Medical cannabis oil is now available to the nearly 27,000 patients on the Georgia registry.

The first two dispensaries opened across the state Friday morning, including one in Marietta.

It’s taken a long time to get here.

The law legalizing medical cannabis oil was passed eight years ago. The law allowing it to be made and dispensed was passed four years ago.

But patients and parents told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that it’s been worth the wait.

“It’s hard to hold emotions right now,” Jimmy Wages said.

He told Elliot that he is tired, but happy. He’s been fighting for nine years to get his daughter Sydney, now 19 years old, the medical cannabis oil doctors say she needs to control her seizures.

For years, he and others had to break the law to bring the oil into Georgia.

“The emotion’s really running hard right now. It’s hard to describe. Such a relief to know that we can drive just a few miles to pick up a product instead of having to meet in a parking lot,” Wages said.

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Wage’s daughter Sydney was patient No. 1 getting the first legal prescription for medical cannabis oil in metro Atlanta.

Trulieve, one of two companies granted those dispensing licenses, opened up three others across Georgia Friday on top of their location in Marietta.

“It means everything for the patients. It means they can have true medical access and do it legally,” said Tim Morey with Trulieve

Standing toward the back of the crowd outside the store Friday was Shannon Cloud, one of the people who led the fight to legalize medical cannabis oil.

“It’s been a long road to get here and very frustrating at times, but I’m just very thankful that we’re finally here,” Cloud told Elliot.

She filled a prescription for her daughter, too, who is also now 19 years old.

“It was eight years ago that Gov. Deal signed the law giving us access, so we’ve waited 2,934 days to be able to purchase the oil,” Cloud said. “Never thought it would take that long.”

Trulieve’s other dispensaries are in Columbus, Macon, and Pooler.

Their license allows them to open two more, so more dispensaries could be coming to metro Atlanta.

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