By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
Medical marijuana should be legal in South Carolina, a panel of state senators concluded on Thursday.
The Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee voted unanimously to advance a bill that would legalize marijuana for certain medical conditions in the state, reports Cassie Cope at The State.
The proposal's approval sends a strong signal that legalizing medical marijuana is something the General Assembly wants to do, according to state Senator Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), the bill's chief sponsor.
But predictably mired in the unhappy past, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel told senators he's against the proposal, which outlines proposed guidelines for licensing state growers and dispensaries.
Keel claimed the proposed seed-to-sale tracking system doesn't take into account what happens to marijuana once it's sold to a patient. He also told one whopper -- yes, the chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division sat there in front of the Senators and told a big old lie. He claimed more adolescents use marijuana in states that have legalized marijuana. Unfortunately for the lying chief, scientific studies have shown otherwise.