Once again the SC State Senate has approved a bill that if enacted would allow doctors in the state to prescribe marijuana (cannabis) to be used in the treatment of certain debilitating diseases.
Senators gave the so-called Compassionate Care Act final approval Wednesday, February 14, 2024. It now goes to the more conservative House of Representatives where a similar bill died two years ago.
“The real challenge now is getting the bill through the House process,” according to Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort. Davis has championed the medical marijuana bill for years which has slowly but surely picked-up support in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
After being approved by the Senate in 2022, the leadership in the House allowed the measure to die on a procedural ruling without any debate or official votes.
Davis and a bi-partisan majority of Senators say the state should enact a legal means where people who need cannabis for medical use can access it safely from a doctor and a pharmacist.
“It is incumbent upon us to provide a means whereby people can access medicine (cannabis) safely, under a doctor’s care with a pharmacist dispensing it, with knowledge that it is safe. It is our job to do that,” Davis said.
Most of the opposition to the bill comes from members of the legislature and many in law enforcement who fear legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes could lead to increased illegal use of the drug.
If the bill is enacted into law, South Carolina would become the 39th state to legalize the practice.