NEWS: S.C. House could be buzzkill on medical marijuana

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent  | With the Senate abuzz over steady progress on proposed legislation to approve medical usage of marijuana in South Carolina, some House members remain stony on the latest attempt.

“I’m ready for it,” former SLED agent and S.C. Rep. Eddie Tallon, R-Spartanburg, said with a broad grin. “Ready to vote it down.”

House Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, R-York, who served with Tallon at SLED and is a former solicitor, also balked at a state-level medical marijuana bill.

“I don’t like the inconsistency that we are going to abide by some federal laws and not others,” Pope said, adding that he would not vote for such legislation no matter how tightly controlled. “The answer of what’s going to happen when it gets over here? I do not know.”

House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Hiott, R-Pickens, said many House members tend to “clam up” when the topic arises.

“Everybody knows it’s coming but no one wants to hurry up and get to it,” Hiott said.

But advocates for the legislation say the House has enough votes to pass it and override a potential gubernatorial veto. They cite two recent events as demonstrating the growing support in Columbia: a recent anti-medical marijuana press conference by the state attorney general and others, and an anonymous mailer sent out this week targeting the key proponentof medical marijuana in the Senate.

“They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t think there was a lot of support for it,” said House sponsor Jonathan Hill, R-Anderson.

Where the bill stands

The “South Carolina Compassionate Care Act” is in subcommittee in the Senate Medical Affairs Committee with the lead sponsor GOP Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort, still at work on ironing out details since February. The House’s version has yet to be scheduled in the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee (3M) where Hill serves as vice chair.

Davis has scheduled meetings to make sure the bill is “thoroughly vetted” by physicians, law enforcement and other stakeholders. He said the Senate is beyond whether the bill should be passed, but instead focused on what the bill should look like. Other top senators have confirmed this sentiment.

Davis said the bill is designed to be the most narrow, tightly-regulated medical marijuana law in the nation. He said it would show other states how to do medical marijuana “right.” That means strict limitations on  the amount of marijuana available to patients and limiting conditions acceptable for prescriptions.

In the House, Hill said he is working closely with 3M Committee Chair Leon Howard, D-Richland, on moving the legislation to a floor vote. Hill said he did not intend to to wait for Davis’ bill to pass the Senate to begin work on the House version.

Both bodies’ committees sent similar bipartisan medical marijuana bills to the floor last year where the measures met a quiet death.  

Background

Thirty four  states have medical marijuana or cannabis programs. South Carolina is one of 12 states allowing the use of “low THC, high cannabidiol (CBD)” products for medical reasons in limited situations. Today, CBD use is popular across the state.

In South Carolina, medical marijuana proposals dates back to 1980 with the S.C. Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act. The law, which was ratified though never funded, sought to make marijuana available to “cancer chemotherapy patients, radiology and glaucoma patients under certain conditions for the purpose of alleviating the patient’s pain and discomfort.”

It took another 27 years before the Senate weighed another medical marijuana bill. But, in 2007, it died in committee.

Then, five years later, libertarian-leaning, first-term Davis proposed a bill seeking the legalization of cannabidiol, a plant oil derived from marijuana’s less intoxicating cultivar hemp. The bill was called Julian’s Law, and its proponents championed cannabidiol products for children suffering from epilepsy and other conditions.

Since 2014, there have been numerous iterations of medical marijuana to fail in both bodies. Davis has mostly led the charge in the Senate, and Democrats have mostly pushed the measure in the House. In recent years, the House has seen growing bipartisan support. This year, the House version of Davis’ bill was sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman Peter McCoy, R-Charleston, giving proponents hope for better chances.

Strong stances on both sides

McCoy declined comment for this story. But he took to Twitter this week to defend his support of the Compassionate Care Act.

“Proud to stand with Tom Davis to continue this fight,” McCoy wrote. The Wednesday tweet was in response to an anonymous mailer accusing Davis of trying to turn South Carolina into a “pot party” through advocacy of medical marijuana. The flier featured women in bikinis and Davis in a Hawaiian shirt.

Another sponsor, Charleston Democratic Rep. Leon Stavrinakis wrote on Twitter: “To whoever sent this trash, thanks in advance for your help getting our bill passed.”

But others, such as House Speaker Jay Lucas,  declined comment on the issue.

House opponents frequently cited law enforcement or the S.C. Medical Association — an organization of doctors that has opposed medical marijuana — as to why the bill will never work in the state.

‘The tide is turning’

The House’s longest-serving woman lawmaker, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, supports medical marijuana proposals.  She said she has witnessed a gradual warming toward legalizing the drug for patients who need comfort..

“I have seen what appears to be a slight uptick in support for medical marijuana and that is due largely to parents advocating for it on behalf of children, and physicians and caregivers who are trying to impress upon us that it is not the evil weed,” Cobb-Hunter said. “I am cautiously optimistic, if it gets out of the Senate, we will get it passed because we have a lot of new members … The tide is turning.”

Hill said he expects that while a few in the House have made up their minds, many House members will be “willing to listen to facts and reason and their constituents.” Medical marijuana has support from 72 percent of S.C. respondents in a recent poll.

He said that willingness to listen could also extend to Gov. Henry McMaster, a former state attorney general and U.S. attorney who has spoken against medical marijuana in the past.

“He’s also shown he’s one to follow where the political winds blow. Even if he followed through on a threat to veto it, if we have the votes to get it passed in House and Senate, we will have the votes to override a veto,” Hill said.

And if it doesn’t happen this year? Medical marijuana advocates vow the issue will be brought up again until it does.

“We’re going to stay the course and make sure the job is done,” Hill said.

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