Politics
South Carolina GOP Governor Says There’s ‘Compelling’ Case For Medical Marijuana As House Leader Remains Skeptical
The governor of South Carolina says there’s a “compelling” case to be made for legalizing medical marijuana in the state, despite reservations from law enforcement. And a key GOP lawmaker who’s championed the reform over multiple sessions says he’s eyeing 2026 as the year to finally get the job done.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R) said last week that he thinks supporters of the reform have a “very compelling situation,” despite the fact that “law enforcement, almost end-to-end, still have grave concerns.”
“I think what we need to do is study it very carefully, get as much information as we can and try to do the right thing,” he said.
Sen. Tom Davis (R), who has sponsored several bills to legalize medical cannabis cannabis described his legislation as “conservative.”
“It is strictly limited to medical conditions,” he said. “And really this is all about—let’s not forget what we’re after here—this is about helping patients.”
The office of House Speaker Murrell Smith (R) tempered expectations, however, saying in a statement to WSPA 7 News that the leader’s “previous statement on the medical marijuana bill holds true,” referencing his comments on insufficient support within the GOP caucus to advance the reform.
Davi said he intends to speak with Smith about the issue, claiming that he feels there’s enough support within the GOP-controlled House to advance it.
An earlier version of Davis’s cannabis measure passed the Senate last legislative session but was never taken up in the House. He filed a new version for the 2025 session last December.
“It requires doctors in patient authorization, doctor supervision,” Davis said at the time. “It requires pharmacists to dispense it. It is a very conservative bill, because that’s what South Carolinians want.”
As introduced, the legislation would allow patients to access medical marijuana from “therapeutic cannabis pharmacies,” which would be licensed by the state Board of Pharmacy. Individuals would need to receive a doctor’s recommendation for the treatment of certain qualifying conditions, which include several specific ailments as well as terminal illnesses and chronic diseases where opioids are the standard of care.
Among the public, medical marijuana legalization enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in the state, with a poll last year finding that 93 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of independents back the reform.
The state Senate passed an earlier version of the legislation in 2022, but it stalled in the opposite body over a procedural hiccup.
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When senators began debating the medical marijuana legislation last year, the body adopted an amendment that clarifies the bill does not require landlords or people who control property to allow vaporization of cannabis products.
As debate on the legislation continued, members clashed over whether the current version of the legislation contains major differences from an earlier iteration that the body passed in 2022.
Certain lawmakers have also raised concerns that medical cannabis legalization would lead to broader reform to allow adult-use marijuana, that it could put pharmacists with roles in dispensing cannabis in jeopardy and that federal law could preempt the state’s program, among other worries.
After Davis’s Senate-passed medical cannabis bill was blocked in the House in 2022, he tried another avenue for the reform proposal, but that similarly failed on procedural grounds.
The lawmaker has called the stance of his own party, particularly as it concerns medical marijuana, “an intellectually lazy position that doesn’t even try to present medical facts as they currently exist.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s hemp industry has been going through it’s own trials, with some businesses turning away from the crop amid disappointing returns on their investments into the market.
