[JURIST] The Georgia General Assembly [official website] approved a bill [HB 885, PDF] on Wednesday legalizing marijuana for limited medical purposes. The proposed legislation is expected to be signed into law shortly by Governor Nathan Deal [official website]. The bill, also known as Haleigh’s Hope Act, would specifically allow for the use of a marijuana-based oil upon a doctor’s recommendation to treat a list of eight diseases, including Crohn’s disease, cancer and ALS. The legislation passed the House 160-1 [IBT report], after Representative Allen Peake successfully advocated for the bill in honor of five-year-old Haleigh Cox. Cox suffers from seizures and her family demonstrated the marijuana-based oil effectively treats her condition without the side effects of prescription medication. Cox and her family moved to Colorado to seek treatment in 2014 after failing to lobby Georgia legislators to pass an earlier bill.

The legalization of medical marijuana [JURIST backgrounder] has found even more legal support [Marijuana Policy Project website] in recent months. A bipartisan federal bill [text, PDF] seeking to change the US federal government’s approach [JURIST report] to medicinal marijuana was introduced in the US House of Representatives this week. The House bill is an identical companion bill to bipartisan legislation introduced [JURIST report] in the Senate earlier in March. In February Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed [JURIST report] a legislative measure [HB 1445] aimed at permitting use of medical marijuana oils for individuals suffering from severe forms of epilepsy. In September the Pennsylvania State Senate approved [JURIST Report] legislation that would legalize several forms of medical marijuana. In July Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed [JURIST report] legislation that will allow adults and children suffering from seizures access to medical marijuana.