The 2021 legislative session in South Carolina ended last week\u2014but the sponsor of a bill to legalize medical marijuana says he\u2019s received assurances from a top Senate leader that his measure will be taken up as the first order of business at the beginning of next year.<\/p>\n
Sen. Tom Davis (R), who filed the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act late last year, said that he \u201chad hoped it would be debated and voted on before we adjourned in May\u201d after clearing the Senate Medical Affairs Committee<\/a> in March. But that didn\u2019t pan out after one senator placed a hold on the legislation.<\/p>\n .@seannaadcox_pc<\/a>: A bill legalizing medical marijuana made it to the Senate floor, and Sen. @ShaneMassey<\/a> promised Sen. Tom Davis, who\u2019s been the chief advocate, the Senate will take it up in 2022. \u201cMy commitment is, it\u2019s going to get a vote,\u201d Massey said. https:\/\/t.co\/Jqa5nTdbdy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tom Davis (@senatortomdavis) May 17, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While it\u2019s a disappointment that another year has gone by without medical cannabis being enacted, Davis went on to tell FITSNews<\/a> that he\u2019s received a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R) that the proposal will be taken up in 2022 \u201cfor special order debate as the first order of business\u201d and then lawmakers will \u201cgive the bill an up-or-down vote.\u201d<\/p>\n .@fitsnews<\/a>: I appreciate Sen. Massey\u2019s and the Senate GOP caucus members\u2019 commitment to set the medical-cannabis bill for special order debate as the first order of business in the Senate when we return in January. https:\/\/t.co\/bImjUYguv0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tom Davis (@senatortomdavis) May 17, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Davis has been a strong advocate for his legislation, going so far as to threaten to use his power to block other bills from advancing if his reform proposal was stopped<\/a>.<\/p>\n In April, the senator said that federal prohibition was imposed under the Nixon administration in order to \u201cpunish\u201d the president\u2019s political enemies. That said, he stressed that he\u2019s only interested in ending prohibition for medical cannabis and that his measure is not a \u201cslippery slope\u201d to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019s legislation<\/a> would allow patients with qualifying conditions to possess and purchase up to two ounces of cannabis every two weeks.<\/p>\n During the committee hearing in March, Davis repeatedly made the case that his bill \u201cis the most conservative medical cannabis bill in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n For the initial rollout, regulators would approve 15 licenses for vertically integrated marijuana businesses that would control production, distribution and sales. More than 100 dispensaries would be licensed to operate under the bill.<\/p>\n The legislation would ban smokable marijuana products, while a separate House bill that was pending would have given patients that option. Home cultivation would be prohibited under both measures.<\/p>\n Additionally, the Senate version listed specific types of conditions that qualify for cannabis treatment, whereas the House proposal would have also allowed physicians to recommend marijuana to any patient with a debilitating condition that the doctor is qualified to treat.<\/p>\n South Carolina is one of a select few states without an effective medical cannabis program, though it does have a limited CBD law on the books.<\/p>\n A poll released in February found that\u00a0South Carolina voters support legalizing medical marijuana<\/a>\u00a0by a ratio of five to one. But the state does not have a citizen-led initiative process that has empowered voters in other states to get the policy change enacted.<\/p>\n Support for medical marijuana legalization among South Carolina residents has been notably stable, as a 2018 Benchmark Research poll similarly found 72 percent support for the reform, including nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Republicans.<\/p>\n Also that year, 82 percent of voters in the state\u2019s Democratic primary election\u00a0voted in favor of medical cannabis legalization<\/a>\u00a0in a nonbinding ballot advisory vote. Lawmakers\u00a0prefiled four marijuana measures for the 2019 session<\/a>, but they did not advance.<\/p>\n Davis said earlier this year that if the legislature doesn\u2019t advance the reform, he\u2019d propose a bill to put the question of medical marijuana legalization to voters<\/a>\u00a0through a referendum.<\/p>\n A coalition of advocates for health care and criminal justice reform, as well as veterans groups, have recently\u00a0stepped up their push to get medical cannabis legalized<\/a>\u00a0in South Carolina.<\/p>\n Montana Governor Signs Marijuana Legalization Implementation Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post South Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Will Be Senate\u2019s First Vote In 2022, Leader Promises<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The 2021 legislative session in South Carolina ended last week\u2014but the sponsor of a bill to legalize medical marijuana says he\u2019s received assurances from a top Senate leader that his measure will be taken up as the first order of business at the beginning of next year. Sen. Tom DavisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47789,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47788\/revisions\/47789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: South Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Will Be Senate\u2019s First Vote In 2022, Leader Promises<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"