By Charleston City Paper Editorial Board
With yet another common-sense medical marijuana bill about to go up in smoke in the S.C. House, South Carolinians could be forgiven for calling their state representatives to ask — respectfully, of course — “Are you high?”
The state of South Carolina needs to enter the modern age to provide alternatives like medical marijuana that work for some people to relieve their continual pain and suffering.
The legislature’s latest outbreak of madness on medical reefer started in mid-February when after nine years the S.C. Senate passed S. 423, the Compassionate Care Act. It would legalize and strictly regulate the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes – as 38 other states have already done.
In response, the S.C. House, which used a procedural excuse to kill a similar bill two years ago, moved like a turtle to do … nothing at all. No real hearings. No real negotiations. No real debates. Just week after week of carefully considered inaction, followed by a fast flurry of “my goodness, it’s really too late to consider this” in a hearing as the clock started running down on the legislative session in April.
This might serve as a wryly amusing lesson in the power of parliamentary procrastination – except for the clear and present fact that living, breathing South Carolinians are suffering unnecessarily due to this legislative gamesmanship. Fortunately, it was still within the House’s power – barely, even at this late date – to ease that suffering by forcing a vote on the House floor. Why? Because after nine years, we know the issue. It’s time for the House to vote.
After all, does anyone really believe our liberty-loving, freedom-caucusing House would be talking about the importance of careful deliberation – of taking their time and getting the details just so – if this were a bill that made it easier to get a gun or harder to get an abortion? Of course not. Instead, in those cases, we’d be hearing exactly what we should be hearing now – stern warnings about the human cost of inaction and the incalculable dangers of delay – warnings that would actually be true for medical marijuana.
The evidence is clear: cannabis has pain-relieving qualities our opioid saturated state needs. According to the National Academy of Sciences, which reviewed more than 10,000 medical studies in 2017, “there is substantial evidence that cannabis is an effective treatment for chronic pain in adults.” Moreover, “in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS)-related spasticity, short-term use of oral cannabinoids improves … symptoms.”
In fact, the evidence is so compelling that just last week, the U.S. Department of Justice signed off on a Food and Drug Administration recommendation to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, like prescriptions for testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.
Of course, none of this would matter if the Senate bill in question were a wild-eyed, weed-happy slice of pro-pot agitprop. But as the bill’s sponsor, Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis points out, it’s actually “the most conservative medical marijuana legislation in the county,” with end-to-end oversight of production and distribution, a specific list of covered ailments, and a physician’s prescription required. In addition, pharmacists would only be allowed to dispense in medically-typical forms like tinctures – no smokable flower allowed.
Put simply, this medical marijuana bill is sensible, conservative and humane. If House members want us to believe they have those same qualities, they’ll stop shilly-shallying and pass it without further delay.
