Cannabis is on a roll these days as lawmakers in South Carolina – and in Washington, D.C. – get close to legalizing or decriminalizing the weed formerly known as marijuana, especially for medical uses.

South Carolina is considering legalization only for medical use and may soon adopt the most conservative medical marijuana law in the country. While some states already have cannabis on command, patients in South Carolina would need a doctor’s note, and consumption would be restricted to oils, creams and edibles.

Smoking, for some reason, wouldn’t be legal. (Too much fun, maybe?)

Only 13 medical conditions would qualify for treatment in South Carolina. Even Mississippi (or, Thank God for Mississippi, as South Carolinians like to say) has more than 20.

The Compassionate Care Act has already passed the state Senate and is up for a second reading in the House. Problematic in these matters is the fact that the federal government still considers cannabis a Schedule 1 substance. Practically speaking, federal law prohibits cannabis from being sufficiently researched by scientists; and federal restrictions block access to banking for cannabis retailers. Money used in such transactions can be viewed as money laundering and is thus subject to federal prosecution.

Similarly, insurance is hard to come by. The owner of a California vineyard that goes up in flames can file for insurance, while a comparable cannabis farmer can’t.

A bill first introduced in the House in 2019 by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. – the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act – would remove such obstacles to fair practices by legalizing cannabis. The House is likely to pass Nadler’s measure, but there’s little hope for quick Senate passage while Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., readies his own comprehensive reform bill, likely to be introduced soon.

Critics of the Nadler bill fear it would override state prerogatives. To address such concerns, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a measure in Congress that would federally decriminalize cannabis while freeing states to make their own decisions about cannabis. “The only way to accomplish cannabis reform is for Democrats and Republicans to work together,” Mace said in a phone conversation. “My bill will be bipartisan.”

Mace also supports the Compassionate Care Act introduced in the state Senate by Tom Davis, who like Mace mostly represents counties near the Atlantic Ocean. I’m not sure I can attribute coastal enthusiasm for legalization to sand and surf, but it didn’t take long for the landlocked Republicans upstate to object.

Shortly after Mace introduced her bill in Washington, state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick, who lives in Columbia, smack dab in the so-called Carolina Midlands, released a statement saying the state GOP opposes “any effort to legalize, decriminalize the use of controlled substances, and that includes this bill,” referring to Mace’s bill without naming her.

Meanwhile, among those supporting legalization is the South Carolina branch of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group that leans toward libertarianism. But the Christian lobby, known here as Palmetto Family Council, dusted off the canard that cannabis is the gateway drug to opioids.

The Kochs vs. the Christians? All that’s missing is popcorn and a coliseum.

Gary Hess, an Iraq veteran who found salvation in a pre-roll – formerly known as a “joint” – would beg to differ with the family group. “It’s the opposite,” Hess said in a phone interview. “Cannabis is an exit drug from opioids.”

He should know. A Marine veteran who served for 11 years, including in Iraq during the heaviest periods of fighting (2004-08), Hess returned home to face the challenges of living with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks – and, ultimately, pharmaceutical dependency.

“The VA gave pills for everything,” he said. And nothing helped. While on the verge of losing everything, including his family: “I made a decision not to shoot myself in my face and started integrating cannabis in my daily life.”

It was a tough call for someone who never touched marijuana growing up and thought little of those who did. “Someone like me, trained in the virtues of honor, courage, commitment and integrity, had to buy it from a dealer. I had to become a criminal. … I know vets who killed themselves rather than become a criminal.”

To people like Hess, who founded the Veterans Alliance for Holistic Alternatives, and Mace, a veteran herself, South Carolina should at a minimum allow cannabis use for vets, trauma victims and those suffering from debilitating diseases. “The South Carolina bill,” says Hess, “is for the patient who has autism, epilepsy and cancer.”

The added value of legalization nationwide would likely be the eventual elimination of the illicit market, while legal consumers are protected through regulation and quality control.

As long as people are forced to break the law, the illicit market will thrive. It seems to me far more sensible to bring pain out of the darkness and into a well-lighted pharmacy, where the suffering can get help – and nobody gets hurt.

– Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.