There has been much confusion over the issue of medical marijuana in Georgia. We are not convinced that all of that is by accident. But almost anything would make more sense than the situation as it is now.

Years ago, California legalized the sale of marijuana for medical purposes. The day the law went into effect, The Observer ran a photo of two men sharing a joint outside one of the newly legal marijuana dispensaries. We received a complaint from a local reader, but the catch was: What they were doing was legal where they were. That was the point of the news story, and the photo illustrated it perfectly.

But the photo also shared the implication that many people were going to use the California law to legally abuse the drug. Because, really, what other prescription medication do you share with your buddy on the sidewalk?

When Georgia lawmakers approached medical marijuana, they tried to negotiate around pitfalls like the one seen in that California photograph. They had a very specific list of illnesses for which it could be prescribed. More important, the law specifies that it applies only to oil containing a low amount of THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes the “high.”

Instead, the oil is rich in cannabinoids — other substances from the marijuana plant that proponents claim have medicinal benefits.

Anecdotal evidence of those claims abounds, but scientific studies are rare. The federal government lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which means it has a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use. It also means researchers face an uphill battle to get clearance to study it without themselves facing possible criminal penalties.

The law passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 2015 makes specific exceptions for researchers in possession of the low-THC oil in apparent hopes of getting more reliable information about how well it works.

As of July, about 5,400 people are permitted to possess the oil in Georgia, using it to address 16 diagnoses including seizure disorders, late-stage cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and others.

But the 2015 law specifically makes it a crime to produce or sell the oil in Georgia. Federal law makes it illegal to transport it across state lines. So where does the oil come from?

From nowhere legally. Even though a patient can legally possess up to 20 ounces of the oil, he cannot legally go out of state to get it, have it mailed to him, purchase it from a Georgia producer, or grow the marijuana and make it himself.

Last month, a state commission recommended two paths to make acquisition of the oil legal.

First, it urged Congress to change marijuana from a Schedule I drug. Acknowledging a medical use for marijuana derivatives would make it legal to transport it across state lines, although certainly with regulations like other pharmaceuticals have.

Holding little hope that Congress would actually do that, the commission recommended a plan to license up to 10 marijuana growers and producers to legally make the oil here and an “adequate” number of dispensing licenses to allow sales of the oil across the state to patients permitted to have it.

That plan is questioned by groups who oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana use. A spokesman, quoted in the Jan. 6 Observer’s SunLight Project, pointed out that’s a lot of potential production for 5,400 patients.

We are sensitive to concerns about the “slippery slope” that other states have experienced, moving from legalizing medical marijuana to legalizing the drug for recreational use. That’s a debate Georgians and Americans overall should become engaged in as we see the results in states that have already chosen that route.

Meanwhile, there are people for whom existing medicines don’t meet their needs. Georgia lawmakers have decided those patients can legally try the marijuana-based oil in hope of better results.

Now the legislature ought to approve a path so they can legally obtain it.