NO. 55

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

The Senate assembled at 11:00 A.M., the hour to which it stood adjourned, and was called to order by the ACTING PRESIDENT, Senator DEVINE.

The following remarks by Senator DAVIS were ordered printed in the Journal of March 26, 2026:

If I could have your attention for a moment. I wanted to let you know that yesterday Georgia became the 42nd state to fully legalize medical marijuana recognizing that the National Academy of Sciences has said that there is conclusive proof that it can offer medical relief in ways that pharmaceutical drugs cannot.

We have a Bill that has passed this Senate twice. We have that same Bill in Senate Medical Affairs, right now, that is even more conservative than the Georgia bill, Senator CASH. It requires a physician to in-person diagnose somebody with one of eleven conditions for which there's empirical peer reviewed evidence that marijuana can be of benefit. It requires that marijuana, in medical form, be dispensed by a pharmacist. It requires that the product goes through an intensive manufacturing and processing process to assure purity and to label it so that everybody knows exactly what they are getting.

Ladies and gentlemen, I say all this to point out that South Carolina is failing its people. There are people that desperately need this for health purposes. Senator SUTTON was very eloquent about that yesterday. I have also talked about how Margaret Richardson, of Hilton Head, has eloquently spoken on this. Senator HEMBREE is correct. We need to be careful with THC. I am not saying THC is harmless. THC can be abused. Senator GARRETT is right. THC can cause harm. But we are not talking about legalizing it for recreational purposes. We are talking about an extraordinarily controlled environment in which doctors, with their medical expertise say, in writing, that this individual has one of these conditions and I believe, as a physician, that this is what is necessary to address that condition. Why in the world are we allowing the laws of South Carolina to prevent a physician from doing that for a patient? It makes no sense.

Well, it makes no sense, but I know the reason. The reason is because of what happened back during the 60s. Okay. The counterculture drug revolution and the hippies, who were out there demonstrating outside the White House lawn on the Mall, and Richard Nixon pushed through the Controlled Substances Act to get them back. To stick it in their eye. The American Medical Association recommended against that, but they did it anyway back then. This has lasted for almost 60 years now. It is ridiculous that we are not willing to empower physicians. We talk about medical freedom. I am not lecturing that here. This Senate has passed it twice. You have got individuals over in the House who claim they are for freedom. But they do not want a patient sitting down with a physician to decide upon a course of treatment, in a very narrow sense, in a very tightly regulated way, that is dispensed by pharmacists. We should be ashamed that we cannot get this passed. We should be ashamed.

I just wanted to point out that Georgia became the 42nd state. Maybe we will be content in being the 50th state. I don't know. But in this recent debate we had over THC-infused recreational drinks, which we are fine with, that passed. You know why? M-O-N-E-Y, as Lyle Lovett said. It is the three tier. They are making money on this thing. And I guarantee this, as soon as the pharmaceutical industry figures out a way that it can make money on it, this Bill will be on Special Order the first week in session. That is not fair to the people of South Carolina for us to wait on that.

At 11:04 A.M., on motion of Senator GRAHAM, the Senate adjourned to meet next Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at 12:00 Noon.

This web page was last updated on Friday, April 17, 2026 at 11:16 A.M.