Legislation to legalize medical marijuana has been filed in South Carolina.

House Bill 3272 was filed by Representatives Todd Rutherford (D) and Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D), and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. The measure would legalize the medical use and possession of marijuana by those with a qualifying medical condition who receive a recommendation from a physician. This includes legalizing a system of licensed dispensaries.

Under the proposed law, patients or their caregiver would be allowed to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, and could grow up to six plants (three of which can be mature).

The law defines “debilitating medical condition” as:

(a) cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or treatment for these conditions;

(b) a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition, or treatment of that disease or medical condition, that results in one or more of the following symptoms, and for which, in the professional opinion of that patient’s physician, the use of medical marijuana would alleviate one or more of the symptoms:

(i) cachexia;

(ii) severe pain;

(iii) severe nausea;

(iv) seizures, including those that are characteristic of epilepsy; or

(v) persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis; and

(c) another disease or medical condition, or treatment of that disease or medical condition, determined by the department to be a debilitating medical condition pursuant to department regulation or department approval of a petition submitted by a patient or a patient’s physician.

For the full text of the proposal, click here.