South Carolina Representative Eric Bedingfield used to oppose all marijuana use until his son lost a battle with opioid addiction and died from overdose. The conservative Republican co-sponsored marijuana legislation. Bedingfield recently stated, “My mindset has changed from somebody who looked down on it as a negative substance to saying, this has benefits.”
Bedingfield now believes marijuana may successfully help addicts wean themselves from a dependence on opioids. He also believes marijuana may be an alternative to prescription medications like OxyContin.
Almost twenty years after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, efforts to let patients legally access marijuana are slowly taking root in the South. Out of 28 states that allow medical marijuana, only two of those states are in the south. Arkansas and Florida voters approved theirs through November’s ballot. A law signed in Louisiana last year, also not yet in effect, does not allow the vaping or smoking of marijuana.
This year’s renewed push in South Carolina is supported by some of the state’s most conservative legislators, such as Bedingfield, whose opinions have shifted due to personal losses or the pleadings of parents and pastors in their districts. Three years ago, state legislators passed a very narrow law permitting patients with severe epilepsy, or their caregivers, to legally possess cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive oil derived from marijuana. Bedingfield voted against that idea.
Bill Davis, a Christian author who leads a Bible study for people fighting drug addiction, said he was bedridden before trying marijuana. Diagnosed two years ago with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease with no cure, he was put on an experimental drug with “horrible side effects.” Davis said, “I had to decide whether I wanted to die of lung disease or kidney or liver failure.” Then he started vaping marijuana, which he says allows him to control the amount of CBD and THC he receives. He said, “I’m praying this state will allow me to be treated legally for me to live” using “a plant that God made.”
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