South Carolina lawmakers are steps closer to pushing the FDA to do more testing on medical marijuana. A proposed bill by Senator Greg Hembree passed it’s second reading on Thursday and will be up for it’s third and final reading Tuesday
Jan. 22. Hembree explains he believes it’s dangerous to allow the South Carolina General Assembly to decide what medications are legal
“Let’s treat marijuana like medicine and have it go through the same process,” said Hembree. “That’s the FDA’s role to make that judgement. I think that’s where we need to be having those discussions is around the FDA. Let them make those decisions.”
Since this is bill is on the state level, passing it won’t guarantee more testing.
“It’s basically just stating where we stand. We’re asking them and they don’t work for us. So I don’t know if this will speed their process up one bit but it shows that this is the approach South Carolina is willing to take,” said Hembree.
If the bill passes it’s third and final reading in Columbia it could possibly make it’s a way to Washington.
“There’s a process where we need to take this resolution and memorialize it and communicate it to the federal government, there’s a channel we go through and states do this on a regular basis on the subject or another. So we’ll send that up to Washington and hope for the best,” he said.
Copyright 2019 WMBF. All rights reserved.