A South Carolina senator has introduced a bill to legalize the medical use of cannabis for patients with certain qualifying medical conditions. The legislation, titled the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act (S. 53), was pre-filed last week by Republican state Sen. Tom Davis in anticipation of the 2025 legislative session that begins next month, online cannabis news source Marijuana Moment reported on Friday.
The bill is similar to legislation introduced by Davis and passed by the South Carolina Senate earlier this year that never saw a vote in the state House of Representatives. If passed by lawmakers and signed into law, the bill would legalize medical marijuana for use by patients with several specified debilitating medical conditions, a terminal illness or chronic conditions for which opioids are the standard course of treatment.
The measure requires patients to receive a recommendation to use medical cannabis from a physician. Debilitating medical conditions that qualify a patient to use cannabis under the legislation include cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease. Other conditions include terminal illnesses for which patients are expected to live one year or less and conditions typically treated with opioids. Patients would have access to medical marijuana from “therapeutic cannabis pharmacies” licensed by the state Board of Pharmacy. Smoking cannabis and the home cultivation of medical marijuana would not be legalized by the bill.
The South Carolina and the Department of Public Health and Board of Pharmacy would be tasked with developing rules for the cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis and for licensing and regulating medical cannabis businesses. Regulatory mandates include package and labeling requirements that prohibit packaging that appeals to children.
H/T: www.forbes.com
