A recent poll by The State shows most, if not all of the South Carolina 46 senators want to debate medical cannabis legalization in 2022. This year’s regular session ended without debate as the Senate President moved discussion to next year. This came after initial debate of medical cannabis threatened to stall the entire session.
Senator Tom Davis, D, has been pushing for medical cannabis legalization for over seven years now. When he first introduced the idea, he was met with hostility. Several people said “marijuana is not a medicine” at the time. Now, years later, the tone has shifted to be more favorable towards medical cannabis, and cannabis in general.
“The debate over whether there’s medical benefits, that debate’s been settled,” Senator Davis commented.
Of the 46 senators in South Carolina, 16 sponsored this past session’s medical cannabis bill, S0150. Three other Senators expressed support and told The State they would most likely vote for medical cannabis next year. 11 senators were still studying the bill and remained undecided, though they did acknowledge the huge public support for a legalization bill such as this. Five senators remained against the measure, one declined to comment, and ten could not be reached by The State.
Response
Many Senators, when asked about their thoughts of medical cannabis, spoke both for and against the measure.
“When he (Davis) first introduced it years ago, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it,” said Senator Darrell Jackson, D. In recent years, the senator has changed his stance from apprehensive to supportive of medical cannabis. “I hope this is the year that we get to move it. I think he has built an impressive bipartisan support group.”
Other senators haven’t been as supportive of Senator Davis’ bill. “I’m not in favor of federal law being one thing and state law being another. I just don’t want to support something that I know is a violation of the federal law,” Senator Billy Garrett, R, said. “I think we’re a little premature.”
Senators do need to take into account the public support. Since a poll conducted by Winthrop University in 2016, the public support for medical cannabis has consistently stayed at 4 out of every 5 people, or roughly 78 percent of the state’s population. The public support is undeniable, and senators are taking this support into consideration. Additionally, senators brought forth concerns surrounding the current opioid epidemic in the country. In 2020 alone, South Carolina saw a jump in 52 percent of citizens, 1730 total, who overdosed on opioids.
Governor McMaster
If the South Carolina senators can work together to pass a medical cannabis bill in the 2022 regular session, the bill would head to the House of Representatives. There, it’s unclear how the bill would move about. One representative, Bill Herbkersman, filed a bill this last session also on creating a medical cannabis program, called H3361. Unfortunately, H3361 did not make it out of its committee and died when the regular session ended May 13.
Should the House pass a medical cannabis legalization bill along with the Senate, then the bill would move to Governor Henry McMaster, R, for final consideration. Governor McMaster hasn’t said if he would support a legalization bill or if he would veto the measure.
“There is a lot of suffering that is treatable … with medical marijuana,” Governor McMaster said. “I think we need to be very careful and use common sense.” He said that medical cannabis could provide “great relief” for people in pain, “but until we can be sure that it is safe and meets the law enforcement standards, then we still got work to do and it does not pass that test.”
Future
South Carolina citizens won’t know until next year what the Senate and the House will do about medical cannabis. With the positive response from senators wishing to discuss the matter, and the Senate President saying it would be a priority in 2022, many can assume medical cannabis is one step closer to legalization in South Carolina.
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