The South Carolina Senate approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana on Tuesday. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives for a vote.
The vote was 26-17. This came just days after senators started debating the legislation of Sen. Tom Davis, which if passed will allow patients with certain medical conditions to access medical cannabis.
The lawmakers are redoubling their efforts after a previous version of the bill was passed in 2022, but stalled in the House due to a procedural error.
In the Senate’s earlier session, it failed to advance a measure to a floor debate due to a lack of support. The vote required two-thirds. Last week, lawmakers gave the bill another vote and it passed 23-13. This will keep the bill in the running for the session of 2024.
Davis stated during the first debate of the bill last week that his goal was to “come out with the most conservative Medical Cannabis Bill in the Country that empowered doctors to assist patients–but also tied itself to the science, to address conditions for which empirically-based data say that cannabis can have a medical benefit.”
He said that if the bill is passed, which he hopes it will be, “it will serve as a template for states who want to empower doctors and patients without going down the slippery path” of adult-use legalization. “I believe it can be used by many states who regret their decision to permit recreational use or are looking to tighten their medical laws to make it more stringent,” he said.
The bill allows patients to obtain cannabis through licensed dispensaries with a prescription from a physician for certain conditions. These include terminal illnesses, chronic diseases, and several other ailments.
On Tuesday, before voting on initial approval of the current bill, senators adopted 2 amendments.
The first would limit the number of medical cannabis dispensaries to three per county. One would make it clear that regulators can’t prevent “accurate ingredient listing on a cannabis beverage product.” The sponsor of the amendment pointed to a recent health official letter that “caused confusion” regarding the ingredients of hemp-derived drinks.
The bill was amended last week to clarify that landlords and other people in control of property are not required to allow the vaporization cannabis products.
As the debate over the legislation continued, members clashed about whether the current version contains major differences compared to an earlier version that the body approved in 2022.
Davis explained that certain provisions were reformulated in order to clarify earlier amendments, which had been written in “real-time” during the consideration of the previous bill.
Some lawmakers also expressed concerns that the legalization of medical cannabis would lead to wider reforms that allow adult use marijuana. They have also voiced concern that pharmacists who are involved in the dispensing of cannabis could be put in danger, and that federal laws could preempt state programs, among others.
The main points of the proposals are:
- Patients with “debilitating medical conditions”, for which a recommendation for medical cannabis could be given, include those suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, PTSD, Crohn’s, autism, a terminal disease where the patient will live less than a year, and chronic illnesses where opioids would be the standard treatment.
- State Department of Health and Environmental Control and Board of Pharmacy will be responsible for licensing cannabis businesses. This includes dispensaries, which must have a pharmacist present at all times.
- The bill was revised in an attempt to prevent excessive market consolidation. It now includes language that requires regulators to limit the number of companies a person or organization can own more than five per cent interest, both at state and regional levels.
- The “Medical Cannabis Advisory Board”, a group of experts who would add or remove the conditions that qualify for the program, will be created. The original legislation was changed to allow legislative leaders to make appointments to the board, as well as the governor.
- The bill does not include language that would impose a tax on the sale of medical cannabis, as was the case in the previous version. Due to the inclusion of tax provisions, the House rejected the previous bill due to procedural rules within the South Carolina Legislature that require legislation that contains tax-related measures originate from that body and not the Senate.
- The smoking of marijuana and the cultivation of the plant to be used for personal purposes would be prohibited.
- Eight years after the first sale of medical marijuana by a licensed establishment, the legislation would expire to allow legislators to review the effectiveness of the regulations.
- Doctors could specify how much cannabis a patient can purchase within a 14-day period, or recommend a default standard, such as 1,600 milligrams THC in edibles, 8,200 for oils used for vaporization, and 4,000 for topical products like lotions.
- The maximum amount of THC allowed in edibles is 10 milligrams per serving.
- Labeling and packaging requirements would be required to warn consumers about potential health risks. Packaging of products could not be designed to appeal to children.
- Patients who work in positions related to public safety, commercial transport or commercial machinery would not be able to use medical marijuana nor receive a cannabis cards. This would include, for instance, law enforcement, commercial drivers and pilots.
- Local governments could ban marijuana businesses in their areas or set policies on the number of cannabis business licenses and operating hours. DHEC will need to take measures to prevent an overconcentration of marijuana businesses in a particular area of the state.
- It is illegal for lawmakers and their immediate families to work in the marijuana industry or have financial interests there until July 2029 unless they abstain from voting.
- DHEC will be required to publish annual reports on the Medical Cannabis Program, which include information about the number and types of patients who qualify, the products that they purchase, and how independent businesses serve patients compared with vertically integrated companies.
Davis attempted to reform the medical cannabis law after it was rejected by the House of Representatives in 2022. But that too failed due to procedural reasons.
The lawmaker called the position of his party, especially in relation to medical marijuana, an “intellectually lazy position” that didn’t try to present current medical facts.
A poll conducted last year revealed that a majority of South Carolina adults (76%) support the legalization of marijuana , both for medical and recreational purposes (56%) — a conclusion that U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace has promoted.
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The first time you saw South Carolina Senate Approves a Medical Marijuana Bill on Initial Vote, it was Marijuana Moment.
