Medical Cannabis

I authored and sponsored South Carolina’s first medical-cannabis legislation, a 2014 law that allows doctors to legally authorize their epileptic patients to take cannabis oil to alleviate their seizures. I am also the author and sponsor of subsequent bills that would expand the medical conditions for which cannabis medicines can be authorized by doctors and used by their patients.

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The National Academy of Sciences in January 2017 published “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids” after reviewing more than 10,000 studies, finding that “in adults with chronic pain, patients who were treated with cannabis or cannabinoids are more likely to experience a clinically significant reduction in pain symptoms. This report also included that “there is substantial evidence that cannabis is an effective treatment for chronic pain in adults.”

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Cannabis is not a cure-all for every medical condition, nor would it be appropriate for every patient. But it should be added to a physician’s inventory of treatment choices.