The 115,000-square-foot facility is expected to be operational in late September and will distribute low-THC oil products to those with medical cards in Georgia.

For months, rival companies that want to produce low-THC cannabis oil for medical purposes in Georgia have not been able to pry open the black box of the state’s 2019 Hope Act to see how six firms — out of 69 bidders — were awarded licenses to dispense the marijuana extract to patients across the state. And neither the state’s Open Records Act nor legislators trying to see the process have had success.

A proposed bill would require cannabis products to carry large warnings, similar to cigarettes. But the state's legal pot industry says more rules make it harder to compete with the illicit market.

In a sign of the continuing public shift on attitudes towards the use of cannabis across the nation and in Georgia, rapper "T.I." Harris has partnered with a local cannabis company, Harvest Select, as they expand their operations across the state.

The vote follows World Health Organization guidance saying that due to cannabis' therapeutic use and other factors, it "is not consistent with the criteria" for a Schedule IV drug.