Will Medicinal Marijuana Pass the Test This Year in North Carolina?
A recent poll shows that there is still a lot of support in North Carolina for legalising medical marijuana.
Thirty-seven states, three territories, and the District of Columbia have legalised medical marijuana. It does not include North Carolina. Many legislative attempts to pass it have failed so far. A breakthrough could happen in 2023, though. Voters are unanimous in their support for it.
Meredith College conducted a poll between February 3 and 7 and found that 73% of respondents supported legalising medical marijuana, while only 15.1% were opposed. The remaining participants had doubts. Every category of the population was majority-dominated.
Director of the Meredith Poll David McLennan speculates that there will be enough fresh faces in the legislature to push medical marijuana legalisation over the finish line in 2023. Some of the more senior legislators had apparently obstructed the legalisation of medical marijuana in the past.
The North Carolina Compassionate Care Act (SB3), introduced by Senator Bill Rabon at the end of last month, would allow medical marijuana in the state. Last year, a similar bill was introduced and voted through the Senate with a 36-7 majority before being killed in the House Rules committee.
Via a strictly regulated system, the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act would allow the sale of cannabis and cannabis-infused goods to eligible patients with serious medical conditions. Nowadays, a “debilitating medical condition” would cover a wide range of conditions, including but not limited to the following:
- cancer
- epilepsy
- HIV and AIDS
- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Crohn’s disease
- sickle cell anaemia
- Parkinson’s disease
- PTSD
- Multiple sclerosis
- Terminal illness where life expectancy is less than 6 months
Before providing a written certification, doctors would have to take a 10-hour course on medicinal cannabis prescribing and then a 3-hour follow-up training. Patients who meet the requirements would be issued an identification card from the register and shielded from arrest, prosecution, or penalty for possessing or purchasing a sufficient quantity of cannabis for medical use.
North Carolina might grant up to ten licences for medicinal cannabis suppliers under SB3, with each supplier being authorised to run no more than eight dispensaries.
An agency called the Medical Cannabis Production Commission would be in charge of licencing providers, monitoring their performance, and taking action if necessary.
The article below provides a brief overview of SB3’s several other features.
