The state’s State's Medical Affairs Committee approved a bill to legalize medical marijuana March 2021 and expected to pass the Senate. The sponsor described it as “the most conservative medical cannabis bill in the country.” The measure didn’t get a full Senate vote by the mid-May deadline as expected, look to 2022 for medical legalization.

The Compassionate Care Act, sponsored by Sen. Tom Davis (R), would allow patients with highly restrictive qualifying conditions to possess and purchase up to two ounces of cannabis every two weeks. For the initial rollout, regulators would approve 15 licenses for vertically integrated marijuana businesses that would control cultivation, distribution and sales. More than 100 dispensaries would be licensed to operate under the bill.

Smokable flower is prohibited under the proposed bill.

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Though the proposed medical marijuana bill proposed is highly restrictive, The Palmetto State will ultimately be an attractive market with a population of 5MM people and the pressure from neighboring states will less restrictions.

South Carolina is one of 14 states that has not created a medical marijuana program despite the overwhelming support by state residents.  A 2018 Benchmark Research poll showed 72 percent of South Carolinians support legalizing medical marijuana, including 63 percent of Republicans. Change is coming for the southern states.