Georgia editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:

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July 2

The Savannah Morning News says Georgia is wise to expand access to cannabis oil:

On Monday, House Bill 65 went into effect, and while not nearly as publicly distracting as the Hands-Free Georgia Act that limits driver smartphone use, the law deserves widespread notice. The legislation expands the list of medical conditions eligible for treatment by low-THC cannabis oil to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as “intractable pain.”

Gov. Nathan Deal put politics aside in signing this bill into law to ensure that veterans, abuse survivors and Peach State residents living with chronic pain have access to non-narcotic, non-psychoactive Cannabidiol, also known as CBD. This expansion of Georgia’s restrictive medical marijuana laws will widen the medical options for our state’s veterans, who certainly deserve a full spectrum of options to combat, treat and reduce the effects of PTSD.

Georgia originally passed a limited medical marijuana law in 2015, which now allows legal possession of up to 20 ounces of low-THC cannabis oil, with a physician’s approval, for more than a dozen medical conditions, including seizure disorders, advanced Alzheimer’s disease, late-stage cancer and autism-spectrum conditions.

CBD oil is currently legal in 29 states with legal medicinal or recreational marijuana, as well as 17 additional states with CBD-specific laws, including Georgia. Marijuana, which is still classified as a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act, remains illegal in the Peach State.

CBD oil basics

CBD is extracted from hemp or cannabis plants and is often delivered orally or vaped in an oil suspension. Although it can be derived from marijuana, CBD oil is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which means it doesn’t produce the “high” that is typically associated with cannabis.

In recent years, a growing number of credible medical studies have demonstrated CBD oil’s power. A 2017 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that CBD passed stage 3 clinical trial for treatment of epilepsy in children. Researchers found that CBD oil consumed orally over a 14-week treatment period served as a powerful anti-epileptic treatment, reducing the average number of seizures in children by 39 percent.

Another study found that nicotine users who were encouraged to use CBD whenever they craved nicotine reduced the total number of cigarettes smoked by more than 40 percent in just one week. Additional medical studies have reported that CBD oil can reduce chronic pain, lessen anxiety and even decrease opioid dependency. CBD helps block the “reward” effects of opioids, which is why it may be effective in helping to treat addiction.

Treating PTSD

When it comes to treating post-traumatic stress disorder, CBD oil is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Earlier this year, Military Times reported that MDMA, the main ingredient in Ecstasy or Molly, dramatically reduced PTSD symptoms in study participants, including combat veterans. Medical University of South Carolina faculty member Michael Mithoefer, M.D. led the study and published the findings in Lancet Psychiatry.

The results of the clinical trial were extremely impressive. Nearly 70 percent of the participants who received the full dose of MDMA no longer met the criteria for post-traumatic disorder after being administered the drug. Plans are currently in the works for a larger phase 3 trial. Similar studies demonstrating that MDMA can help individuals suffering from PTSD, including veterans, have been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other mainstream media.

In 2017, after a string of clinical trials demonstrated MDMA’s positive effect on PTSD, the Food and Drug Administration conferred “breakthrough therapy” status to the drug, noting that the treatment “may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies” for patients suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD is nearing epidemic status in the United States, especially among combat veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that between 11 and 20 percent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom vets suffer from the condition.

Kudos to Gov. Deal for making CBD oil available to Georgia veterans suffering from PTSD, as well as Peach State residents who are in extreme pain or experiencing serious medical conditions. Expanding access to CBD oil is the compassionate option for state lawmakers, who had the foresight to recognize the potential health benefits for Georgia citizens.

Online: http://www.savannahnow.com/

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July 1

Dalton Daily Citizen on early voting starting for the July 24 runoff election:

The number of roadside signs proclaiming “Vote for …” has diminished along our streets but that doesn’t mean the political season is over, not by a long shot.

In fact, early voting for the Tuesday, July 24, runoff election starts Monday.

There are four contests to be decided, three on the Republican ballot and one on the Democratic one.

This runoff is necessary because no candidate in these statewide races won 50 percent plus one of the vote in the May primary.

On the Republican ballot voters have these choices:

. Governor: Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp

. Lieutenant governor: Geoff Duncan and David Shafer

. Secretary of state: David Belle Isle and Brad Raffensperger.

On the Democratic side:

. State school superintendent: Sid Chapman and Otha E. Thornton Jr.

In the past, runoff elections haven’t elicited the advertising and campaigning as in general primaries or elections. Nor do they fire up voters’ interest much and this runoff may unfortunately see a very low voter turnout here as there are no local races to attract more attention.

Voters should keep in mind that you have to vote in the same party as you did in the General Primary. Voters cannot have voted on the Democratic ballot and then ask for a Republican ballot, and vice versa, in this runoff.

Early voting continues until Friday, July 20. To vote early, go to your board of elections and registrar office in your county courthouse, with proper ID, on Monday through Friday during regular business hours.

