Cannabis in South Carolina

South Carolina has neither a medical nor an adult-use cannabis market. The only THC-containing product the legislature has authorized is CBD oil under Julian's Law, signed by Governor Nikki Haley in June 2014: patients with severe epilepsy may, on a physician's recommendation, use oil with at least 15% CBD and no more than 0.9% THC. Hemp has been grown under state licenses since 2017, and hemp-derived products are sold under those rules.

Senator Tom Davis's Compassionate Care Act is the long-running attempt to go further. It passed the Senate 28–15 in February 2022 and died in the House, as did a later version. The 2025–26 bill, S. 53, was referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee on January 14, 2025 and had no further action, and the legislature adjourned on May 14, 2026 without a hearing on any cannabis bill.

A twist came in spring 2026. After the U.S. Attorney General moved state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III on April 23, Davis argued that a dormant 1980 law, the Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act, required the Department of Public Health to follow suit and supply marijuana to certain cancer and glaucoma patients. For buyers nothing changed: the state has no funding, rules, licensed supplier or patient registry for it, and the health department said only that it was assessing the impact.

Possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, or 10 grams of hashish, is a misdemeanor carrying up to 30 days in jail and a $100–$200 fine; first offenders may qualify for pretrial intervention. Growing fewer than 100 plants is a felony punishable by up to five years.