FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Third Annual South Carolina Cannabis Supporters Capitol Rally
(COLUMBIA) Advocates for the reform of South Carolina's woefully outdated cannabis
laws will come together again on the South Carolina Statehouse steps in Columbia, SC
for the 3rd Annual South Carolina Cannabis Supporters Capitol Rally on January 31st.
Organized by the South Carolina Cannabis Coalition, the 2025 rally will run for 420
minutes (7 hours!) to bring awareness to the many medical benefits of cannabis and
show support for both the decriminalization & legalization of cannabis in our state.
Featured speakers at this event will be South Carolina's youngest State Senator
(by nearly 5 years) Deon Tedder, who plans to refile his Senate Bill 892 (S892),
which would not allow the smell of marijuana alone to be used as probable cause for
a law enforcement officer to search someone's vehicle after they are pulled over.
South Carolina House of Representatives member JA Moore will discuss reform as well.
DJ Gamecock plans to start up the cannabis-themed 420 music at EXACTLY 9 AM EST!
(Permit start time) While setting up our tent & audio gear supplied by DJ Josh,
(representing NORML - the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)
we will do a cool demonstration of the Altec-Lansing ROCKBOX XL Bluetooth Speaker.
DJ Gamecock's "420 Minute 420 Playlist of 420 Music" (now released worldwide on
Spotify) begins at EXACTLY 10 AM EST. The first 420 music track this year will be
"Homegrown" by the singer, songwriter and guitarist Neil Young off his 1978 album
"American Stars and Bars". This is important because all of the best state medical
cannabis programs let patients grow up to 12 cannabis plants. SC patients MUST be
allowed to grow a few plants at home to ease their pain and help heal their body!
Attendees are encouraged to bring their own portable Bluetooth speakers to this
420 event. WHY? Spotify, the globally popular music app, has a new JAM Feature to
let you jam with our 420 playlist to play on both DJ Josh's powerful audio system
and your portable Bluetooth speaker at the SAME TIME! The more speakers people
bring, the louder the music gets! DJ Gamecock said "This will be our first time to
use Spotify's new Jam feature too. It'll be fun to see how adding more Bluetooth
speakers from attendees works out." We may give out a prize to the loudest speaker.
At High Noon, we will begin introducing our speakers. With exceptions for only
South Carolina State Senator Deon Tedder and SC House of Representatives member JA
Moore, we asked all the other speakers to please keep their speech within 5 minutes.
At EXACTLY 4:20 PM, we'll all march around the inner sidewalk of the South Carolina
Statehouse (with all our portable Bluetooth speakers playing our 420 playlist) to
protest the ill-advised (illegal?) raids and unwise arrests at SC vape stores and
smoke shops for selling cannabis products made Federally LEGAL by the 2018 U.S. Farm
Bill. Some states passed laws to ban Delta 8 THC or Delta 10 THC found in cannabis.
Outdated SC laws specifically ban ONLY cannabis containing Delta 9 THC above 0.3%.
At Approximately 4:40 PM, we'll attempt to gather everyone together for a big group
photo on the North Capitol steps. At approximately 4:50 PM or just before the rally
ends, we will ask everyone there to hold up protest signs like "HONK FOR LEGAL WEED
IN SC!" to show to cars in the 5 O'clock traffic jam in front of the SC Statehouse.
NORML of SC also did this once at the busy intersection of King & Calhoun Streets in
downtown Charleston and it made the local TV news. (NOTE: If any TV crew wants to
capture video of cannabis supporters with signs making cars in traffic honk like
crazy, we will help you get that shot for your newscast SAFELY! Just let us know.)
South Carolina is still one of only 9 states that have NOT decriminalized cannabis
or legalized it for medical purposes. Let's work together to help fix that! Nobody
in SC should be arrested for simple possession of marijuana. It's now LEGAL in NC*!
On Friday 1/31/25, we hope to have THE Largest Pro-Cannabis SC Crowd EVER assembled!
ALL advocates are invited! Be at the Capitol on Friday January 31st and be a part
of HISTORY! Help out by spreading the word about this event! Please go visit our
Facebook Event page to say you are either GOING or INTERESTED! (Thanks in advance!)
Be part of the movement, meet like-minded individuals and enjoy an exciting day with
cannabis-themed 420 music, guest speakers and informative sessions. Don't miss us
on the (North) Capitol steps of the South Carolina Statehouse to celebrate growing
support for cannabis in South Carolina! So, be there or Be SQUARE! Will be WILD!
* = Recreational cannabis is legally for sale to adults 21+ in Cherokee, NC on the
Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation. The State of NC decriminalized weed in 1977.
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NOTE: SC Capitol Police will be patrolling in Golf Carts, so this is *NOT* an event
to light up anything Legal OR Illegal! SCCC does NOT want anyone getting arrested!
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BACKGROUND ON WHY CANNABIS LAW REFORM IN SOUTH CAROLINA IS SO DESPERATELY NEEDED!
South Carolina is now wasting over $100 MILLION annually (ACLU data) enforcing old
outdated SC cannabis laws originally based on Jim Crow racism. Instead, SC could be
saving that money and begin earning windfall legal cannabis excise taxes estimated
at over $100 MILLION annually. Do the math. That's over $1 BILLION saved & earned
in only 5 years to finally fix South Carolina's Worst in USA public schools & roads.
To date, 24 legal cannabis states have collected over $20 BILLION in LEGAL cannabis
taxes. And that total does not include any state revenue from medical cannabis or
extra taxes gained by the thousands of new high-paying jobs created after any state
ends cannabis prohibition. Approved patients shouldn't pay taxes on their medicine.
Few people know this, but South Carolina passed a very weak medical marijuana bill
called the "South Carolina Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act of 1980"
(S350). It was signed into law by Democratic Governor Richard W. Riley on February
28, 1980. It was so restrictive, not ONE patient was ever helped by it! Patients
in South Carolina DON'T want a new overly-restrictive bill to replace the 1980 bill.
After 10 years of trying unsuccessfully to pass another (outdated) very restrictive
SC medical cannabis bill, SC would be wise to consider what state leaders in Kansas
recently said. They agreed it would be easier (& smarter) to skip starting a state
medical cannabis program and just legalize cannabis for adults age 21 & up instead
to earn taxes and help patients sooner. People there just drive to a legal state.
SC law enforcement should concentrate on VIOLENT crime with victims, not waste time
and taxpayer funds raiding SC stores based on a non-binding, unsupported OPINION by
South Carolina's prohibitionist State Attorney General Alan Wilson. Wilson is well
known for saying "Marijuana is the most dangerous drug in America" in the middle of
an ongoing deadly opioid (& Fentanyl) overdose crisis killing 100,000 people in the
USA annually. Cannabis was a primary ingredient in numerous medicines before being
banned by the Federal government in 1937. Nobody has died from overdosing on weed.
Unlike some states, SC law does NOT mention Delta 8 THC, Delta 10 THC or any other
cannabinoids found in cannabis. Wilson left it up to each of the 46 County Sheriffs
to decide whether or not to enforce his lame opinion as if it was a Binding RULING!
While other legal and medical cannabis states allow patients to freely share their
cannabis medicine, the latest SC Medical bill still has excessively harsh penalties.
In addition to violators losing their right to be an approved SC medical patient for
LIFE, SC Senator Tom Davis' bill also calls for excessive 5-Year FELONY &/or $5,000
Fine for "Diversion" (sharing, intentional or not). Why put ANY non-violent and
otherwise law-abiding SC residents in jail for something now legal to a majority of
Americans? The cost to house a SC prisoner has now risen to over $40,000 annually!