As we said earlier, voter turnout in this runoff will most likely be dismal. That places more value on each vote, as one block of voters could swing the election toward their candidate because everyone else stayed away.

After this runoff, the politicking should pick up steam again as we head toward the General Election on Nov. 6. Early voting for that election starts Oct. 15.

To those who choose to cast their vote by July 20, we say well done. Early voting has proven to be a popular option. Many voters want to vote only on Election Day, and for that we applaud you as well.

Whether you vote sooner or later, what matters is that you voted.

Online: http://www.dailycitizen.news/

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June 30

The Gainesville Times says the deadly rampage against a Maryland newsroom highlights a threat that journalists worldwide face:

It is a telling commentary on the state of our nation that many, upon hearing of the shootings Thursday at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, wondered if the motivation for the attack was political in nature.

Was this what happens when the president declares the press an enemy of the people? When radical liberals call for violence against radical conservatives? When the term “mainstream media” is uttered in snide contempt? Was this what happens to purveyors of fake news?

In the immediacy of the event, it was impossible not to ponder those possible motives for the shooter who killed five members of the Gazette’s staff and wounded others.

In the end, the motive for the attack was found to be much more pedestrian. Law enforcement officials say the shooter was a man with a grudge who felt he had been harmed by coverage in the newspaper in the past, had sued the paper in court and lost, and ultimately set out with a shotgun to get revenge.

It wasn’t politics. It was journalists killed for doing what journalist do, although in this case the newspaper staffers with whom the assailant had a history no longer even worked there, and those killed had nothing to do with the events that led to his lawsuit against the paper.

We aren’t really accustomed to journalists being attacked and killed in this country. It happens occasionally, but not with the regularity that it does in other nations. Data gathered by The Committee to Protect Journalists indicates seven journalists were slain in the United States from 1992-2015 in job-related attacks. Thursday’s events added five new names to the list.

Worldwide, the threat to those who attempt to report the news is much larger. The Committee reports 29 journalists killed around the world so far in 2018, and 1,306 since 1992, about 25 a year. Mexico, Columbia and certain Middle Eastern countries have proven to be the most dangerous places for journalists to ply their trade.

The numbers are low in comparison to those in high-risk professions, such as military personnel and first responders, but the reality is that in most cases those who attack journalists aren’t just attacking an individual, but an institution. In the Gazette shooting, it likely didn’t matter to the assailant that those he killed had nothing to do with the original coverage that left him enraged; it was the newspaper itself that was his enemy, the newspaper he attacked.

And the next day, it was the Gazette newspaper that miraculously was on the streets, with its coverage of the attack and stories of the staffers killed, with its blank editorial page reflecting, as it said, the fact the paper was “speechless.”

So what to make of the attack on the Gazette given the facts as we know them now? Newspapers, and other media outlets, make enemies. That has been true for as long as there has been any avenue for distributing the news. In the Maryland attack, anger turned to vitriol, which turned to deadly rage.

Would that rage have been expressed in such a violent manner if ours were currently a less hostile society? That’s a question better suited to being answered by historians a century down the road.

While not of this magnitude, attacks on journalist have happened in the past. Remember 2001, when anthrax was mailed to a number of journalists, resulting in the death of one? That was long before the concept of “fake news” was ever introduced into the nation’s lexicon. But it’s hard not to wonder if mass shootings are not somehow more readily accepted now as an option for those whose irrational minds convince them there is some sort of perverse honor in killing.

As journalists, we’ll leave the psychiatric analysis to others better trained to do so. That’s not our jobs. We are there to report on what happens, to give perspective when we can and to keep our communities informed about what’s going on around them. That was the job of the Capital Gazette before Thursday’s shooting, and the day after as well. Mere hours after the shooting, staff members gathered in a garage across the street and banged out stories on laptops in the back of a pickup truck.

“I can tell you this. We are putting out a damn paper,” reporter Chase Cook said on Twitter.

Professionally we grieve, and symbolically link arms with those everywhere who take it upon themselves to report the news to the masses. Personally, you wonder if it could ever happen to you, remembering threats from unhappy people in the past and fully aware of how easily those can escalate into something more.

This shooting isn’t more or less significant because it happened at a newspaper office. Previous deadly incidents at schools, nightclubs and other workplaces hit close enough to home for all of us. Initially it had a different feel because of the role played by journalists in our society, but in the end it was just another sad, demented soul with a heart full of anger and a gun full of ammunition.

One of the truisms of the profession is that we all sometimes report on things we can’t fully comprehend. We’ll never understand the carnage of Annapolis, but the people of the world will hear about it and be able to draw their own conclusions - because the journalists of the world will tell them what they need to know to do so.

Just as the staff of the Gazette did the very day they lost five of their colleagues.

Online: https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/