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A North Carolina Senate committee on Tuesday approved a revised bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state.<\/p>\n
This comes one week after the panel held a hearing to discuss the legislation and approve changes<\/a>, but members did not vote at that prior meeting. Senators advanced the measure this time in a voice vote.<\/p>\n A previous version of the reform legislation cleared Judiciary and another committee last month<\/a>, but it was rereferred earlier this month.<\/p>\n The bill must still clear the Senate Health Care and Rules and Operations Committees in order to reach the floor before potentially heading to the House of Representatives and then to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re encouraged that SB711 has been advanced by the Judiciary Committee,\u201d DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cThis a crucial hurdle that has been cleared on the road to full passage\u201d.<\/p>\n Under the proposal, sponsored by Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon (R), patients would be allowed to access cannabis if they have a \u201cdebilitating medical condition\u201d such as cancer, epilepsy, HIV\/AIDS, Parkinson\u2019s disease, multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n The committee substitute was changed to allow patients with terminal illnesses and have six months to live, as well as those with conditions resulting in hospice care, to also qualify for cannabis.<\/p>\n Patients could possess up to one and a half ounces of cannabis, but home cultivation would not be permitted.<\/p>\n The definition of what constitutes a \u201ccannabis-infused\u201d product was changed in the latest substitute version. Such products include \u201ca tablet, a capsule, a concentrated liquid or viscous oil, a liquid suspension, a topical preparation, a transdermal preparation, a sublingual preparation, a gelatinous cube, gelatinous rectangular cuboid, lozenge in a cube or rectangular cuboid shape, a resin or wax.\u201d<\/p>\n Smoking and vaping would also be allowed, but doctors would need to prescribe a specific method of delivery and dosages for patients under the revised legislation. And they would need to reevaluate patients\u2019 eligibility for the program at least once a year.<\/p>\n The bill provides for up to 10 medical marijuana suppliers who control the cultivation and sale of cannabis. Each supplier can operate up to four dispensaries.<\/p>\n But advocates have taken issue with provisions on who would be eligible for such licenses, as the measure stipulates that applicants must provide documentation showing they have at least five years of experience \u201cin cultivation, production, extraction, product development, quality control, and inventory management of medical cannabis in a state-licensed medical or adult use cannabis operation.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh my goodness. Was that written by marijuana corporations? Is this a bill to regulate marijuana or to serve profits on a platter to out of state cannabis companies?<\/p>\n \u2014 Shaleen Title (@shaleentitle) August 24, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n That would effectively mean that the licenses and dispensaries would be exclusively operated by established, out-of-state marijuana businesses\u2014a major issue for advocates who feel this unfairly alienates small, in-state businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we are in strong support of medical marijuana legalization and the relief it will bring to patients in North Carolina, we remain concerned about the lack of opportunities for small and independent businesses,\u201d MPP\u2019s Ward said.<\/p>\n During Tuesday\u2019s hearing, members also accepted an amendment backed by the state attorney general\u2019s office that clarifies issues related to probable cause for evidence obtained during searches.<\/p>\n Under the bill, a 13-member Compassionate Use Advisory Board would be established, and it could add new qualifying medical conditions.<\/p>\n Separately, a nine-member Medical Cannabis Production Commission would be created to ensure that there\u2019s an adequate supply of cannabis for patients, oversee licensing and generate enough revenue to regulate the program.<\/p>\n \u2014 Advocates are still hoping to see further revisions to expand the proposed program and promote social equity.<\/p>\n The\u00a0measure<\/a>\u00a0would further create a North Carolina Cannabis Research Program to \u201cundertake objective, scientific research regarding the administration of cannabis or cannabis-infused products as part of medical treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n There are also protections for patients included in the latest version. It stipulates that employees and agents of the state must treat possession of cannabis for qualified patients the same as any other prescribed controlled substance.<\/p>\n Further, the bill includes limitations on where marijuana can be smoked or vaped, and includes restrictions on the locations and hours of operation for medical cannabis businesses. It also allows regulators to place a \u201climitation on the number of written certifications a physician may issue at any given time.\u201d<\/p>\n A majority of North Carolina adults support legalizing marijuana for recreational use\u2014and three in four say it should be legal for medical purposes\u2014according to a poll released in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n A separate medical cannabis\u00a0bill<\/a>, adult-use marijuana\u00a0legalization<\/a>\u00a0measures<\/a>\u00a0and several\u00a0pieces<\/a>\u00a0of cannabis\u00a0decriminalization<\/a>\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0have also been introduced in recent months\u2014though they would likely face an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled legislature.<\/p>\n While advocates have their doubts about broad reform being enacted in North Carolina this session, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R) recently\u00a0acknowledged that opinions are shifting<\/a>\u00a0when it comes to marijuana in the state, and he said that Rabon specifically \u201cfor a long time has looked at the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do sense that public opinion is changing on marijuana\u2014both medical and recreational,\u201d Rabon said previously. \u201cI don\u2019t know where the members of the General Assembly are at this time in terms of support for the bill, but it\u2019s something we\u2019ll look at and we\u2019ll see how things move along.\u201d<\/p>\n Pressure to end criminalization is also building regionally.<\/p>\n Neighboring Virginia became\u00a0the first state in the south to legalize marijuana for recreational use<\/a>\u00a0in April and\u00a0that law took effect in July<\/a>, for example. And the sponsor of a South Carolina medical cannabis legalization bill said he\u2019s received assurances from a top Senate leader that\u00a0his measure will be taken up as the first order of business<\/a>\u00a0at the beginning of next year.<\/p>\n A task force convened by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) backed decriminalization\u00a0as part of a series of policy recommendations<\/a>\u00a0on racial equity that were released late last year. The group also said prior cannabis convictions should be expunged and the state should consider whether to more broadly legalize marijuana.<\/p>\n Under current law, possessing more than half an ounce up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis is a class 1 misdemeanor, subject to up to 45 days imprisonment and a $200 fine. In 2019, there were 3,422 such charges and 1,909 convictions, with 70 percent of those convicted being nonwhite.<\/p>\n California Shattered Marijuana Tax Revenue Record In Latest Fiscal Year, State Reports<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post North Carolina Senators Approve Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A North Carolina Senate committee on Tuesday approved a revised bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state. This comes one week after the panel held a hearing to discuss the legislation and approve changes, but members did not vote at that prior meeting. Senators advanced the measure this timeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49584,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49585,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49583\/revisions\/49585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: North Carolina Senators Approve Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"