The Georgia House overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday allowing farmers to grow hemp for CBD oils and other products.
The 163-3 vote calls for Georgia to join the 41 other states that already permit hemp cultivation, said state Rep. John Corbett, a Republican from Lake Park.
"As a farmer, this is a great bill," said state Rep. Robert Dickey, a peach grower and Republican from Musella, west of Macon. "This is another tool in the belt of farmers that we can diversify."
Hemp could be processed into CBD droplets, capsules and creams that are already widely available in nutrition stores but imported to Georgia from other states.
Cannabidiol — also called CBD — is legal in the United States if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC, the main psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.
With that low amount of THC, hemp products couldn’t be abused, Corbett said.
“You could smoke a truckload of it and it’s not going to do anything for you,” he said in a Rules Committee hearing Tuesday.
The legislation, House Bill 213, now advances to the state Senate.
A separate measure pending in the state House, House Bill 324, would allow cultivation and sales of medical marijuana oil, which contains up to 5 percent THC and can be used by registered patients.
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