S.C. Code Ann. § 44-53-160 – Manner in which changes in schedule of controlled substances shall be made

(1) Annually, within thirty days after the convening of each regular session of the General Assembly, the Department shall recommend to the General Assembly any additions, deletions or revisions in the schedules of substances, enumerated in Sections 44-53-190, 44-53-210, 44-53-230, 44-53-250 and 44-53-270, which it deems necessary. The Department shall not make any additions, deletions or revisions in such schedules until after notice and an opportunity for a hearing is afforded all interested parties. In making a recommendation to the General Assembly regarding a substance, the Department shall consider the following:
1. (a) The actual or relative potential for abuse;
2. (b) The scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known;
3. (c) State of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance;
4. (d) The history and current pattern of abuse;
5. (e) The scope, duration, and significance of abuse;
6. (f) The risk to the public health;
7. (g) The potential of the substance to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability; and
8. (h) Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this Division.
(2) After considering the above factors, the Department shall make a recommendation to the General Assembly, specifying to what schedule the substance should be added, deleted or rescheduled, if it finds that the substance has a potential for abuse.
(3) During the time the General Assembly is not in session, the Department may by rule add, delete or reschedule a substance as a controlled substance after providing for notice and hearing to all interested parties. Upon the adoption of such rule, the Department shall forward copies to the chairmen of the Medical Affairs Committee of the Senate, and the Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives and to the Clerks of the Senate and House and to the Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Drugs and Narcotics.
(4) If any substance is added, deleted, or rescheduled as a controlled substance under Federal law and notice of the designation is given to the Department, the Department shall recommend that a corresponding change in South Carolina law be made by the next regular session of the General Assembly not less than thirty days after publication in the Federal register of a final order designating a substance as a controlled substance or rescheduling or deleting a substance, unless the Department objects to the change. In that case, the Department shall publish the reasons for objection and afford all interested parties an opportunity to be heard. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Department shall announce its decision and shall notify the General Assembly in writing of the change in Federal law or regulations and of the Department's recommendation that a corresponding change in South Carolina law be made, or not be made, as the case may be.
If the Department does not object to the change of schedule, it shall by rule, at its first regular or special meeting after the final order by the Bureau or its successor agency is published in the Federal register, reschedule the substance into the appropriate schedule, such rule having force of law unless overturned by the General Assembly; in such case, no hearing need be given unless requested by an interested party. This rule issued by the Department shall be in substance identical with the order published in the Federal register effecting the change in Federal status of the substance.
(5) The Department shall exclude any nonnarcotic substance from a schedule if such substance may, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the law of this State, be lawfully sold over the counter without a prescription.