Politics
North Carolina Has A Chance To Finally Legalize Marijuana After Last Week’s Elections (Op-Ed)
“Lawmakers have a new opportunity and a bipartisan path forward to regulate all THC products in the state and finally deliver the reform voters want and voted for.”
By Kevin Caldwell, Marijuana Policy Project
As we look back at last week’s recent election and prepare for the 2027 session, one question keeps popping up: why does North Carolina remain the Mid-Atlantic outlier on cannabis policy?
Nearly the entire region has established a medical cannabis program or legalized adult-use cannabis. Nationwide, 24 states have ended cannabis prohibition, meaning 54 percent of Americans now live in legalization states. With over a decade of real-world data, we now can see what happens after prohibition ends.
Opponents often speak of a world where cannabis doesn’t exist if the law forbids it. Simply spoken, that is a moot point and completely based in a fantasy world that is not pertinent. Cannabis has been—and will continue to be—a part of North Carolina culture. The real question isn’t whether cannabis exists, but whether state legislators choose to regulate it and reap the benefits that accompany cannabis policy reform, or continue the failed policy of prohibition.
Senator Bill Rabon (R) guided the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act, a bill to legalize medical cannabis, through the state Senate three separate times—in 2022, 2023 and again in 2024, when the Senate attempted to attach the language to a consumable hemp bill.
Despite decisive 36-10 votes in both 2023 and 2024, the state House of Representatives consistently refused to even consider the legislation. Instead, the House utilized a private caucus vote to determine which bills would reach the floor, leaving medical cannabis reportedly just one vote short. As a result, patients suffering from serious medical conditions were denied access to safe, lab-tested products, while untested and unregulated hemp-derived THC products were widely available in North Carolina. Patients with debilitating medical conditions should never have to rely on unregulated products.
Following last week’s midterm elections, however, the landscape of the General Assembly has shifted. With Democrats having won a majority in the House of Representatives, lawmakers have a new opportunity and a bipartisan path forward to regulate all THC products in the state and finally deliver the reform voters want and voted for.
Before the end of the year, Governor Josh Stein’s (D) North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis will be presenting their findings to a legislature that looks a lot different than what many expected it to look like prior to the election. The council has done the legwork, and now the General Assembly gets to decide how the state moves forward.
Meanwhile, regional pressure is mounting. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians already operates an adult-use dispensary within the borders of North Carolina, and Virginia will soon be opening many adult-use dispensaries within a quick drive from many North Carolinians.
Now is the time for the Tarheel State to legalize, tax and regulate cannabis for many reasons, including to protect the kids.
One of the most compelling findings after more than a decade of adult-use legalization is that youth consumption drops in states that have ended prohibition. In every state that has legalized adult-use cannabis, there has been a significant reduction in youth usage post-legalization. For example, cannabis use by high school-aged teens is down nearly 30% since legalization in Nevada, nearly 50 percent in Michigan and nearly 60 percent in Arizona.
In North Carolina, youth usage has already dropped in the past few years, and it is a logical assumption that it will continue to drop after legalization as it has in so many states. In fact, North Carolina should be celebrating that it has seen a 50 percent decrease in youth use since 2013, but with legalization, we can lower that number even further.
Keeping regulated cannabis behind the counter—supported by an exceptional record of licensed businesses refusing sales to minors—works.
Consider Massachusetts, where voters recently faced a ballot initiative to roll back cannabis legalization after a decade. Voters rejected that measure by a 3-1 margin, a nearly 20 point increase in support compared to when legalization passed in 2016. Notably, not a single law enforcement organization supported ending adult-use sales or home grow rights.
Regulation simply works better than prohibition.
As a society, we do not ban products for adults simply because they are unfit for children. Whether dealing with alcohol, nicotine or high-fructose corn syrup, strict regulations and public health education allow us to protect youth while respecting adult choice.
Legalization also boosts local economies.
Under prohibition, the social and law-enforcement costs of cannabis consumption fall entirely on taxpayers. By contrast, legal markets generate tax revenues that directly benefit local communities, funding essential public infrastructure, public safety and health education.
While the concern that legalization will allow large corporations to dominate the local market is valid, it is also why we must act now. To build a thriving, equitable industry, North Carolina must successfully integrate the illicit market and the hemp market to a legal market before federal prohibition ends, at which point interstate commerce would favor established corporate giants.
The debate is no longer about whether cannabis should be available—that reality was settled decades ago. Legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2027 will protect our youth, generate vital tax revenue, and give North Carolina entrepreneurs the opportunity to lead one of the fastest growing segments of the modern American economy.
It is time for North Carolina to stop falling for prohibitionist propaganda and start protecting its own growers, consumers and future. Voters elected a new General Assembly in this election and now we have the opportunity to act in an expeditious manner on this issue. We have seen that under the right circumstances, legislatures can implement legalization quickly.
North Carolina has the opportunity to show other states how to integrate medical cannabis, adult-use legalization and consumable hemp into one well-regulated framework, and it’s time they make it happen.
Kevin Caldwell is senior manager of legislative affairs for the Marijuana Policy Project.
