Medical Pot on the 2023 Agenda for South Carolina

Medical cannabis advocates in South Carolina are ready to go again as they hope 2023 will finally be the year they legalize medical treatment in the state.

Local news station WPDE report Two bills “pre-submitted to the South Carolina House of Representatives for Congress in 2023” [that] It will legalize medical marijuana even though the federal government bans cannabis. ”

one measure, per stationknown as the Put Patients First Act, “allows patients to use medical marijuana on an exceptional basis” while also allowing “dispensaries to open statewide.”

Another law, known as the Compassionate Care Act of South Carolina, permits the use of medical marijuana while [the state department of health] It manages most of the process by issuing licenses to sell products, setting rules for product use, and making changes to allow cannabis research. ” According to WPDE.

The latter bill has the same title as another bill introduced last year by Republican Senator Tom Davis, who has supported medical cannabis in Palmetto state for years.

Many eligible conditions under Sen. Davis’ bill include cancer, multiple sclerosis, neurological diseases or disorders (including epilepsy), sickle cell disease, glaucoma, PTSD, autism, Crohn’s disease and ulcers. Patients suffering from cannabis could have received medical cannabis treatment. Colitis, cachexia, severe or persistent nausea, terminal illness with a life expectancy of less than 1 year, chronic conditions that cause severe and persistent muscle spasms, or opioids should be prescribed based on accepted standards of care. have or may be prescribed.

“If you knock on the door long enough. If you make your case. If the public wants something, the state Senate has a duty to debate,” Davis told local media last January. rice field. “The people of South Carolina deserve to know what their elected officials stand on this issue.”

Davis applauded his colleagues after the bill passed the state Senate in February.

“Even those who were against the bill could have been against it. They could have lashed out at it or tried to slow things down. They didn’t, they expressed their concerns, but then what they did was dig in and try to improve the bill. It should be done,” Davis said at the time.

But after the bill was approved in the state Senate, state representatives voted against continuing debate on the bill in May, dashing the hopes of Davis and other medical cannabis advocates.

After last year’s House vote, Davis said he “procedurally stepped back in the House today.” “I can’t cry about it. I can’t pout about it. I can’t come back and rant and try to hurt other people’s bills. No. I need to find a way to evaluate this in the House and that’s what I’m working on.”

Davis isn’t the only one seeking another shot at crossing the line and getting a proposal in this upcoming legislative session.

A group of veterans living in South Carolina are pushing for medical treatment to be legalized in the state.

“No one has ever died from a cannabis overdose,” former Marine Corps member Cody Karaman told the news station. look in November. “For me, it definitely helps me fall asleep. [a]Sleep and relieve many of your nightmares. ”