A South Carolina bill allowing the use of experimental drugs for patients during epidemics or pandemics was amended on Wednesday to specifically add marijuana as a treatment option.
This comes about a month after the state Senate approved a separate, broader medical cannabis legalization bill that is expected to be considered by the House of Representatives.
The health and environmental affairs subcommittee of the House Medical, Military, Public, and Municipal Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday on Rep. Melissa Lackey Oremus’ (R ). And while time constraints meant members were unable to vote on the overall proposal, they passed an amendment from Rep. Krystle Matthews (D) that would add medical cannabis to the list of experimental treatment options. which would be permitted under the wider legislation. .
Marijuana was not specifically included in the original bill, which is designed to give doctors the ability to treat patients with substances that are not currently approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in the event of an epidemic or declaration of a pandemic.
“I actually don’t have a problem with people wanting to put other things in their bodies that may or may not be good for them if their doctors say it might work,” Matthews said at the hearing. of the subcommittee. “I think there are other drugs out there, but that, again, brings me back to medicinal marijuana.”
“Over the years marijuana has helped so many people and yet this State House has held it up because of all these frivolous issues with it being unresearched and not has not been tested – and yet here we have a bill in our hands. I’m irritated because we have a bill in our hands that says, “Oh now we want to be able to use something else even though it hasn’t been approved.”
The members of the subcommittee finally accepted the addition of medical cannabis. The revised version invoice should be sent to the full committee for consideration, and it is the only panel in the Republican-controlled chamber that is chaired by a Democrat, with a majority of Democratic members.
—
Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, access our interactive maps, charts, and audience calendar so they don’t miss a thing.
Learn more about our Marijuana Bill Tracker and become a support on Patreon to gain access.
—
However, supporters are pursuing broader reform of the South Carolina legislature this session.
A more targeted bill to legalize medical cannabis in the state officially passed the Senate for third reading last month, sending it to the House.
The Compassionate Care Act was introduced in late 2020 and passed the Senate Medical Affairs Committee last March, but only one senator stopped it from reaching the floor of the chamber in 2021. Since then, the Davises have redoubled efforts to pass the bill. line, arguing that South Carolina voters are ready for what he repeatedly called “the most conservative medical cannabis bill in the nation.”
The senator said last month that House Speaker Jay Lucas (R) had agreed to ‘allow the bill to go through the House process’ if it progresses in the Senate, but a spokesman of the president later told the Charleston Post and Courier that “Sen. Davis does not speak for President Lucas.
Governor Henry McMaster (right) said last month it was too early to comment on the proposal as changes were still being made by lawmakers. “It’s the one that’s going to depend on a lot of things,” he said. Recount a local FOX station, adding that he will wait to see the final version before deciding whether he would sign or potentially veto the bill if it were to land on his desk.
As amended and passed in the Senate, S.150 would allow patients with eligible conditions to possess and purchase cannabis products from licensed dispensaries. Smoking products, as well as home cultivation of cannabis by patients or their caregivers, would be prohibited. Mere possession of the plant form of cannabis could be punished as a misdemeanor.
Conditions eligible for medical cannabis include cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, Crohn’s disease, sickle cell disease, ulcerative colitis, cachexia or wasting syndrome, autism, nausea in confined or end-of-life patients, muscle spasms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Terminally ill patients with less than a year to live would also qualify. However, regulators would be allowed to add additional conditions in the future.
The bill would also allow access for patients with “any chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition for which an opioid is currently or could be prescribed by a physician based on generally accepted standards of care,” such as pain. intense or persistent.
Medical marijuana would be subject to the six percent state sales tax, and local jurisdictions could levy an additional tax.
Rather than having conventional medical marijuana dispensaries that are in place in other legal states, the bill stipulates that there would be so-called cannabis pharmacies. Facilities would be required to have a pharmacist on site at all times, and the South Carolina Board of Pharmacy would enact business regulations.
People convicted of criminal drug offenses would also be barred from participating in the new industry for a period of 10 years under the proposal.
Companies in the states would also receive licensing priority when the market is established, the intention being to prevent multi-state operators from dominating the industry.
Under the bill, 75% of after-spending tax revenue would go to the state’s general fund, an additional 10% going to drug use disorder treatment service providers, 5% to law enforcement of the state and the rest to cannabis research and drug education. .
For the initial rollout, regulators would approve 15 cannabis growers, 30 processing facilities, one cannabis pharmacy for every 20 state pharmacies, five testing labs, and four cannabis transporters. Lawmakers, rather than regulators, would be allowed to approve additional types of licenses.
Local governments could ban medical cannabis businesses from operating in their jurisdictions under the amended bill, but otherwise it says local land use and zoning charges “shouldn’t be greater for a cannabis-based business than any other similar business.”
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control would oversee licensing and other regulations for the new industry. A newly created Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee would be tasked with adding or removing eligibility requirements. The council would meet at least once a year and would be led by a chairperson appointed by the governor.
Davis has been an advocate for medical marijuana in South Carolina since 2014, and at a recent rally he pulled out a binder he said contained eight years of research on the issue. He said he would use this information to “consider all the arguments that have been raised against this bill, and I will show that they cannot stand in the way of facts and evidence.”
He also continued to push back against his own party’s opposition to cannabis legalization, such as calling out an attack ad paid for by the South Carolina Republican Party.
The state GOP organization separately criticized a federal legalization bill by U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican who represents South Carolina in Congress. And in January, cannabis opponents sent an email accusing Davis of wanting to turn the state into “one big pot party.”
A former White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump also recently called out his home state, the South Carolina Republican Party, for opposing the medical marijuana bill. Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s top aide for more than a year and a former congressman, called the legislation “something that deserves discussion and reasoned analysis,” even though it’s not a proposal traditionally seen as a Conservative priority.
Davis called his own party’s maneuvering an ‘elephant in the room’ in the Senate as the floor debate kicked off in January, saying he was offended by the misinformation and planned to refute all of the group’s misleading claims .
A poll released last February found that South Carolina voters support the legalization of medical marijuana by a five-to-one ratio. But the state lacks a citizens’ initiative process that allowed voters in other states to push through the policy change.
Support for the legalization of medical marijuana among South Carolina residents has been particularly stable, as a 2018 Benchmark Research poll also found 72% support for the reform, with nearly two-thirds (63 %) of Republicans. Davis said last year that if the legislature did not push forward with reform, he would introduce a bill to put the question of legalizing medical marijuana to voters through a referendum.
Also in 2018, 82% of voters in the state’s Democratic primary election voted in favor of legalizing medical cannabis in a nonbinding advisory vote.
Lawmakers have pre-filed four marijuana measures for the 2019 session, but they haven’t moved forward.
New York to let people with marijuana convictions open dispensaries before big companies can enter the market
Marijuana Moment is made possible by the support of readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon Pledge.
