A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in South Carolina didn’t go very far this week.
It died on the House floor on Wednesday following a nuanced debate over the constitutionality of the legislative process that the measure moved through.
This was before discussion of the merits of the bill itself could occur. Its sponsor, Sen. Tom Davis (R) said he would scramble to try to find another way to keep the issue alive as the session winds down.
Advocates had already expected pushback on the Senate-passed legislation, with opponents filing more than 1,000 amendments ahead of its floor consideration.
A constitutional challenge from Rep. John McCravy (R), raised a point of order against the Senate bill, claiming that because it involves a tax on medical cannabis, it should have originated in the House under the state constitution’s provisions for legislation that raises revenue.
House Speaker Pro Tem Thomas Pope (R) mulled the issue over during a lunch break and later ruled to sustain the point of order.
Rep. Todd Rutherford (D) tried to appeal the ruling, saying he planned an amendment to scrap the tax language later, but there was a subsequent motion to table his appeal, which was agreed upon by the body in a 59-55 vote, effectively killing the measure.
Davis’s bill passed the Senate along largely bipartisan lines in February, after which point it moved to the House and cleared committee.
Davis told The State newspaper that he would work on ways to attach the provisions of his bill to separate House legislation to give it another chance to pass before the looming end of the session.
“We suffered a setback procedurally in the House today,” he said. “I can’t cry about it. I can’t pout about it. I can’t come back and lash out and try to hurt other people’s bills. That’s not productive. I just need to find out a way to get this thing on the merits up or down in the House and that’s what I’m going to be working on.”
SB 150 would have allowed patients with qualifying conditions to possess and purchase cannabis products from licensed dispensaries. Smokable products, as well as home cultivation of cannabis by patients or their caretakers, would have been prohibited.
