South Carolina Senate Approves Medical Marijuana Bill Amid Hemp Labeling Controversy
The South Carolina Senate advanced the medical marijuana legalization bill in a 24-19 vote Wednesday, sending it to the House for consideration.
The Compassionate Care Act, or S 0423, is considered one of the most restrictive medical marijuana legalization measures, as it prohibits smoking cannabis for medical use, favoring topicals, tinctures, vaporizers and edibles. If the bill becomes law, South Carolina would become the 39th in the nation to legalize medicinal marijuana.
“The real challenge now is getting the bill through the House process,” said Sen. Tom Davis (R), reports South Carolina Public Radio. Davis was a sponsor of a similar bill that passed the Senate in February 2022 but was shot down by the House in May that same year. The legislation was eliminated on a technicality regarding sales tax.
Then in 2023, a similar action happened when the S.C. Compassionate Care Act stalled in a Senate subcommittee. Senator Stephen Goldfinch (R) told ABC that this year’s version of the bill removed a revenue-raising component, which was cited as one of the main reasons the measure died last year.
One of the most conservative medical marijuana bills in the nation, S 0423, would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana only to patients that have …