A retired U.S. Army veteran is pressing South Carolina lawmakers to take up medical marijuana legislation, arguing that former service members deserve a legal, regulated option for treating combat-related trauma and chronic pain.
In an op-ed published by South Carolina Daily Gazette on July 14, 2026, Dray Orion — who served from 1993 to 2009 with deployments to Saudi Arabia and Iraq — writes that veterans are too often left choosing between prescription pills, alcohol, or silence when dealing with post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, anxiety, sleep problems, or loss of appetite tied to their service.
Orion, a disabled veteran who lives in Rock Hill, writes that troops trusted to make life-and-death decisions overseas should also be trusted to access a legal medical treatment at home. "This is not about turning South Carolina into something it is not. This is about compassion, medical freedom and common sense," he writes.
He notes that alcohol remains legal for adults 21 and over despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data attributing roughly 178,000 deaths a year in the U.S. to excessive drinking, while the Drug Enforcement Administration's marijuana fact sheet states no marijuana overdose deaths have been reported — a discrepancy he says shows current law isn't grounded in an honest comparison of risk.
Orion points to the Compassionate Care Act, a bill that would create a regulated medical cannabis program as an alternative to opioids for pain patients, which has failed repeatedly in the legislature despite Republican gubernatorial candidates expressing openness to signing such a measure during a debate and a GOP state senator declaring medical marijuana effectively legal while another candidate called it a "gateway drug."
Without a state program, Orion writes, veterans are forced to either suffer quietly or travel out of state for access. He argues South Carolina should build a system letting seriously ill residents, including veterans, obtain cannabis under professional medical supervision.
Orion is the author of "Living Out Loud: No Shame, No Chains," which addresses shame, identity and survival. He writes that veterans deserve more than annual expressions of gratitude — they deserve concrete policy options and dignity.