South Carolina lawmakers review bill to legalize marijuana for medical use

According to WPDE, Marijuana could be a prescription drug, if a Lowcountry senator's bill passes through South Carolina Legislature. A Myrtle Beach woman, whose husband has pancreatic cancer, is fighting to see the bill passed. Sandy Gabriel's husband was diagnosed six years ago, and she's been his caretaker ever since. This month, in between his many surgeries and doctor's appointments, she travels to the state capital, pushing a bill that would legalize medical use of marijuana. Sandy says, "I think medical marijuana does help with pain, nausea, depression, anxiety, and most of all, appetite."

Of course, even if the bill passes (likely not in conservative South Carolina), Gonzales v. Raich is still on the books. In this landmark Commerce Clause case, the Supreme Court affirmed that Congress’ power to regulate local, intrastate matters is boundless. The question presented in Raich was whether Congress may prohibit the medicinal use of cannabis via the federal Controlled Substances Act--even if the cannabis at issue is grown using only soil, water, nutrients, tools, and supplies made or originating in a single state, never crosses state lines, and never is sold in the stream of commerce.

Writing for the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens noted that "the diversion of homegrown marijuana tends to frustrate the federal interest in eliminating commercial transactions in the interstate market in their entirety." "[P]roduction of the commodity meant for home consumption, be it wheat or marijuana, has a substantial effect on supply and demand in the national market for that commodity." Hence, the Controlled Substances Act will trump any Compassionate Use Act passed in South Carolina.