Have questions about medical marijuana rules in North Carolina? We’ve got answers.
Medical marijuana won near-unanimous approval in a committee hearing in the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday, in a sign that it could have broad support in a state that has been a holdout on legalization.
While the votes were not officially recorded, it appeared that every Democrat in the Senate judiciary committee voted for it, as did all but two or three Republicans.
Senate Bill 711 would still have to go through other committees before a final vote on the floor of the Senate. Then it would have to repeat the process in the House of Representatives, too.
But supporters are hopeful the idea has an actual chance of passing this year. Medical marijuana is an idea Democrats have supported at the legislature for years, and Republicans now appear to be gradually embracing it as well. Public polling shows that a slim majority of North Carolinians support fully legal marijuana, and nearly 75% support medical marijuana.
So why are things suddenly different this year? What would the North Carolina bill actually do? How does that compare to other states?
We’ve got answers to those questions and more.
Strains, THC content, medical conditions, home growing
Q: Would everyone be able to buy marijuana legally if this passes?
A: No. A few states have fully legalized marijuana, often called “recreational” legalization. This bill is not that. It would only be able to be prescribed by doctors — who would be required to undergo specialized training — to people with one or more of a specific list of approved ailments.
Q: What are the medical problems marijuana could be prescribed for if this passes?
A: The current version includes: cancer, epilepsy, PTSD, sickle cell anemia, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, wasting syndrome, severe nausea and “other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as, or comparable to” that list. Lawmakers had initially included glaucoma on the list too, but deleted it Wednesday. The newest version of the bill leaves the door open to future changes, saying that a marijuana advisory board the bill would create could choose to add medical issues to the list.
Q: How does that compare to other states?
A: Many states with medical marijuana allow it to be prescribed for glaucoma. Many also allow it for chronic pain and migraines. This bill would not. GOP backers of the bill recently rejected requests by Democrats to add chronic pain or migraines to the list of approved conditions, saying they’re too vague and could be used to game the system.
Q: How many other states have medical marijuana?
A: 37 states have approved medical marijuana (although Mississippi’s law was recently struck down by the GOP-majority state supreme court there), and 18 of them have also fully legalized it, including our neighbors in Virginia, whose new law went into effect July 1.
Rules and restrictions for medical marijuana
Q: What types of marijuana would be allowed here if this passes?
A: Doctors would be able to prescribe the smokable flowers most people think of when they think about weed, but medical marijuana could come in many other forms too: edibles, vapes, oils, sprays, tinctures, patches and even suppositories. The bill does not currently restrict any specific strains of marijuana from being sold, nor does it limit the strength of THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana. However, it would make dispensaries label how much THC is in each individual product they sell.
Q: What about second-hand smoke?
A: It’s unclear how many doctors would prescribe smokable marijuana as a health product, since many health professionals worry about the negative effects of smoking, no matter what the substance. However, for those who do get smokable marijuana, the bill would ban smoking in public.
Q: Could I grow marijuana at home for personal use?
A: No. Only licensed suppliers would be able to grow it, and they would have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get a license, plus they would be required to sell all their product. There’s no setting aside a personal stash.
Q: How would farmers apply to grow it?
A: There would be a detailed process for getting permission to grow marijuana. Anyone with certain criminal records (including many drug-dealing convictions) would be banned, as would out-of-state residents and recent transplants. To qualify, people would have to have lived here at least two years, be able to prove significant financial backing and “expertise in controlled environment agriculture” plus have at least five years of experience growing and testing marijuana for quality control. The exception is that if local farmers have the land but not the expertise, for example, they’d be allowed to partner with out-of-state interests.
Q: Could I open my own dispensary if this passes?
A: Probably not, but you can try. Like with the farming operations, the dispensary rules would be very strict and come with all sorts of regulatory and financial hurdles. Also, the process would likely be highly competitive, since the bill proposed that only a handful of companies should be licensed at any given time.
