South Carolina could legalize medical marijuana in 2021, Republican lawmakers say

South Carolina could legalize medical marijuana in 2021, Republican lawmakers say

by

Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have pre-drafted legislation to legalize medical marijuana in the state next year, saying patients have waited long enough for legal access to the drug.

“It is unacceptable that South Americans with serious illnesses have to break the law to alleviate their suffering,” said Deputy Bill Herbkersman (R), the main sponsor of the legislation in the Chamber of Deputies, who says marijuana helped his brother treat cancer-related symptoms.

“My brother deserved better. Our friends, family and neighbors deserve the same medication options that are offered to Americans in 36 other states, ”he said. “Waiting for more will only increase the suffering experienced by those suffering from debilitating illnesses.”

Lawmakers filed two versions of what is being called The South Carolina Compassionate Care Act on Wednesday. Herbkersman’s H. 3361 is the measure of the House, while Senator Tom Davis (R) is sponsoring the S. 150 in the other chamber of the legislature. The steps are expected to be taken during next year’s session, which begins in mid-January.

“I feel that there is a very good chance that something will pass this session,” Davis said in a statement released on Thursday. “This project has been fully examined after five years of testimonials and contributions from various stakeholders. The time has come for lawmakers to get out of the way and allow patients, in consultation with their doctors, to have legal and safe access to medical cannabis. “

South Carolina does not have a citizen-led initiative process, the path by which many states have legalized medical cannabis, but Davis said on Twitter last month that if he doesn’t get lawmakers to pass the bill right away, he will press for it. them to at least put the issue to the vote through a referendum referred to by the legislature

“I’m going to work on a bill to send the question to the people,” he said.

Although the two versions of the legislation introduced this week differ in detail, both would legalize medical marijuana for patients with qualifying conditions and establish a dispensary model for distribution. Both also prohibited patients from growing the plant at home.

The Senate version is the more restrictive of the two bills. According to S. 150, smoking marijuana would remain illegal and only processed, edible oils and topical applications would be available to patients. In a 14-day period, patients by default could buy up to 60 grams of total THC in ingestible products, 8.2 grams in concentrates for vaporization and four grams in topical products, although doctors could adjust individual patient limits.

The Chamber’s version, meanwhile, would allow the marijuana flower, whether smoked or used for other applications, and allow smoking-related paraphernalia. In a 14-day period, patients can purchase up to 60 grams of dry cannabis or the equivalent amount of edibles or topicals.

Doctors would also have considerably greater leeway under the House bill in terms of recommending medical marijuana. While the Senate version lists only specific types of diseases that qualify for cannabis treatment, the House measure also allows doctors to recommend marijuana to any patient with a debilitating condition that the doctor is qualified to treat. He also specifically lists chronic pain as a qualifying condition, which the Senate version does not.

Here is a closer look at the qualifying conditions of the legislation:

  • Cancer
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Neurological disease or disorder, including epilepsy
  • Sickle cell anemia
  • Autism
  • Chronic pain – Domestic version only
  • Glaucoma
  • Posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Ulcerative colitis
  • Cachexia or weakness syndrome
  • Severe or persistent nausea – The Senate version requires the patient to remain at home
  • Terminal disease less than a year old
  • Condition that causes severe and persistent muscle spasms
  • A condition for which opioids can be prescribed
  • Any debilitating conditions that the recommended doctor is qualified to treat – Domestic version only

The legislation would establish a Medicinal Cannabis Advisory Council to consider issues such as whether new qualifying conditions should be added.

Bill Griffith, a family doctor in Anderson, SC, said in a statement provided by the advocacy group SC Compassionate Care Alliance that legalization would allow patients already using medical marijuana to access safe, tested and reliable products through regulated market.

“The illegality of medical cannabis in our state is forcing many patients to rely on the dangerous underground market to access their medicines,” he said. “Southern Carolinians deserve the ability to safely and legally use a substance that has been proven to be effective in treating a variety of medical conditions and has fewer negative side effects than many prescription drugs, especially opioids, which continue to claim many lives” .

