Georgia: from grow to dispensary or pharmacy, what the label has to show

Step by step: Georgia

1. Step 1: In-state grow, tracked by API (Producer (grow)) A Class 1 or Class 2 production licensee grows the plants inside Georgia. It must run a seed-to-sale vendor the Commission has approved, whose system talks to the state tracking system through an API and gives the Commission real-time access to inventory, test results and sales. The label’s licensee name and license number start here. Adds to the label: Licensee name & license number.
2. Step 2: Made into an allowed form (Producer (make)) The same licensee turns the harvest into a manufactured batch: product made together, at the same time, to the same standards. Since 1 July 2026 the law allows oils, tinctures, patches, lotions, capsules, ingestibles and vaporizers, but no smoking and no infused food, and one package may hold at most 1,200 mg of THC. This batch becomes a tincture. Adds to the label: Brand, product & batch number.
3. Step 3: Lab collector samples on camera (Independent lab) A collector from the independent laboratory picks the units, with a licensee employee present and in view of the facility’s security cameras: equal sets of controlled samples for testing and reserve samples, 8 to 20 units by batch size. A chain-of-custody form and custody seals follow them, and the lab tags the batch “PRODUCT NOT TESTED” until results are in.
4. Step 4: Tested in final packaged form (Independent lab) Only a lab registered with the Commission and accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 may test, and it may not produce, sell or dispense cannabis. Georgia tests the product in its final package, for potency and cannabinoid profile, heavy metals, pesticides, residual solvents, visible foreign material, microbes and mycotoxins. Metal limits shift by route, with arsenic capped tighter for nasal products than for ones swallowed or held under the tongue. Adds to the label: Cannabinoids & lab registration number.
5. Step 5: COA to licensee, results to tracker (Independent lab) The lab issues one certificate of analysis per batch to the licensee, reports results to the Commission and sends them into the tracking system within 24 hours of finishing the tests, where each result is tied to its batch and sample. A passing result is good for 12 months, and the product must be retested before the COA expires. Adds to the label: Tested-by-a-lab statement.
6. Step 6: Fail: quarantine, challenge, remediate (Commission) A failed batch is quarantined whole in a sealed package marked as failed. The licensee can challenge with up to two reanalyses, or remediate. A remediated batch leaves quarantine only after two separate passing tests, the second within 24 hours of the first passing COA. Commission inspectors may also arrive without notice and take product to test.
7. Step 7: Approved package + label (Producer (make)) Before anything ships, the licensee packages and labels it on site, in a Commission-approved design that is tamper-evident and child-resistant. The label lists the licensee, brand, batch, lab registration number, expiration date, quantity, weight in grams, THC, THCA, CBD and CBDA, the ASTM D8441 intoxicating cannabinoid symbol unless the Commission designates another, and a statement that a lab tested it. Adds to the label: Symbol, weight & expiration.
8. Step 8: Dispensary or pharmacy counter (Dispensary or pharmacy) Only a patient or caregiver with a Medical Cannabis Registry card from the Department of Public Health may buy, at a Commission-licensed dispensary or a Board of Pharmacy licensed pharmacy, where the pharmacist also checks the drug-monitoring database. A dispensing label adds the date, patient name, birth date and registry number, the seller’s details and directions for use, without covering the original label. Adds to the label: Dispensing label.