The South Carolina Senate approved a bill to legalize medical marijuana , and sent it on Wednesday to the House of Representatives.
The vote for third reading passage came 24-19, one day after the Senate gave its initial approval of the legislation by Sen. Tom Davis. If enacted, the law will allow patients with certain medical conditions to access medical cannabis.
Henry McMaster (R), the bill still needs to pass through the House before it can be signed by him. Henry McMaster (R), but it still has to pass the House. This is not a certainty. A previous version of the bill was passed by the Senate in 2022, but it stalled due to a procedural glitch in the House.
Davis stated during the first Senate debate last week on the current bill, that his goal was to “come out with the most conservative Medical Cannabis Bill in the Country that empowered doctors to assist patients – but at the same tie itself to science to address conditions for which there are empirically-based data stating that cannabis can have a medical benefit.”
He said that if the bill is passed, which he hopes it will be, “it’s going serve as a template for states who want to empower doctors to help patients and not go 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.
Senators considered several changes before voting on the bill Wednesday.
The approved changes would allow podiatrists the ability to recommend medical marijuana, limit the transportation of open containers of medicinal marijuana in vehicle passenger compartments, and require warnings regarding the variability of quality and concentration.
The other changes adopted were to prevent legislators and their immediate families from owning medical marijuana businesses or receiving compensation until 2029. They would also ensure that vertically-integrated businesses performing a specific function in the industry are counted against the number of licenses that can be issued to perform that function.
The committee had approved two amendments in second reading on Tuesday.
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.
When senators started debating medical marijuana legislation last week, they adopted an amendment to clarify that the bill doesn’t require landlords and people who have control of property to allow the vaporization cannabis products.
During the debate that continued last week on the legislation, members argued over whether or not the current version of legislation contained major differences compared to an earlier version passed by the body 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 also feared that pharmacists who dispense cannabis could be put in danger, and that federal laws could preempt state programs.
The main provisions of the Bill
- Patients with “debilitating medical conditions”, for which a recommendation for medical cannabis could be given, include those suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, posttraumatic stress disorder, 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”, tasked with modifying or removing the qualifying conditions of the program, would 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 that legislation that contains tax-related measures originates in this body and not the Senate.
- The smoking of marijuana and the cultivation of the plant to be used for personal purposes would be prohibited.
- Five years after the first sale of medical marijuana by a licensed establishment, the legislation will 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.
- Lawmakers, their immediate families, and those who work in the marijuana industry are prohibited from doing so 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 been promoting.
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The article South Carolina Senate passes medical marijuana legalization bill, sending it to the House first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
