South Carolina Possession Penalties — § 44-53-370(d)(4)

Last verified: May 2026

The Statutory Tier

S.C. Code § 44-53-370(d)(4) creates a three-tier framework for simple marijuana and hashish possession:

• One ounce or less of marijuana, or ten grams or less of hashish, 1st offense — misdemeanor; up to 30 days in jail; $100–$200 fine.
• One ounce or less of marijuana, or ten grams or less of hashish, 2nd or subsequent offense — misdemeanor; up to 1 year in jail; $200–$1,000 fine.
• More than one ounce of marijuana, or more than ten grams of hashish — prima facie evidence of possession with intent to distribute (PWID) under § 44-53-370(b)(2); felony with up to 5 years and/or $5,000 fine for a first offense.

Why "One Ounce" Matters

The one-ounce threshold operates as a sharp felony cliff. Below the line: simple-possession misdemeanor. At or above the line: prima facie PWID felony, with the burden of rebutting the presumption falling on the defendant. There is no soft "civil-citation" decriminalization framework as in some peer states; the question is misdemeanor vs. felony, not citation vs. arrest. See PWID felony cliff page for detail.

Hashish: Ten Grams

The statute treats hashish (concentrated cannabis resin) at a ten-gram threshold rather than the one-ounce (28 g) marijuana threshold. Ten grams or less of hashish is misdemeanor simple possession on the first offense; more than ten grams is per se PWID, a felony. The ten-gram threshold is roughly one-third of the marijuana threshold by weight, reflecting the higher THC concentration in hashish — but the law does not treat all concentrates as hashish. BHO, wax, shatter, vape cartridges, and distillate are typically charged under the broader § 44-53-370(b)(2) Schedule I framework, with manufacturing exposure of 5–20 years. See cultivation/manufacturing page.

Driver’s License Suspension — § 56-1-286

Under § 56-1-286, a conviction for any controlled-substance violation involving marijuana or hashish triggers a mandatory six-month driver’s license suspension. The suspension applies regardless of whether the offense was related to driving — a simple-possession conviction in a private home produces the same suspension as a roadside arrest. For working South Carolinians whose jobs require driving, the collateral consequence often outweighs the underlying fine. See license suspension page.

School-Zone Enhancement — § 44-53-445

Distribution — or PWID — within a half-mile of a school, park, or playground is a separate offense under § 44-53-445, punishable by up to 10 years and a $10,000 fine. Many South Carolina cities and towns have enough school and park area that the half-mile enhancement effectively covers most urbanized footprints; in dense Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville neighborhoods, near-total geographic coverage is common in practice.

Paraphernalia: A Civil Violation

South Carolina is unusual among prohibition states in treating paraphernalia possession as a civil violation, not a criminal offense, under § 44-53-391. Possession carries a maximum civil fine of $500. Manufacturing or selling paraphernalia, however, is a misdemeanor. The civil-violation treatment is one of the few softer edges in an otherwise punitive scheme. See paraphernalia page.

Tax-Stamp Statute

South Carolina has a long-dormant "marijuana tax stamp" statute requiring people who possess marijuana to purchase and affix state-issued stamps. The statute is rarely enforced but remains on the books and has historically been used to add tax-evasion charges to drug prosecutions. See tax-stamp page.

Pretrial Intervention — §§ 17-22-10 ff.

Statewide, the Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program under S.C. Code §§ 17-22-10 through 17-22-160 is available for first-offense simple-possession defendants. Completion results in dismissal. Eligibility is governed by the circuit solicitor; eligibility windows are tight; consult a South Carolina criminal-defense attorney early. See PTI page.

Enforcement Reality

South Carolina had the second-highest marijuana possession arrest rate in the nation in 2018 per the ACLU’s 2020 report A Tale of Two Countries. SC made 38,289 marijuana arrests that year, 34,229 of them for possession (~48% of all drug arrests in the state). FBI NIBRS data published in 2024 shows 10,325 possession and 1,185 sales arrests in 2023 — a substantial decline from the 2018 peak but still among the highest absolute totals nationally. See ACLU disparity page.