North Carolina Lawmakers File Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana For Patients With Debilitating Conditions
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A new bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives would legalize medical marijuana for patients with a variety of specified conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD, end-of-life care and other serious ailments.
The measure, HB 1011, was filed on Tuesday by Rep. Aisha Dew (D) and has been cosponsored by several other Democratic lawmakers.
The 28-page bill, titled the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act, is considerably more detailed than a separate Democrat-led medical marijuana bill introduced this week that would allow access only for patients enrolled in a “registered research study.”
Advocates have been awaiting House introduction of a comprehensive bill, especially since Senate President Phil Berger (R) said his chamber is deferring to the House to move first on medical marijuana reform this session.
“Glad to finally see a real medical cannabis bill get introduced,” Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment in an email Wednesday.
The new bill, HB 1011, appears to be based largely on an earlier medical marijuana proposal from Sen. Bill Rabon (R), SB 3, filed in the 2023–2024 legislative session. That measure passed the Senate but failed to advance in the House due to an informal rule that requires a majority of the chamber’s GOP caucus to support a bill in order to bring it to the floor.
Caldwell at MPP said he would have liked to see the new House medical marijuana bill be sponsored by a Republican, which he reasoned would increase its chances of being heard in the GOP-controlled body. But he added that “legislators have known a medical bill has been in the works, and I hope they take this opportunity to provide relief to the tens of thousands of North Carolinians who are suffering from debilitating conditions.”
The new measure says in its findings section that “medical research has found that cannabis and cannabinoid compounds are effective at alleviating pain, nausea, and other symptoms associated with several debilitating medical conditions.” A majority of states and four of five U.S. territories have already legalized medical marijuana, it continues, and “North Carolina now takes similar action to preserve and enhance the health and welfare of its citizens.”
Under the proposal, the new medical cannabis program would be overseen by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
The newly introduced measure has been referred to the House Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House.
Here are some of the key features of the new bill, HB 1011:
- Patients would be allowed to legally access cannabis if they have a “debilitating medical condition” such as cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Registered caregivers 21 years of age or older could also obtain marijuana on behalf of patients.
- Purchases of medical marijuana would be exempt from state sales tax.
- Smoking and vaping would be allowed under the bill, though the patient’s physician would need to include the intended delivery method when issuing a medical marijuana recommendation.
- Smoking and vaping would be prohibited in public places, places of employment, within vehicles as well as near schools, childcare facilities and churches. Violations would be infractions, subject to fines of up to $25.
- A Medical Cannabis Production Commission would be created to ensure an adequate supply of cannabis for patients, oversee licensing and generate enough revenue to regulate the program.
- The bill provides for up to 10 medical marijuana suppliers to control the cultivation and sale of cannabis. Each supplier could operate up to eight dispensaries, or “medical cannabis centers.”
- Dispensaries could operate only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m and could not be located near churches, schools, childcare facilities or community colleges or universities.
- Suppliers would need to pay a $50,000 licensing fee plus another $5,000 for each production facility or dispensary they plan to operate. License applicants who would be majority owners of the businesses would need to show proof of state residency for at least two years.
- The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which would oversee the program, would adopt rules around independent laboratory testing of medical marijuana and cannabis products.
- A Compassionate Use Advisory Board would make recommendations for the program and could add new qualifying conditions.
- The measure would further create a North Carolina Cannabis Research Program to “undertake objective, scientific research regarding the administration of cannabis or cannabis-infused products as part of medical treatment.”
- Doctors would need to update a confidential statewide database within two days of making changes to patient certifications.
In light of last session’s Senate-passed bill languishing in the House, Berger said recently that the chamber will wait for House lawmakers to send them a bill.
“I don’t know that the Senate will be passing anything initially in this session,” he said earlier this month. “I think we’re going to wait and see what comes out of the House.”
Introduction of HB 1011 comes on the heels of another Democratic-led medical marijuana bill. That proposal—HB 984, from Rep. Julia Greenfield (D) and five other Democratic lawmakers—would more narrowly legalize medical cannabis, allowing access only for patients enrolled in a “registered research study” conducted by a state-registered hospital, university, lab, pharmaceutical manufacturer or private medical research company.
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.”
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.
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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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