A manager of a medical marijuana dispensary shows marijuana plant buds. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Thirteen months ago, North Carolina’s Compassionate Care Act, authorizing the use of medical marijuana, sailed through the Senate, only to find little appetite in the North Carolina House. For months Senate Bill 3 has received little attention, while lawmakers have chipped away at legislation that would regulate the sale and distribution of hemp-derived consumables.
On Wednesday afternoon, all that changed.
Senator Michael Lazzara (R-Onslow) offered an amendment to House Bill 563 that would roll the Compassionate Care Act into the bipartisan hemp legislation.
Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), the primary sponsor of the Compassionate Care Act, stood by Lazzara’s side and said the addition should not come as a shock to anyone.
“We have been working diligently on the Hemp Bill — 563 — the entire session, and our plan has been to regulate a very possibly dangerous and unregulated product, and we have done that the best we can in 563,” said Rabon. “We still have a way to go with that, but hopefully we can get it over the finish line this week.”
Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick) explains the merits of adding the Compassionate Care Act to the bill regulating hemp-derived consumables. (Photo: NCGA video stream)
Sen. Rabon said the reality is that different types of cannabis like Delta 8 and Delta 9, already in the marketplace, are very closely related.
“That’s not too hard for folks in this room to figure out,” he explained. “It’s just a matter of one coming from the quote-unquote the hemp plant, the other coming from quote-unquote the bad M word, the marijuana plant, both of which have the same genus and the same species being cannabis sativa. So it doesn’t take really smart people to see that they are the same thing.”
The difference in the two bills is that hemp products can be used by anyone 21 years of age and older upon the passage of the legislation. Medical marijuana would only be used by people at the recommendation of a physician.
“It will be a safer product than anything else that you see,” promised Rabon.
Lazarra’s new amendment borrows much of the language from Senate Bill 3 and specifies that to qualify, a patient must be suffering from a debilitating medical condition and have a physician provide written certification.
Cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder are among more than 15 conditions listed in the bill.
Rabon said his colleagues should consider this bill very much like the Right to Try measure that has won bipartisan support this session.
“We’ve had the issue clouded and clouded and clouded many times. And in my opinion, when the clouds were that thick, it’s time for it to rain. And what I would like to do is ask for you to support this amendment, to support this bill when it goes to the floor.”
Adding a 35-page amendment to a 26-page bill, as the change does, is unusual, but Sen. Lazarra said changes at the federal level made the addition essential.
“I think one of the things we also have to talk about is the potential federal regulatory change, scheduling change. We have an opportunity now to really put some guardrails around this industry, and I think we don’t need to miss this opportunity,” stressed Lazarra. “It’s a great time to work together and create the framework for this, which is in SB3 as indicated.”
The Biden administration announced in late April plans that would remove marijuana from a list of the most highly regulated drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is now accepting public comments on plans to move cannabis from Schedule I to a less-restrictive Schedule III classification.
More than 22,000 people had commented on the proposed reclassification as of mid-June.
North Carolina remains one of only a dozen states without some form of legal medical marijuana.
The amended version of 563 won the full support of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and now heads back to Senate Rules.
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