South Carolina’s full Senate has voted to advance a bill that would legalize medical marijuana, with a final vote coming as soon as tomorrow.
South Carolina remains one of just 10 states in the US that have not legalized medical marijuana. Senate Bill 423, filed by Senator Thomas Davis with a bipartisan coalition of 11 cosponsors, would change this by legalizing the medicine. Yesterday, the Senate voted 26 to 13 to advance the measure to a special order, allowing it to be quickly considered by the full chamber for final consideration. Today ,the Senate debated the measure, but delayed a final vote until tomorrow.
The measure must now be passed through one more vote of the Senate, and then through the House of Representatives, before it can be sent to Governor Henry McMaster.
Under the proposed law, the South Carolina Medical Cannabis Program would be established, creating “a seed-to-sale system to provide for the sale of medical cannabis to treat a qualifying patient’s debilitating medical condition or to alleviate symptoms.”
Qualifying conditions include:
- cancer;
- multiple sclerosis;
- neurological diseases or disorders, including epilepsy;
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), subject to evidentiary requirements;
- Crohn’s disease;
- sickle cell anemia;
- ulcerative colitis;
- cachexia or wasting syndrome;
- autism;
- severe or persistent nausea unrelated to pregnancy, associated with end-of-life or hospice care, or bedridden/homebound due to a condition;
- chronic medical conditions causing severe and persistent muscle spasms;
- any chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition for which opioids are prescribed or could be prescribed by a physician, subject to specific requirements.
- A terminal illness with a life expectancy of less than one year, as determined by the treating physician.
- Any other serious medical condition or its treatment added by the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.
The law would allow patients to possess an “Allowable amount of medical cannabis” or “allowable amount of cannabis products”. This means, for a fourteen-day period:
- cannabis products for topical administration including, but not limited to, patches for transdermal administration or lotions, creams, or ointments, that contain a total of no more than four thousand milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol;
- cannabis products for oral administration including, but not limited to, oils, tinctures, capsules, or edible forms, that contain a total of no more than one thousand six hundred milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol;
- cannabis products that consist of oils for vaporization that contain a total of no more than eight thousand two hundred milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol; or
- for any other modes of delivery, an equivalent amount as determined by the department.
The full text of SB 423 can be found by clicking here.
