemed necessary, in order to fulfill its
duties and responsibilities under this article;
(13) To review new treatment and delivery methods for medical cannabis
and products that may result from medical research and are not otherwise inconsistent
with this article, and recommend statutory changes to the General Assembly to authorize
such treatment and delivery methods and products;
(14) To be responsible for the noncriminal enforcement of the provisions of this article
and to have all of the necessary duties, power, and authority to carry out such
responsibility;
(15) To be authorized to draft, adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce such rules and
regulations as it deems necessary for the administration and enforcement of this article
in the protection of public health, safety, and welfare;
(16) To enforce qualifications for licensure; and
(17) To levy fines for failure by a Class 1 production licensee, Class 2 production
licensee, or dispensing licensee to operate in accordance with rules and regulations
established by the commission within 14 days of written notice by the commission of
specific violations. Such fines shall not exceed $25,000.00 for a first offense, $50,000.00
for a failure to remedy the offense within 60 days after written notice of a first offense,
and $75,000.00 for subsequent failures to remedy noncompliance within 90 days after
written notice of a first offense. Following a third written notice of a recurring violation,
the commission may also order a licensee to cease operations for a period of up to 30
days to correct the violation. Any such fines or orders to cease operations shall be subject
to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the 'Georgia Administrative Procedure Act.'
Statutory Text