Q: Will this lead to tacky signs advertising pot all over the place, like in some other states?
A: The bill sponsors say that’s a concern they’ve addressed. There are numerous restrictions on marketing in the bill, like a ban on any ads or packaging that contains names or nicknames for weed, or any cartoons or “attempts at humor.” The stores themselves would not be allowed to have marijuana leaves on their signs, nor neon lights of any kind.
The politics behind medical marijuana legalization
Q: Why are Republicans in North Carolina suddenly open to medical marijuana?
A: There could be a few reasons. For one, most other states already have it, and they have seen a large influx in money for the state budget in taxes and fees. Also, public polling shows that around two-thirds of GOP voters here in North Carolina support it. Finally, this year the push has something it’s never had before: A powerful politician willing to put his name on it.
Q: Who is behind the bill?
A: The bill has three main sponsors in the Senate: Republicans Bill Rabon and Michael Lee, of Brunswick and New Hanover counties, and Democrat Paul Lowe of Forsyth County. Rabon is the big name. He’s one of the most powerful lawmakers in the state, and is chairman of two of the four committees this bill will have to pass through in the Senate.
Q: What made Rabon support medical marijuana?
A: He said last week he’s been trying to work on this behind the scenes for over a decade, but finally decided to make his support public. That’s what has gotten the bill heard so far. He’s a veterinarian from Southport and, more important to this debate, a cancer survivor. If there’s something the state can do to help people alleviate the pain caused by cancer and other serious medical problems, Rabon said, he’s all for it. “I know how rough it is to go through chemo,” he said last week.
Q: What’s the money angle?
A: This bill would put a 10% tax — more than double the state’s base sales tax — on marijuana products. Plus, dispensaries would have to pay $50,000 or more to get a license and $10,000 or more every year after that to keep it. In Michigan, medical marijuana brought in $45 million in taxes and fees last year. Michigan is a good comparison because it has nearly the same population size as North Carolina and also has a 10% tax on its medical marijuana program, like this bill suggests for North Carolina.
Q: Who opposes medical marijuana?
A: There’s actually some opposition from both the left and the right. On the right, the opposition is from conservative Christian political groups. Rabon and Lee both said they’ve spent lots of time speaking with skeptics — who include some of their fellow GOP senators — and trying to convince them that their bill, if passed, would be the strictest of any medical marijuana bill in the country. “In the 36 or 37 states that now have medical cannabis, this would be the tightest,” Rabon said.
But there’s also at least some hesitancy on the left, too. While many Democrats believe this bill doesn’t go far enough and should either fully legalize or at least decriminalize marijuana for everyone, some aren’t yet convinced that medical marijuana is the right decision. That includes Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. He has been pursuing a high-profile lawsuit against e-cigarette company Juul Labs for marketing to children — and recently announced a $40 million settlement from Juul in which the company also promised to change its ad strategies. Stein has cited companies like Juul, and smoking ads targeted at minors, in his opposition to marijuana legalization.
Q: What does Stein support?
A: As the co-chair of a task force on racial justice that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper created last year, Stein and that task force support decriminalizing marijuana, not legalization. Unlike legalization, decriminalization would not allow farmers to start growing weed, and it would not let dispensaries open up and start selling it. People would have to continue buying it from drug dealers. However, possessing only a small amount would no longer be a crime. Instead, police would treat weed like speeding, and would just give people a ticket instead of arresting them.
In a meeting last year Stein said if the state were ever to legalize marijuana, then, “It should just be heavily regulated. Regulate the THC content, regulate the packaging, regulate the advertising, regulate the location of where it can be.” This bill does most of that, which Rabon said is intentional to make sure the rules here are strict.
What other questions do you have? Send them to reporter Will Doran at wdoran@newsobserver.com and we’ll update this story with more answers.
This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Have questions about medical marijuana rules in North Carolina? We’ve got answers.."
