While 28 states allow comprehensive medical marijuana programs, only two of those are in the South. Arkansas and Florida voters approved theirs through the ballot last November. Neither is in place yet. A law signed in Louisiana last year, also not yet in effect, doesn't allow the smoking or vaping of marijuana.
This year's renewed push in South Carolina is bolstered by some of the state's most conservative legislators, such as Rep. Eric Bedingfield, whose opinions have shifted due to personal losses or the pleadings of parents and pastors in their districts.
Three years ago, state lawmakers passed a very narrow law allowing patients with severe epilepsy, or their caregivers, to legally possess cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive oil derived from marijuana. Bedingfield voted against that idea.
