The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is continuing its path toward cannabis accessibility, and as of last week the tribe officially issued its first medical cannabis cards.

According to EBCI Cannabis Control Board (CCB) executive director, Neil Denman, a Cherokee Police Commission monthly meeting was held on Oct. 12. In a presentation featuring Denman and his colleague, Kym Parker, they stated that the first medical cannabis card was issued on that day, and many more will follow in the coming weeks. A total of 1,005 medical cannabis card applications were submitted, and so far 817 were approved. Only 129 are labeled as incomplete, due to missing assets such as a photo ID, and 59 were denied because of “lack of a qualifying ailment.”

The EBCI live on a 57,000-acre reservation called the Qualla Boundary. The tribe’s website states that they have 14,000 registered tribe members, but the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the reservation is home to 9,600 people, 77% of whom are of Indian descent, and 23% non-Indian. The boundary is also home to two casinos that the tribe manages.

The topic of transporting cannabis to its dispensary was called into question by Vice Chairman Joseph Buddy Johnson. For this to happen, the cannabis products must be moved on a state highway through Swain County. According to Denman, they are coordinating with Swain County to put together a transportation plan.

The EBCI dispensary hasn’t opened yet, so the medical cannabis cards can’t be used. When the program becomes fully operational, the cards will limit how much daily and/or weekly cannabis that patients can purchase. Should a patient violate those rules, their card will be either suspended or revoked. The cards can also be used by off-boundary members who seek to grow their own cannabis plants at home.

Currently there are plans for only one cultivation site at the moment, which is still under construction. In total, the grow will feature 42 hoop houses that will hold 2,040 plants. Eventually, they hope to expand their hoop house number to 69-70. Johnson inquired about plans for a second cultivation site, but Denman explained that the first site is the focus for now.

Originally, the EBCI Tribal Council voted to decriminalize cannabis, as well as legalize medical cannabis back in 2021—a historic event considering that this was accomplished prior to the state of North Carolina making significant progress to legalize medical cannabis.

By November 2022, EBCI had harvested its first cannabis crop. “It’s a vertical market. We have to plant it. We have to cultivate it. We have to harvest it. We have to process it. We have to package it and move through all of that network of product and get it there. It’s a lot of people,” said Qualla Enterprises LLC general manager, Forrest Parker. One month later, the EBCI Tribal Council agreed to provide Qualla Enterprises with $63 million to properly regulate medical cannabis. “This tribe, I’m so proud of us for putting us in a position to learn from other people’s mistakes so that when we do this right, that number is precise,” Parker said. “It’s not $150 million because we’re trying to cover all these things that we don’t know. We actually feel like we actually know.”

In January 2023, the tribe announced that it would be moving forward with its plans to regulate medical cannabis on the reservation. The council voted to introduce their prepared regulations to the North Carolina General Assembly. Principal Chief Richard Sneed spoke at the meeting where the 12-person council approved the regulations, stating that it is of the utmost importance to keep the state legislature in the know. “All this is, is it as a matter of tribal law, before anybody does any work engaging with the state or federal legislature, we have to have permission of the governing legislative body to do so,” Sneed said.

In another record decision on Sept. 7, the EBCI tribe members voted in favor of a proposal to permit the sale of recreational cannabis on tribal land as well. “The Council’s approval of a medical marijuana ordinance is a testament to the changing attitudes toward legal marijuana and a recognition of the growing body of evidence that supports cannabis as medicine, particularly for those with debilitating conditions like cancer and chronic pain,” said Sneed. Now the council will move forward with developing legislation to regulate legal cannabis.

The Qualla Boundary is currently the only area of North Carolina where medical or recreational cannabis is legal. In July, Senate Bill 3 was introduced, which would have legalized medical cannabis for patients with life-ending illness. While the bill was initially passed in the Senate earlier this year, it didn’t receive support in the House.

However, House Speaker Tim Moore announced that the bill was likely dead for 2023. In order for it to pass, it “would require a number of House members who’ve taken a position of ‘no’ to literally switch their position to want to vote for it, and I just don’t see that happening,” Moore explained.

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A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina is likely dead for the 2023 legislative session, House Speaker Tim Moore said on Tuesday. 

Although he is in favor of the bipartisan legislation, Moore said that the bill, which was passed by the North Carolina state Senate in March, does not have the support of enough members of the Republican House majority to advance. Under the rules of the House Republican Caucus, bills brought to the floor for a vote must already have the support of a majority of its members, even if Democratic support makes the measure likely to pass without a majority of Republicans on board.

Complying with the Republican caucus’s rule “would require a number of House members who’ve taken a position of ‘no’ to literally switch their position to want to vote for it, and I just don’t see that happening,” Moore said, according to a report from the Associated Press.

After discussing the legislation with members of the Republican caucus, Moore said that he agrees with recent public comments from House Majority Leader John Bell, who said there is not enough support for the bill to advance this session. 

On Tuesday, Bell told Spectrum News that he suspects the legalization issue will come up during next year’s chief legislative session, likely to begin in May.

“There’s passion on both sides,” Bell said. “We have members of our caucus that are 100% supportive of it, and we have other members that are 100% against it.”

But supporters of the legislation are not ready to give up. Democratic Senator Paul Lowe, another lead sponsor of the medical marijuana legalization bill, told the Raleigh News & Observer “by no means” is the bill “dead.”

Lowe said that discussions with the House Speaker and other members of the Republican leadership team are “ongoing,” and that he feels “pretty good about it.” 

“I think there are some members of his caucus that are reevaluating things and looking at it, and I think they’re gonna come around,” he said, not citing specific lawmakers. Revealing their names, he said, “would kill what I’m trying to do.” 

“If we don’t finish it in the long session, we’ll deal with it in the short session” next year, he said. “I feel pretty confident about it.”

Bill Legalizes MMJ For Patients With Qualifying Conditions

The measure, the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act (Senate Bill 3), was filed in January with sponsorship from Republican Senators Bill Rabon and Michael Lee and Lowe, their Democratic colleague. If passed, 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 and others. Unlike the more comprehensive medical marijuana programs in many other states, however, the bill does not authorize the use of medical marijuana by patients living with chronic pain.

The sponsors of the bill note 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 as the bill was being considered by the Senate earlier this year.

Under the bill, patients with a qualifying “debilitating medical condition” would be allowed access to medical cannabis. 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.

Patients would be required to obtain a state medical marijuana identification card to participate in the program. The state Department of Health and Human Services would be tasked with creating “a secure, confidential, electronic database containing information about qualified patients, designated caregivers, and physicians,” according to the text of the measure.

Senate Passed Bill In March

The bill was passed by the North Carolina Senate on March 1 by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and sent to the state House of Representatives. In May, the bill was given a hearing by the House Health Committee, but the bill has not seen any action in the chamber since.

Late last month, Rabon tried to force action on the bill by attaching an amendment to an unrelated bill favored by Republicans in the House that would delay the enactment of the legislation until the medical marijuana bill is approved. The Senate approved the amendment and returned the largely technical legislation to the House, where it awaits further action.

State Senator Julie Mayfield, one of seven Democratic senators sponsoring a bill to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, said that she believes the medical marijuana bill should be allowed to go to the House floor for a vote.

“It is long past time for North Carolina to legalize the medical use of cannabis,” Mayfield said in a statement to local media. “It has helped many, many people, and it is time to allow people who need it to acquire and use it with dignity and without fear. The bill would pass with overwhelming support from Democrats if only Speaker Moore would let it come to a vote. It’s time to let democracy work.”

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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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