(a) The following are subject to forfeiture:

(1) all controlled substances which have been manufactured, distributed, dispensed, or acquired in violation of this article;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-53-520

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Controlled substance: means a drug, substance, or immediate precursor in Schedules I through V in Sections 44-53-190, 44-53-210, 44-53-230, 44-53-250, and 44-53-270. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Department: means the State Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Drug: means a substance:

    (a) recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them;

    (b) intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man and animals;

    (c) other than food intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man and animals; and

    (d) intended for use as a component of any substance specified in subitem (a), (b), or (c) of this paragraph but does not include devices or their components, parts, or accessories. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Manufacture: means the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion, or processing of a controlled substance, either directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis, and includes any packaging or repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container, except that this term does not include the preparation or compounding of a controlled substance by an individual for his own use or the preparation, compounding, packaging, or labeling of a controlled substance:

    (a) by a practitioner as an incident to his administering or dispensing of a controlled substance in the course of his professional practice; or

    (b) by a practitioner, or by his authorized agent under his supervision, for the purpose of, or as an incident to, research, teaching, or chemical analysis and not for sale. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Marijuana: means :

    (i) all species or variety of the marijuana plant and all parts thereof whether growing or not;

    (ii) the seeds of the marijuana plant;

    (iii) the resin extracted from any part of the marijuana plant; or

    (iv) every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the marijuana plant, marijuana seeds, or marijuana resin. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Paraphernalia: means any instrument, device, article, or contrivance used, designed for use, or intended for use in ingesting, smoking, administering, manufacturing, or preparing a controlled substance and does not include cigarette papers and tobacco pipes but includes, but is not limited to:

    (a) metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic marijuana or hashish pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;

    (b) water pipes designed for use or intended for use with marijuana, hashish, hashish oil, or cocaine;

    (c) carburetion tubes and devices;

    (d) smoking and carburetion masks;

    (e) roach clips;

    (f) separation gins designed for use or intended for use in cleaning marijuana;

    (g) cocaine spoons and vials;

    (h) chamber pipes;

    (i) carburetor pipes;

    (j) electric pipes;

    (k) air-driven pipes;

    (l) chilams;

    (m) bongs;

    (n) ice pipes or chillers. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Production: includes the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a controlled substance. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110

(2) all raw materials, products, and equipment of any kind which are used, or which have been positioned for use, in manufacturing, producing, compounding, processing, delivering, importing, or exporting any controlled substance in violation of this article;

(3) all property which is used, or which has been positioned for use, as a container for property described in items (1) or (2);

(4) All property, both real and personal, which in any manner is knowingly used to facilitate production, manufacturing, distribution, sale, importation, exportation, or trafficking in various controlled substances as defined in this article;

(5) all books, records, and research products and materials, including formulas, microfilm, tapes, and data which are used, or which have been positioned for use, in violation of this article;

(6) all conveyances including, but not limited to, trailers, aircraft, motor vehicles, and watergoing vessels which are used or intended for use unlawfully to conceal, contain, or transport or facilitate the unlawful concealment, possession, containment, manufacture, or transportation of controlled substances and their compounds, except as otherwise provided, must be forfeited to the State. No motor vehicle may be forfeited to the State under this item unless it is used, intended for use, or in any manner facilitates a violation of § 44-53-370(a), involving at least one pound or more of marijuana, one pound or more of hashish, more than four grains of opium, more than two grains of heroin, more than four grains of morphine, more than ten grains of cocaine, more than fifty micrograms of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or its compounds, more than ten grains of crack, or more than one gram of ice or crank, as defined in § 44-53-110, or unless it is used, intended for use, or in any manner facilitates a violation of § 44-53-370(e) or fifteen tablets, capsules, dosage units, or the equivalent quantity of 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA);

(7) all property including, but not limited to, monies, negotiable instruments, securities, or other things of value furnished or intended to be furnished by any person in exchange for a controlled substance, and all proceeds including, but not limited to, monies, and real and personal property traceable to any exchange;

(8) all monies seized in close proximity to forfeitable controlled substances, drug manufacturing, or distributing paraphernalia, or in close proximity to forfeitable records of the importation, manufacturing, or distribution of controlled substances and all monies seized at the time of arrest or search involving violation of this article. If the person from whom the monies were taken can establish to the satisfaction of a court of competent jurisdiction that the monies seized are not products of illegal acts, the monies must be returned pursuant to court order.

