COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – South Carolina senators are continuing debate this week on a bill that would impose new restrictions on hemp products, as some families warn the proposed rules could limit access for patients who rely on the products for medical reasons.
The legislation would require buyers to be at least 21 years old and would restrict where certain hemp products could be sold. Lower-potency hemp-infused beverages would be allowed in grocery and convenience stores, while stronger products would be limited to liquor stores. The bill would also ban any hemp products that cause psychoactive effects.
As lawmakers consider the changes, parents and advocates are urging senators to include a therapeutic provision for patients who use hemp-derived products under medical supervision.
“Don’t forget the patients in this conversation,” said Jill Swing of the South Carolina Compassionate Care Alliance.
Gabrielle Scott, whose daughter has epilepsy, said hemp products dramatically improved her child’s quality of life after years of severe seizures.
“I don’t want my daughter to regress,” Scott said. “She was having up to 200 seizures a day.”
Scott said doctors once warned her that her daughter’s condition could prevent her from living independently. Since using hemp products, she said, her daughter has met developmental milestones and is now walking, talking and enrolled in a gifted and talented program at school.
“When we met with her neurologist when she was 2 years old, the neurologist told me that instead of planning for college I should start planning for her to live in a group home,” Scott said. “That’s not our reality now.”
Supporters of a therapeutic provision say hemp products are used by veterans and pediatric patients and want doctors to be able to certify patients to purchase them from licensed retailers.
Sen. Tom Davis, a Republican from Beaufort and chair of the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, said lawmakers should consider medical access alongside recreational regulation.
“If we’re going to regulate it for recreational purposes through infused drinks, it makes sense to me to also regulate it and authorize it for medicinal purposes,” Davis said.
Swing said the bill, as currently written, could reduce what limited access patients already have.
“What tiny little bit of access we had to some form of medical cannabis, it’s taking that away from the patients,” she said.
The Senate has passed medical cannabis legislation twice in recent years, but both bills stalled in the House.
Meanwhile, Drew McKissick, chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, released a statement calling for tighter controls, saying hemp-derived products entered the state through “a legal loophole” and urging lawmakers to close it.
A proposed full ban on hemp products failed in a close vote last week.
Senators are expected to continue debating the bill in the coming days, with proposed amendments that include a therapeutic provision, changes to gummy products and language that would allow hemp-infused beverages to be sold at bars and restaurants.
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SC hemp bill debate continues with key amendments still on the table
