The North Carolina Senate this week approved a bill to legalize marijuana, bringing the measure one step away from heading to the state House of Representatives for consideration. The bill, titled the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act (Senate Bill 3), passed handily with little debate in the state Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 36-10. The bipartisan bill was introduced on January 25 by Republican Senators Bill Rabon and Michael Lee and Democratic Senator Paul Lowe. 

“The purpose of the bill is to allow for tightly regulated use of medical cannabis, only by those with debilitating illnesses,” Rabon said on the Senate floor before Tuesday’s vote. 

“The recreational sale or use of marijuana remains, under this legislation, illegal,” he added.

If signed into law, the bill would legalize the medicinal use of cannabis for patients with one or more specified qualifying serious medical conditions such as cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and others. Unlike the more comprehensive medical marijuana programs in many other states, however, the bill does not legalize the use of medical marijuana by patients diagnosed with chronic pain.

Before the bill was approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the sponsors of the bill emphasized that the measure does not legalize recreational marijuana. Instead, the intent of the legislation “is to only make changes to existing state law that are necessary to protect patients and their doctors from criminal and civil penalties and would not intend to change current civil and criminal laws for the use of non-medical marijuana,” Rabon told reporters on February 21.

Under the bill, patients with a qualifying “debilitating medical condition” would be allowed to use medical marijuana. The bill permits the smoking and vaping of medical cannabis by patients whose doctors have recommended a specific form and dosage of medical marijuana. Physicians would be required to review a patient’s continued eligibility for the medical marijuana program annually. Smoking medical cannabis in public or near schools and churches would not be legal under the measure.

The bill requires patients and qualified caregivers to obtain a medical marijuana identification card from the state. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services would be responsible for creating “a secure, confidential, electronic database containing information about qualified patients, designated caregivers, and physicians,” according to the text of the measure. The bill also creates an 11-member advisory panel appointed by the governor and lawmakers to review proposals for new qualifying medical conditions.

North Carolina Bill Establishes Oversight Commission

Additionally, the legislation establishes a Medical Cannabis Production Commission to oversee medical cannabis producers and ensure a sufficient supply of medical marijuana is produced for the state’s registered patients. The legislation authorizes the licensing of up to 10 businesses to grow, process, and sell cannabis, and permits each producer to operate up to eight medical marijuana dispensaries. Under the bill, the state would levy a 10% tax on the monthly revenue of each medicinal cannabis producer. The bill also requires regulators to establish a tracking system to monitor the production, movement, and sale of cannabis products from cultivator to consumer. 

“Those suppliers must meet strict requirements for how to locate and operate their facilities, how to grow their cannabis and how to package and sell their inventory,” Rabon said on the Senate floor. “They must track every product from seed to sale.”

Only one lawmaker, Republican Senator Jim Burgin, spoke against the measure on Tuesday, saying that “marijuana is not medicine” and has not been approved for medicinal use by the federal government. 

“It’s bad for kids,” Burgin said. ”I think this bill sets up big government, and I think it can easily be changed to legalize marijuana” for recreational use, he added.

Senate leader Phil Berger, one of the 16 Republicans who voted for the measure, praised Rabon and the other sponsors of the bill for their work to gain consensus among their colleagues before the bill came up for a vote by the full Senate.

“The lack of debate on the floor really is a reflection on how much work Senator Rabon and the other sponsors have done over the past two years in just making people aware of what the bill does, answering questions, modifying the language,” Berger said.

Senate Bill 3 still faces one more vote in the North Carolina Senate before heading to the state House of Representatives for consideration. Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said the bill has some support in the House, according to a report from the Associated Press. If passed by both chambers of the legislature, the bill would head to the desk of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who has indicated support for legalizing medical marijuana and decriminalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults.

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Neither medical nor recreational cannabis is legal in North Carolina. Recent efforts to legalize both have mostly gone cold.

But if a poll released this week is any indication, there is no need to wait.

The latest findings from SurveyUSA showed broad support across bipartisan lines for reform to the state’s cannabis laws.

Seventy-two percent of registered voters in North Carolina said that cannabis for medical use should be made legal in the state, according to the poll, while only 18% said it should remain against the law.

The poll found that medical cannabis has support among 64% of North Carolina Republicans, 75% of Democrats and 78% of Independents.

When it comes to recreational pot use, 57% of North Carolina voters said it should be legal, with only 32% saying it should remain against the law.

Sixty-three percent of Democrats and 60% of Independents expressed support for recreational cannabis use, while Republicans were split on the matter.

Forty-six percent of GOP voters in North Carolina said that recreational pot should be illegal, while 44% said it should remain against the law, according to the poll.

Majorities of every age group in North Carolina expressed support for recreational cannabis––except for voters aged 65 and older, among whom only 37% said it should be legalized.

The poll numbers come at a time when cannabis reform efforts in the Tar Heel State have come to a virtual standstill.

A bill to legalize medical cannabis in North Carolina showed some promise last summer when it won approval from the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

The legislation, Senate Bill 711, was sponsored by Republican state Sen. Bill Rabon and would have authorized cannabis treatment for patients with various qualifying conditions.

But as local television station WRAL reported this week, it remains “unclear what state lawmakers will do with Senate Bill 711.”

“In August 2021, SB 711 remained in the Rules and Operations of the Senate Standing Committee. Lawmakers could resume consideration of the legislation when they convene on May 18. The legislature is then set to adjourn on June 30,” the station reported.

Per WRAL, SB 711 would authorize physicians in North Carolina to recommend medical cannabis to patients with the following qualifying conditions: Cancer; Epilepsy; HIV/AIDS; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); Crohn’s disease; Sickle cell anemia; Parkinson’s disease; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Multiple sclerosis; Cachexia or wasting syndrome; Severe or persistent nausea “related to end-of-life or hospice care,” or in someone who is bedridden or homebound; a terminal illness when the patient’s remaining life expectancy is less than six months; and any condition when the patient is in hospice care.

In September, local television station WNCN said that the “bill to legalize marijuana for medical use in North Carolina may not get a vote until next year,” with lawmakers saying at the time that “the state budget and the redistricting process have become the primary issues being worked on in the final months of the year.”

“There’s far more moving parts to this thing than I thought there was when we began,” said Democratic state Sen. Paul Lowe, as quoted by WNCN. “We want to make sure we get it right.”

Should the bill ultimately land on the desk of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, there is reason to believe the Democrat will sign the measure into law.

Last year, as SB 711 was being considered by lawmakers in North Carolina, a spokesman for Cooper said that studies “have shown medical marijuana can offer many benefits to some who suffer from chronic conditions, particularly veterans, and the Governor is encouraged that North Carolina might join the 36 other states that have authorized it for use.”

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