(b) Any property subject to forfeiture under this article may be seized by the department having authority upon warrant issued by any court having jurisdiction over the property. Seizure without process may be made if:

(1) the seizure is incident to an arrest or a search under a search warrant or an inspection under an administrative inspection warrant;

(2) the property subject to seizure has been the subject of a prior judgment in favor of the State in a criminal injunction or forfeiture proceeding based upon this article;

(3) the department has probable cause to believe that the property is directly or indirectly dangerous to health or safety; or

(4) the department has probable cause to believe that the property was used or is intended to be used in violation of this article.

(c) In the event of seizure pursuant to subsection (b), proceedings under § 44-53-530 regarding forfeiture and disposition must be instituted within a reasonable time.

(d) Any property taken or detained under this section is not subject to replevin but is considered to be in the custody of the department making the seizure subject only to the orders of the court having jurisdiction over the forfeiture proceedings. Property described in § 44-53-520(a) is forfeited and transferred to the government at the moment of illegal use. Seizure and forfeiture proceedings confirm the transfer.

(e) Controlled substances listed in Schedule I that are possessed, transferred, sold, or offered for sale in violation of this article are contraband and must be seized and summarily forfeited to the State. Controlled substances listed in Schedule I, which are seized or come into the possession of the State, the owners of which are unknown, are contraband and must be summarily forfeited to the State.

(f) Species of plants from which controlled substances in Schedules I and II may be derived which have been planted or cultivated in violation of this article, or of which the owners or cultivators are unknown, or which are wild growths, may be seized and summarily forfeited to the State.

(g) The failure, upon demand by the department having authority to make the demand, of the person in occupancy or in control of land or premises upon which the species of plants are growing or being stored to produce an appropriate registration, or proof that he is the holder thereof, constitutes authority for the seizure and forfeiture of the plants.

(h) For the purposes of this section, whenever the seizure of any property subject to seizure is accomplished as a result of a joint effort by more than one law enforcement agency, the law enforcement agency initiating the investigation is considered to be the agency making the seizure.

(i) Law enforcement agencies seizing property under this section shall take reasonable steps to maintain the property. Equipment and conveyances seized must be removed to an appropriate place for storage. Any monies seized must be deposited in an interest bearing account pending final disposition by the court unless the seizing agency determines the monies to be of an evidential nature and provides for security in another manner.

(j) When property and monies of any value as defined in this section or anything else of any value is seized, the law enforcement agency making the seizure, within ten days or a reasonable period of time after the seizure, shall submit a report to the appropriate prosecution agency.

(1) The report shall provide the following information with respect to the property seized:

(a) description;

(b) circumstances of seizure;

(c) present custodian and where the property is being stored or its location;

(d) name of owner;

(e) name of lienholder, if any;

(f) seizing agency; and

(g) the type and quantity of the controlled substance involved.

(2) If the property is a conveyance, the report shall include the:

(a) make, model, serial number, and year of the conveyance;

(b) person in whose name the conveyance is registered; and

(c) name of any lienholders.

(3) In addition to the report provided for in items (1) and (2), the law enforcement agency shall prepare for dissemination to the public upon request a report providing the following information:

(a) a description of the quantity and nature of the property and money seized;

(b) the seizing agency;

(c) the type and quantity of the controlled substance involved;

(d) the make, model, and year of a conveyance; and

(e) the law enforcement agency responsible for the property or conveyance seized.

(k) Property or conveyances seized by a law enforcement agency or department must not be used by officers for personal purposes.