Year Passed: 2014
Summary: Senate Bill 839 reclassifies cannabis possessing less than 0.3 percent THC as an industrial crop rather than a controlled substance. The law calls on the state Department of Agriculture to develop rules and regulations governing the licensed production of industrial hemp by South Carolina farmers. In 2017, lawmakers updated the law to allow for regulators to issue up to 50 grow licenses by 2018.
Congress for the first time approved language in the omnibus federal Farm Bill allowing for the cultivation of industrial hemp in agricultural pilot programs in states that already permit the growth and cultivation of the plant.
Statute: S.C. Code. Ann. §§ 46-55-10-40 (2014)