{"id":72485,"date":"2024-02-14T12:58:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T20:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/02\/14\/south-carolina-senate-passes-medical-marijuana-legalization-bill-sending-it-to-house\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T19:46:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T03:46:24","slug":"south-carolina-senate-passes-medical-marijuana-legalization-bill-sending-it-to-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/02\/14\/south-carolina-senate-passes-medical-marijuana-legalization-bill-sending-it-to-house\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill, Sending It To House"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

South Carolina\u2019s Senate passed a medical marijuana legalization bill<\/a> on Wednesday, sending it to the House of Representatives for consideration.<\/p>\n

The vote on third reading passage was 24-19 and came one day after the body gave initial approval to the legislation from Sen. Tom Davis (R), which if enacted will allow medical cannabis access for patients with certain health conditions.<\/p>\n

In order to get to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster (R), the bill still needs to clear the House\u2014a prospect that\u2019s far from certain. The Senate had\u00a0passed an earlier version of the legislation in 2022 but it stalled in the opposite body over a procedural hiccup.<\/p>\n

Davis said during last week\u2019s initial Senate debate on the current bill that his goal has always been to \u201ccome up with the most conservative medical cannabis bill in the country that empowered doctors to help patients\u2014but at the same time tied itself to science, to addressing conditions for which there\u2019s empirically based data saying that cannabis can be of medical benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when this bill passes\u2014and I hope it does pass\u2014it\u2019s going to be the template for any state that truly simply wants to empower doctors and empower patients and doesn\u2019t want to go down the slippery slope\u201d to adult-use legalization, he said. \u201cI think it can actually be used by several states that maybe regret their decision to allow recreational use, or they may be looking to tighten up their medical laws so that it becomes something more stringent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the bill would allow patients to access cannabis from licensed dispensaries if they receive a doctor\u2019s recommendation for the treatment of qualifying conditions, which include several specific ailments as well as terminal illnesses and chronic diseases where opioids are the standard of care.<\/p>\n

Before voting to pass the bill on Wednesday, senators considered several amendments.<\/p>\n

Among those that were approved would make it so the law would be repealed five years after the first product sale instead of eight years, allow podiatrists to recommend medical cannabis, restrict the transporting of open containers of medical marijuana in passenger compartments of vehicles and require warnings about variability of the quality and concentration of cannabis products.<\/p>\n

Other changes that were adopted would prevent lawmakers and their immediate family members from owning or receiving compensation from medical marijuana businesses until 2029, ensure that vertically integrated businesses performing a certain function in the industry count against the total number of licenses allowed to be issued for that function, require dispensaries to have a pharmacist physically present on their premises during dispensing hours and further clarify that the definition of medical use does not include smoking.<\/p>\n

The body had previously approved two amendments during second reading consideration on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

One would make it so no more than three medical cannabis dispensaries could be located in any county. The other would clarify that regulators cannot prevent the \u201caccurate listing of ingredients on a cannabis product that is a beverage,\u201d with the sponsor of the amendment citing a recent letter from health officials that he said has \u201ccaused confusion\u201d about the components of hemp-derived beverages.<\/p>\n

Last week, when senators began debating the medical marijuana legislation<\/a>, the body adopted an amendment that clarifies the bill does not require landlords or people who control property to allow vaporization of cannabis products.<\/p>\n

As debate on the legislation continued last week, members clashed over whether the current version of the legislation contains major differences<\/a> from an earlier iteration that the body passed in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think by and large, the changes are consistent with the spirit of what we did two years ago, and in some instances make the language clear,\u201d Davis said on Tuesday, explaining that some provisions had been reformulated to address a lack of clarity in earlier amendments that were drafted in \u201creal time\u201d on the floor during the prior bill\u2019s consideration.<\/p>\n

Certain lawmakers have also raised concerns that medical cannabis legalization would lead to broader reform to allow adult-use marijuana, that it could put pharmacists with roles in dispensing cannabis in jeopardy and that federal law could preempt the state\u2019s program, among other worries.<\/p>\n

Here are the main provisions of the\u00a0bill<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n