COLUMBIA, S.C. — PRESS RELEASE — The state Senate Medical Affairs Committee will hold hearings Thursday on the SC Compassionate Care Act (S. 366), which would establish a comprehensive medical cannabis program in South Carolina. They are scheduled to take place in the L. Marion Gressette State Office Building from 9:30-11 a.m. (Room 209) and 2-3:30 p.m. (Room 308).
Between the two hearings, several patients, physicians and advocates who will be testifying in favor of the legislation will be available for interviews.They include Jeff Moore, former executive director of the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association, Dr. Julia Arnsten, a professor and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Dr. Bill Griffith of Anderson.
Arnsten is an accomplished clinician and researcher best known for her work on HIV/AIDS and substance abuse at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, where she established an institutionally sanctioned medical cannabis clinic. She has received research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health.
Testimony will also be provided by veterans advocate and Purple Heart recipient Steven Diaz, who recently appeared in a Columbia billboard highlighting veterans' support for the Compassionate Care Act.
