Today in Atlanta, Georgia Republican Governor Nathan Deal signed a medical marijuana bill into law that allows individuals to posses up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil to treat eight medical conditions, including late stage cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and seizure disorders.

This is AWESOME, except it’s really not. Before you grab the Midnight strain to Georgia, listen up.

Patients will need a doctor’s approval and a state permit, and the oil can’t contain any more than five percent THC.

But wait, there’s more!

Because patients may not produce, or buy the oil, anywhere in the state (because cannabis is still illegal in Georgia), they will be forced to go out of state to places such as Oregon and Colorado to buy the oil products, then illegally travel with it across state lines, breaking state and federal laws.

Thanks Nathan, this really helps!

Laws like this are gaining traction around the country because of the widely reported story of Charlotte Figi, a five-year-old with Davet’s Syndrome, a rare disorder which caused her to have up to 300 grand mal seizures per week. A week.

Charlotte’s parents began treating her with a low THC/high CBD strain, later dubbed “Charlotte’s Web,” that was infused into oil. Other parents sought such products out to treat various seizure-related ailments for their own children.

No politician wants to be viewed as pro-pediatric seizure, and the result is toothless and nearly useless laws like this.

“Provided you can find and smuggle home the medicine your children need, we won’t take them into a foster home while you are in jail.”

Or, “If you are sick with stage four cancer, you should just hop a plane to a state with compassion towards the dying for some meds to ease your suffering and increase the quality of life you have left. Welcome home!”

Georgia has some of the worst poverty in the country, and could benefit in untold economic ways by taxing and regulating cannabis production and sales.

But for now, it’s a small step. Very, very, small.