Is weed legal in South Carolina?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is not legal in South Carolina. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-370: Prohibited acts A; penalties.)

South Carolina Code 44-53-190 lists marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Schedule I; 44-53-370 is the operative provision that actually makes possessing, distributing, or manufacturing marijuana without authorization a crime, with no adult-use exception in any registered source.

South Carolina's drug law carves out no exception for an adult, so age has nothing to do with whether possession is charged. A first offense at an ounce or less is a misdemeanor carrying up to 30 days or a fine of $100 to $200, and a second offense raises both.

Medical status

A medical cannabis program runs in South Carolina, and it reaches only low-THC or CBD preparations. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-1840 (Article 18, Julian's Law): Immunity.)

Article 18 ('Julian's Law') permits a 'qualifying patient' with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, Dravet Syndrome, or another refractory epilepsy not adequately treated by traditional therapies to use 'Cannabidiol' -- a preparation of at least 98% cannabidiol and not more than 0.90% tetrahydrocannabinol by volume -- supplied through an FDA-approved statewide expanded-access clinical trial under Section 44-53-1820. Section 44-53-1810's own text is definitions only and does not itself state that this use is lawful; that is established by 44-53-1840's immunity from arrest, prosecution, or civil or administrative penalty for a person acting in compliance with the article. There is no patient registry card or dispensary system in any registered source.

The article reads as an immunity and not as a market: a person acting within it is protected from arrest, prosecution and civil or administrative penalty. Supply runs through an approved statewide expanded-access clinical trial, and the preparation has to be at least 98 percent cannabidiol with no more than 0.90 percent THC by volume.

Hemp-derived products

South Carolina permits the sale of hemp-derived products that meet its definition of hemp. (South Carolina Code § 46-55-30 (Hemp Farming Act): Application of chapter.)

Section 46-55-10(9) defines 'hemp products,' at the federally defined THC level for hemp, to include any product containing one or more hemp-derived cannabinoids such as cannabidiol; 46-55-10(11) excludes tetrahydrocannabinol in hemp or hemp products from the state's definition of 'marijuana.' No registered source restricts which hemp product forms may be sold.

The state's own definition of marijuana leaves out the THC in hemp and hemp products, which is what keeps a CBD shelf on the lawful side of a strict drug law. No registered source limits which hemp forms may be sold, so the line South Carolina polices is what counts as hemp and not what shape it takes.

Home cultivation

South Carolina allows nobody to grow cannabis at home. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-370: Prohibited acts A; penalties.)

Subsection (e) makes cultivating marijuana a felony known as 'trafficking in marijuana' once the quantity or plant-count thresholds it sets are met. No provision of this section, or of any other registered source, authorizes cultivating any amount of marijuana for personal, medical, or other use.

Growing is not written as a small offense of its own here: past the quantity and plant thresholds the statute sets, cultivation is charged as trafficking, which is a felony. The patient the cannabidiol article protects gains no growing right either, because that article covers a supplied preparation and not a plant.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as South Carolina states it: No amount is lawfully possessed. Possessing twenty-eight grams (one ounce) or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor; possessing more than that is prima facie evidence of a violation of subsection (a) (unauthorized manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute), which is punished more severely. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-370: Prohibited acts A; penalties.)

A first offense at or under the twenty-eight-gram (one-ounce) threshold draws up to thirty days' imprisonment or a fine of one hundred to two hundred dollars; a second or subsequent offense draws up to one year or a fine of two hundred to one thousand dollars.

On buying, South Carolina states: No amount: South Carolina has no lawful retail channel for marijuana, and purchasing marijuana in any quantity is itself one of the acts subsection (a) makes unlawful. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-370: Prohibited acts A; penalties.)

The one-ounce figure marks where the charge changes, because above it the quantity by itself is prima facie evidence of possession with intent to distribute. No amount is lawful to hold at all, so those numbers tell you how hard a penalty lands and never what you may keep.

Minimum age

There is no recreational channel in South Carolina, so no recreational age applies. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-370: Prohibited acts A; penalties.)

Null because South Carolina has no adult-use channel; see adult_use_status.

South Carolina sets no minimum age for a patient. (South Carolina Code § 44-53-1810 (Article 18, Julian's Law): Definitions.)

'Qualifying patient' is defined only by diagnosis -- Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, Dravet Syndrome, or another form of refractory epilepsy not adequately treated by traditional medical therapies -- with no age stated for the patient. A 'designated caregiver' may provide the patient's care, also with no age given.

The article defines a qualifying patient by diagnosis alone and gives no age at all, for the patient or for the designated caregiver who may provide their care. A missing age floor grants nothing on its own, because South Carolina licenses no dispensary to sell to a person of any age.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a retailer of hemp-derived or CBD products. (South Carolina Code § 46-55-30 (Hemp Farming Act): Application of chapter.)

Section 44-53-370 establishes no lawful adult-use or medical dispensary channel for marijuana. Section 46-55-30 exempts the sale of hemp products and extracts, including those containing hemp-derived cannabinoids such as CBD, from the Hemp Farming Act's restrictions.

A hemp or CBD store is the only lawful shelf in the state, and it stands apart from the cannabidiol article, which reaches its patients through the trial and not through a counter. Marijuana has no licensed seller in South Carolina, so anyone offering to sell it is selling unlawfully.

South Carolina licenses somewhere to buy, and this site does not yet hold a record for any location here. The state publishes its list in a form this site cannot yet read.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.