SC lawmakers, advocates call on House to take up bill for medical marijuana program

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Every year for the last few years, one of the most closely watched and most controversial bills at the South Carolina State House is the one to legalize medical marijuana.

And every year, the bill has fallen short, despite significant bipartisan support.

Supporters of the push to make South Carolina the 40th state to make medical cannabis legal remain hopeful that won’t be the case this year, but time is running out.

The legislature will only be at work in Columbia for about another month before heading home for the rest of the year.

Anything lawmakers fail pass before then dies, and they must start the legislative process over again when they return in January.

Medical marijuana is among those bills that now hang in the balance.

“It’s been nearly a decade we’ve been fighting for this, and I think that especially I say this for many of the veterans: We’re tired of fighting,” David Newsom, a supporter of legalization, said at a news conference Tuesday at the State House.

Newsom was among a group that included veterans, parents, nurses, and pharmacists gathered at the State House, urging state representatives to take up the bill to legalize medical marijuana in South Carolina.

“My daughter was 6 when we started this. She’s 16 now. So this is well over half her life that I’ve been trying to get legal access to this medication that I know works for her,” said Jill Swing, the founder of the SC Compassionate Care Alliance, which advocates for the legalization of medical cannabis in the state.

The bill, called the “Compassionate Care Act,” only allows for use in oils, salves, patches, and vaporizers, so smoking marijuana would still be illegal.

A dozen medical conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy, would qualify for a prescription, which doctors would need to approve in person, and only certain licensed pharmacies would be able to dispense the drug.

A sunset provision would also allow the legislature to evaluate how the program is doing after five years.

“It is the most conservative, tightly regulated medical cannabis bill in the country,” Sen. Tom Davis, R – Beaufort and the lead sponsor of the legislation, said.

The legislation has already passed in the Senate with bipartisan backing, but it has sat in the House of Representatives for nearly two months without getting a hearing to this point.

If the bill does not get through the House in the next five weeks, before the session ends, it dies until at least next year.

“I’m hoping that we don’t spend all of our time and waste our valuable time this year on this subject,” Rep. John McCravy, R – Greenwood and chair of the conservative Family Caucus, said. “This bill puts in the infrastructure for a huge marijuana business in South Carolina, and once that business is established, then it’s just a couple years until we have recreational marijuana.”

McCravy does not believe the bill has enough support to pass in the House, where it’s never gotten a vote.

Two years ago, nearly identical legislation advanced to the House floor, but it died on a procedural ruling — which McCravy requested — before debate really got underway.

House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R – Pickens, said Tuesday that this bill has not yet come up for discussion within the Republican caucus, and he doesn’t feel there is a huge urge within that group to take it up.

But Hiott said they will likely talk about it soon, so the bill is not dead, while acknowledging time moves quickly and priorities are many in the final weeks of the session.

This bill is assigned to the House 3-M (Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs) Committee, chaired by Republican Sylleste Davis of Berkeley County.

Davis said Tuesday that she is in the process of forming a special committee of some fashion to hear testimony on this bill, and she anticipates that will get started before the session ends next month.

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