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A Republican-led bill to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina that\u2019s already advanced through three Senate committees appears positioned to get a floor vote this week. And a new poll shows voters are overwhelmingly ready for the policy change.<\/p>\n
The legislation from Sen. Bill Rabon (R) is set to be considered<\/a> in the panel he chairs, the Senate Rules and Operations Committee, on Wednesday. The scheduled action comes about nine month after its most recent approval by another panel<\/a>.\u00a0And while that\u2019s a lot of time for a bill to sit in legislative limbo, things now appear to be moving quickly.<\/p>\n According to Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R), the measure could reach the floor \u201clater this week,\u201d he told<\/a> reporters. \u201cI intend to vote for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what the NC Compassionate Care Act as approved in earlier committees would accomplish<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 adopted in in August by the Senate Judiciary Committee changed the list somewhat 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 marijuana, but home cultivation would not be permitted.<\/p>\n The definition of what constitutes a \u201ccannabis-infused\u201d product was also 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 Under the bill, a Compassionate Use Advisory Board would be established, and it could add new qualifying medical conditions.<\/p>\n Separately, a 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 Advocates are still hoping to see further revisions to expand the proposed program and promote social equity.<\/p>\n The\u00a0measure\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 \u2014 Meanwhile, new poll<\/a> from the Carolina Partnership for Reform found that 82 percent of North Carolina voters are in favor of legalizing medical cannabis\u2014including 75 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of unaffiliated voters and 86 percent of Democrats.<\/p>\n A separate question found that 60 percent of voters back adult-use legalization.<\/p>\n The new survey shows a rise in increase for support for medical cannabis legalization since voters were prompted with the question earlier this year<\/a>, with the results showing that with three in four say patients should have access to marijuana for medical use.<\/p>\n While advocates have their doubts about broad reform being enacted in North Carolina this session, the Senate leader, Berger, has acknowledged 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 If the legislation clears the Senate this week it will still need to pass the House of Representatives before potentially advancing to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n A task force convened by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) backed decriminalization\u00a0as part of a series of policy recommendations<\/a> on racial equity that were released in 2020. 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 Canadian Government Approves Drug Decriminalization Pilot Program In British Columbia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Set For Senate Vote, As Poll Shows Overwhelming Public Support<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Republican-led bill to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina that\u2019s already advanced through three Senate committees appears positioned to get a floor vote this week. And a new poll shows voters are overwhelmingly ready for the policy change. The legislation from Sen. Bill Rabon (R) is set to beContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":54948,"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\/54947"}],"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=54947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54949,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54947\/revisions\/54949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Set For Senate Vote, As Poll Shows Overwhelming Public Support<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"