Both versions of the project would initially license one dispensary for every 20 pharmacies in the state, as well as 15 cultivation centers, 30 processing facilities, five testing laboratories and four transporters.

Medical marijuana would be taxed at a rate of six percent, the same rate that the state attributes to over-the-counter drugs. Most of the resulting revenue (90 percent) would go to the state’s general fund, with smaller percentages going to medical marijuana research (5 percent), a study on how to detect marijuana impaired driving (3 percent) and education for drug safety (2 percent))

Other new cannabis-related bills prefiled in the House before the 2021 session include another medical marijuana bill, H. 3174, known as The Put Patients First Act, as well as H. 3202, which would allow a select group of military veterans own cannabis. Another project, H. 3228, would decriminalize possession of up to thirty grams of marijuana or hashish. In the Senate, pre-formulated projects include S. 335 – a proposal by Senator Mia McLeod (D) to allow marijuana for adults 21 and over and launch a regulated cannabis industry at retail – and S. 268, which would put a non-binding advisory question on the state’s 2022 ballot, asking whether voters are in favor of legalizing marijuana for all adults.

Although South Carolina Republicans, like Davis, have tried to legalize medical marijuana in the past – reaching a successful vote by the Senate subcommittee in 2019 – they still face resistance from their own party.

Governor Henry McMaster (R) gave in to law enforcement leaders, like the head of the State Law Enforcement Division, Mark Keel, who said South Carolina should not legalize until after the federal government reclassified marijuana.

“As long as Keel objects,” reported the Charleston Post and Courier, “so will Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who said he didn’t want to leave the police on the issue.”

Davis in the Senate, however, said he thinks it is a political miscalculation by his Republican colleagues to oppose legalization.

“I think it is a winning issue for them and I think it is a strategic mistake to hand the issue over to Democrats,” he told the newspaper. “What you are talking about here is to let an individual, in consultation with his doctor, decide for himself what is best. I’m not sure if you can be more fundamental to limited government than that. “

A 2018 Benchmark Research survey found that 72 percent of South Carolinaians support the legalization of medical marijuana, including nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Republicans, said SC Compassionate Care. That same year, 82% of voters in Democratic primary elections voted in favor of legalizing medical cannabis in a non-mandatory advisory vote.

This strong support encouraged sympathetic lawmakers, who announced four measures on marijuana two years ago, when the 2019 session was about to begin. While this pressure on legalization has failed, advocates say voters’ overwhelming approval of electoral legalization measures in polls last month – including a question about medical marijuana in Mississippi – bodes well for this year’s effort.

“In Mississippi, more than 2/3 of voters have chosen to enact a medical cannabis measure. 74% of Americans now live in a state that allows medical use of cannabis, ”Davis wrote on Twitter last month in response to a political mailer criticizing his work on the subject. “2021 simply MUST be the year we do it.”

Congressional observers, meanwhile, are watching South Carolina to see if legalization could change the calculation at the federal level, where the US Senate is seen as the last remaining obstacle to federal cannabis legalization. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a high-ranking senator who represents the state and chairs the main Senate Judiciary Committee, has consistently opposed legalization, and some advocates wonder whether a change in policy in Graham’s home state it could lead him to reconsider the cannabis permission he advanced on his panel if his party kept the majority in the body after next month’s runoff elections for two seats in Georgia.

Nearly two-thirds of all voters and 51 percent of Republicans said in a recent national poll that they support a House-approved bill to legalize marijuana by the federal government.

Graham’s challenger in the last election, Jaime Harrison, a former South Carolina Democratic Party president, made legalization – not just medical marijuana, but also for adult use – a key part of his campaign. “I think we should legalize, regulate and tax marijuana as we do alcohol and tobacco,” he said in July. “There is simply no reason to arrest people because of this problem.”

Embracing legalization of marijuana may have made up for Democratic election losses, poll shows

Marijuana Moment is possible with the support of readers. If you trust our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, consider making a monthly promise from Patreon.

Source