SC Could Soon Legalize Medical Cannabis
LANCASTER CO.– There’s a new push to legalize marijuana for medical use in South Carolina.
Lawmakers on both sides say that could happen next year.
Supporters and experts say it helps people who are suffering from debilitating diseases.
Meeting Kelly Helms, you instantly notice her energy to make her son, Jackson, comfortable and included.
However, the days are exhausting.
Seemingly trapped inside his body, he can have up to 100 seizures a day.
The videos Helms records for researchers are difficult to watch but unimaginable to live through.
Jackson started seizing as a baby. He’s 19 now.
“We have had his funeral planned for over a decade,” said Helms.
When medication caused his liver to fail, she found one answer: medical cannabis.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever felt hope,” said Helms.
She shares his story with lawmakers to convince them to legalize medical cannabis.
Patients are not getting high, researchers say.
They can put oils on the tongue and use lotions.
Chemo patients say it helps debilitating nausea.
Studies show it eases theΒ pain of multiple sclerosis and can stop seizures.
Jackson has been using CBD oil, also derived from the plant, and has improved to less than six seizures a week.
“Put yourself in his shoes for 10 minutes. 10 minutes of his day with seizures and G tubeβs and therapy and not sleeping well and surgeries and pokes and needles and people holding you down to shove tubes down your face. Do that for 10 minutes,” said Helms. “Then, tell me that I canβt have this plant for my kid. Tell me that.”
Democrat and Republican lawmakers in South Carolina are supporting one bill legalizing it:
The Compassion Care Act.
“A few years ago I was against it,” said Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell, (D) Lancaster County.
Now, she’s a sponsor of the bill.
“The more I researched, the more I realized that it was a great alternative for chronic pain. And then, as I got more into it, I met these momβs who were looking for something to help their children with epilepsy,” said Rep. Powers Norrell.
The bill would, in part, allow medical use of cannabis for certain diseases and medical conditions, create a verification system for law enforcement to see who has prescriptions and provide regulation of growth and sales. The South Carolina Senate’s sub-committee on health approved the Compassionate Care Act last month.
Now, it’s in the full medical affairs committee.
To see the entire bill, click here.
“Iβm okay with the oils all that sort of stuff. Thatβs fine,” said Rep. Brandon Newton, (R) Lancaster and York Counties.
He says one thing holding the bill back is smokeable weed.
“When you start allowing smokeable marijuana, you begin to make a law-enforcement job a lot harder,” said Newton.
The Sheriff’s Association can sway lawmakers. So, he says, take the smoke out, the bill will likely pass.
28 states already legalized medical cannabis., but Helms can’t afford to move.
They live in Charlotte. If South Carolina legalizes the medication, she would be able to move there.
Jackson’s certified nurse assistant, Miles Wojtczak, would give it to them.
“If I can help some one especially someone like Jackson Iβm gonna go out of my way to do it,” said Wojtczak.
Seeing Jackson hit milestones like prom this year and imagining a future on this land, is what gives his mom strength on the journey to save her son.
“Give us what we need to help my kid live,” said Helms.
