New North Carolina Bill Would Legalize Medical Marijuana For Patients Enrolled In A ‘Registered Research Study’
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A newly filed bill in North Carolina would narrowly legalize medical marijuana, allowing access for individuals enrolled in a “registered research study.”
Titled the Cannabis Treatment Research Act, HB 984 would allow patients and caregivers to register with the state, which in turn would permit legal possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana. It’s sponsored by Rep. Julia Greenfield (D) and five other Democratic lawmakers.
The three-page bill would create a Cannabis Treatment Research Database under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). To qualify for the program, patients would need to be enrolled in a study conducted by a hospital, university, lab, pharmaceutical manufacturer or private medical research company that is registered with DHHS and has entered a study into the state research database.
The legislation specifies no age limit for patients, but registered caregivers would need to be at least 18. As for qualifying conditions, it lists no specific maladies but mandates that patients obtain a signed statement from “a physician with whom the patient has a bona fide physician-patient relationship indicating that, in the physician’s professional opinion, the patient has a medical condition and the potential health benefits of the medical use of cannabis would likely outweigh the health risks for the patient.”
It’s not immediately clear how accessible the research-focused program would be in practice, though it appears that authors intend the program to be relatively open.
The measure states, for example, that it’s the General Assembly’s intent “that any physician who issues a written certification to a patient be permitted to participate in objective scientific research.” It also defines research broadly to include “the development of quality control, purity, and labeling standards for cannabis; sound advice and recommendations on the best practices for the safe and efficient medical use of cannabis; and analysis of genetic and healing properties of the many varied strains of cannabis to determine which strains may be best suited for a particular medical condition or treatment.”
In addition to legalizing possession among registered patients and caregivers, the bill shields from liability both research institutions and their employees. It also specifies that the identities of patients, caregivers and research institutions be shielded from public record, though in some cases it allows records to be provided to law enforcement.
The Democrat-led measure was introduced on Thursday in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers—including Senate President Phil Berger (R)—have said they’re deferring to the House on medical marijuana reform this session, but it’s not clear whether HB 984 is the only bill that will be introduced in that chamber.
Berger in comments earlier this month left open the possibility for progress on medical cannabis this session, though he said recreational marijuana was off the table.
But the first action, he suggested, will have to come from the House.
“I don’t know that the Senate will be passing anything initially in this session,” Berger said. “I think we’re going to wait and see what comes out of the House.”
Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for the group Marijuana Policy Project, said he expects further medical marijuana- and hemp-related bills to be introduced this session.
As for HB 984, Caldwell asserted that research bills typically “have a slew of issues associated with them” and said the proposal “seems a half-measure.”
“In the end, who wants to give a group of severely ill people (or veterans) placebos to compare with test subjects who get the real medicine?” he said in an email to Marijuana Moment. “That is cruel.”
“It is time for the North Carolina House of Representatives to go on record with a vote on a comprehensive compassionate care bill,” Caldwell wrote. “The ball is in their court to set parameters and send to the state Senate to finally decide what access the Tarheel State will give people with debilitating conditions rather than unregulated hemp or the legacy illicit market. They have the authority to amend hemp regulatory legislation to include regulating the whole plant.”
Two other measures introduced so far this session would legalize cannabis in North Carolina. In the Senate, S350 would create medical and adult-use marijuana systems, while H413 in the House would legalize only recreational marijuana.
Caldwell in an earlier interview pointed out that there’s “still a long way to go in the North Carolina [legislative] session this year,” adding that he’s keeping an eye on possible future bills from other lawmakers, such as Sen. Bill Rabon (R), whom he described as “very dedicated to getting access to patients in his state.”
Medical marijuana legalization has been a key issue in years past for Rabon, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee. His bills have passed the Senate several times but have consistently stalled in the House.
House Speaker Destin Hall (R) said in early March that Republicans in his chamber could be willing to consider medical marijuana legalization this session. But he didn’t indicate any forthcoming House bills, instead suggesting legislation would come from the Senate.
In a wide-ranging interview with the The News & Observer, the publication reported that Hall “said House Republicans could be more open to what the Senate sends over to them” than they have in past sessions.
Voters, for their part, seem to be on board with cannabis reform. A poll published in February found that 71 percent of likely voters in North Carolina support legalizing medical marijuana in the state, with majorities across party lines and in every surveyed demographic—aside from people over the age of 80—in favor.
Lawmakers have also shown an appetite to take up hemp regulation, with Berger saying earlier this year that “it seems to me that there’s an opportunity there to address the medical marijuana issue,” as well as hemp-derived cannabinoids “at some point during the session.”
Last summer, the state Senate approved a bill that would legalize medical marijuana—but it stalled out in the House once again.
The legislation was similar to a bill from Rabon, a cancer survivor who has sponsored multiple medical marijuana proposals. The senator previously described his interest in using the hemp legislation as a potential vehicle after his most recent standalone died in the House.
The senator has emphasized that he’s speaking from personal experience when he discusses his support for the legislation. As he’s previously disclosed, Rabon said his doctor advised him to use marijuana before he went through serious chemotherapy, and he visited his local law enforcement to tell them that he intended to break the law to use the plant for therapy.
Former House Speaker Tim Moore (R) said last year that while he personally supports legalizing medical marijuana, there is an informal rule in the chamber that at least 37 GOP members must back any given bill in order to bring it to the floor.
Current House Speaker Hall, for his part, has in the past voiced opposition to medical cannabis reform.
Rabon’s standalone legislation moved through the Senate and was taken up by a House committee last year, but it did not advance further in that chamber.
Former House Majority Leader John Bell (R) said in 2023 that while there were “still discussions going on” about medical marijuana legislation, he was “very sure you won’t see that bill move” due to insufficient support among Republicans. He said that was “unfortunately” the case.
A previous version of the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act from Rabon passed the Senate but did not get a vote in the House of Representatives in 2022.
The Senate president previously acknowledged that opinions are shifting when it comes to marijuana in the state, and he said that Rabon specifically “for a long time has looked at the issue.”
Rabon also took another step, including medical marijuana regulatory appointments for the yet-to-be-enacted program in a separate measure that passed the Senate last year.
An Indian tribe in North Carolina launched the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary last April—despite the protests of certain Republican congressional lawmakers. More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. in Cherokee last year, thousands from across the region made purchases.
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