COLUMBIA, S.C. — The medical marijuana bill is on its second week of debate in the South Carolina Senate, with no end in sight. However, changes could be coming to the bill next week.
Thursday, Senator Greg Hembree, R- Horry, spent over two hours pointing out his concerns with the legislation. “The data does not support the proposition that marijuana will prevent suicides. In Colorado, the marijuana capital of America, their veteran suicide rate is 43.1, almost 12 points above the national average,” said Hembree.
The bill is considered one of the most conservative compared to the other 37 states that have medical marijuana, but Hembree argued it’s not ready for debate. "This bill requires rewrites of such magnitude and depth that the floor of the South Carolina Senate is not the place to do that work," Hembree said.
There are at least 39 amendments to the bill waiting to be debated. Amendment 1A, for example, aims to ensure manufacturers don't give free samples of medical cannabis to providers.
Senators also discussed possibly making changes to the bill to ensure South Carolinians know they can't own firearms if they're prescribed medical cannabis.
Currently, the legislation doesn’t allow for the smoking of marijuana, only other forms of the drug such as edibles and oils. A patient would need to get a prescription from a doctor.
The bill's sponsor, Senator Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he’ll take all the feedback he can get.
“Even though this bill has been worked on for seven years in committee," said Davis, "a limited number of eyeballs in the senate have been focused on this. I hoped that during the course of debate we'd get the benefit of a lot more eyeballs on this."
Davis thanked Hembree for his analysis and is hopeful they can compromise to get it passed. “You’ve given me a good idea of how we can make this bill better [and] how we can avoid unintended consequences," Davis told Hembree.
The Senate will debate changes to the medical marijuana bill on Tuesday, February 8 and are expected to have a late night in session.
On February 2, Mississippi became the latest state to legalize medical marijuana after the governor signed a similar bill into law.