A top tea party organizer stunned fellow Right wing activists on Monday when she stated her support for a bill that would allow marijuana use among people with certain ailments.
Co-chair of the Atlanta Tea Party Julianne Thompson announced that she was backing House Bill 855 - a proposed piece of legislation that would allow people with seizure disorders to use a form of cannabis called wax.
"Originally, I was shocked and frightened of the mention of any type of marijuana in Georgia," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thompson as saying. "I am both a fiscal and a social conservative and have always been and remain opposed to any legalization of recreational drug use of any kind."
The bill, which is reportedly being buoyed by Republican Rep. Allen Peake, is scheduled to go to hearing on Monday at 3 p.m. at the Health and Human Services Committee meeting.
Thompson said her opinions on THC oil and its medicinal properties were first swayed when she heard the story of a young girl whose seizures could only be treated with wax.
"This oil-based treatment made from medical cannabis is helping children across the country to be able to live a more normal life, helping them smile again," the Journal-Constitution reported Thompson as saying. "How can we deny Georgia children the right to safe and effective treatment?"
Multiple stories of parents administering doses of the THC oil to their children as a form of medicine surfaced in 2012, as support for the medical benefits of marijuana steadily rose and states like Washington and Colorado legalized recreational use.
One Bellevue family reportedly used a few drops of extract cannabidiol to help their child, who experienced dangerous, daily seizures.
"We're under no illusions that this is a magic bullet for Will," father Dominic Gillen said of his son. "We just feel he deserved the opportunity to try it."
