Politics
North Carolina Lawmakers Grapple With How To Regulate State’s Booming Hemp Market
“Our state’s unregulated cannabis market is the wild west and is crying for order. Let’s get this right and create a safe, legal market for adults that protects kids.”
People of almost any age can walk into stores in North Carolina and buy vape products, gummies, drinks and other hemp-derived consumables that contain some of the same high-inducing medicinal compounds as marijuana.
This could be about to change.
North Carolina lawmakers have been debating for years about regulating hemp and marijuana products. Now state lawmakers and an advisory council tapped recently by the governor are looking again for ways to control the growing synthetic hemp and unregulated cannabis market described by some as a “wild west” in need of taming.
Marijuana is not legal for recreational use in North Carolina despite the growing number of states that have legalized it for such purposes. Twenty-four states, the District of Columbia and three territories have legalized cannabis for nonmedical adult use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-nine states allow the medical use of cannabis products, the association adds.
“There is no legal minimum age to purchase these products. That means kids are buying them,” Gov. Josh Stein (D) said in a statement issued when he announced the creation of an advisory council to explore the issue and develop recommendations for how to bring order to the cannabis market.
“Without any enforceable labeling requirements, adults are using them recreationally without knowing what is in them or how much THC there is,” Stein added. “Our state’s unregulated cannabis market is the wild west and is crying for order. Let’s get this right and create a safe, legal market for adults that protects kids.”
Back and forth among lawmakers
State Sen. Bill Rabon, a Republican from Southport and a cancer survivor, has long fought to add North Carolina to the list of states that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. His colleagues in the state Senate have supported his effort in previous years, but his proposed legislation routinely hits obstacles in the House.
This year, four Democratic House representatives introduced proposed legislation for The Compassionate Care Act, which would allow seriously ill patients to consume medical marijuana, but it has been parked in the House Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations since April 16, the day after it was introduced. Four other Democrats in the House introduced HB984, which would allow caregivers and patients to enroll in medical marijuana studies, in turn permitting possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana. The bill has not gotten a hearing in any committee this session.
Another legislative proposal that started out this session in the state House of Representatives as a bill to ban delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol and delta-9 THC from school buildings and grounds morphed into a much more sweeping regulatory bill that passed June 19 in the state Senate in a 35–7 vote.
“I think one of the most shocking things to me is anybody can purchase a lot of this. It’s in our schools, it’s impacting our children, it’s having a negative health impact,” Sen. Benton Sawrey (R-Clayton) said at a June 18 Senate Judiciary meeting the day before his chamber’s full vote. “We need to put the age restriction on purchasing THC beverages and these hemp products over 21. We need to make sure that we address the packaging aspects—not looking like things that children get their hands onto. It’s much needed. I’m glad that the body is taking a look at this industry and this regulation. I think we’re behind the curve nationally in doing so, and I look forward to seeing regulations around this get across the finish line.”
Because the Senate’s amended version of House Bill 328 is markedly different from the narrower proposal—which was approved by the House in a 112–0 vote on April 16—the proposed legislation could be changed again. However, both versions would still ban delta-8 and delta-9 products from being used at schools.
Democratic state Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a former state lawmaker and U.S. congressman elected to the statewide office in November, was at the General Assembly with his 10-year-old son the day the Senate cast its vote. He was advocating for regulations and informing lawmakers that state Alcohol Law Enforcement officers would be ready to launch enforcement efforts if a law is enacted.
The version of the proposed legislation approved by the state Senate also would prohibit individuals younger than 21 from buying hemp-derived products and restrict retailers from selling those items without a license. It also would restrict the use and sale of kratom, an herbal substance that, in a natural or synthetic form, can be a stimulant or produce an opioid-like sedative effect depending on the amount taken.
Lawmakers left Raleigh on June 26 for a holiday break without agreeing on a legislative proposal that works for both chambers.
Advising the governor
On June 4, Stein announced the formation of the State Advisory Council on Cannabis, a group that consists of lawmakers, business owners, medical professionals and law enforcement personnel. The governor tasked the group with “studying and recommending a comprehensive approach to regulate cannabis sales” throughout the state.
“I think it’s great what the governor is trying to do,” said Kevin Caldwell, the Southeast legislative manager at the Marijuana Policy Project, a nationwide nonprofit organization focused on marijuana policy reform. “I think in the end, it makes sense to regulate the plant.”
The 24-member council is led by co-chairs Lawrence H. Greenblatt, the state health director and chief medical officer at the state Department of Health and Human Services, and Matt Scott, district attorney for Robeson County.
The 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the list of controlled substances, allowing for the legal sale of hemp products containing less than or equal to 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive chemical within cannabis. This created a loophole that let retailers throughout the state begin selling unregulated, psychoactive cannabis products using altered formulations to stay within the 0.3 percent guidelines.
Because these products are sold at vape shops throughout the state, and customers of most any age can purchase them, the executive order focuses largely on the protection of children and seeks to regulate the market rather than criminalize possession for adults.
Stein’s executive order states that in recent years, there’s been a troubling trend: Emergency department visits in North Carolina for intoxicating cannabis ingestion among children and youth ages 17 and younger have increased dramatically.
Many products sold in vape stores are packaged to appear similar to non-intoxicating products like Oreos, gummy worms, Skittles and name-brand chocolate bars such as Kit Kats and Twix. Not only does this mislead consumers, it appeals to children, critics of the products say.
Additionally, THC-infused drinks are often sold at bars and other establishments as “nonalcoholic” beverages without always calling attention to the intoxicating substance in them. While some of these drinks are marketed as “buzzy” alternatives to alcohol, there has not been much research studying their impact on health.
A primer on hemp and cannabis products
Delta-8
Delta-8 THC, which can be bought at vape shops throughout the state, is naturally occuring within the cannabis sativa plant and is often synthetically converted from cannabidiol—or CBD—a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis. Because of this, concentration levels are not standardized and may vary among products, sometimes producing a more intense high than naturally occurring CBD.
Delta-9
Typical cannabis products contain delta-9 THC, which occurs at a much higher rate in the plant. Though marijuana-derived delta-9 THC products are illegal in North Carolina, hemp-derived delta-9 skirts by the 0.3 percent rule. The primary difference between hemp and marijuana is their THC content.
To-do list
The governor’s State Advisory Council on Cannabis will look into some of these issues. His executive order directs the group to consider:
- Enacting laws and regulations that address age limits and product packaging that appeals to children.
- Promoting public education campaigns and the development of prevention and treatment models geared toward youth.
- Giving law enforcement tools for addressing motorists who are driving while impaired under the influence of THC.
- Supporting “surveillance to monitor public health harms, and potential marijuana prescriptions for treatment.”
- Ensuring standards exist for flavor, potency and what the executive order describes as “purity” of products.
- Expunging convictions for simple possession of marijuana and those that do not align with the council’s advice.
- Creating a government structure that would oversee business, product taxation and “implement the Council’s recommendations to the benefit of the state.”
The State Advisory Council on Cannabis is scheduled to start meeting this month, then meet every other month. They are required to submit preliminary recommendations on cannabis policy to Stein by March 2026, and they must finalize them by December 2026.
Caldwell, the legislative manager at Marijuana Policy Project, said the governor’s advisory council could serve as a model for others.
“I think it’s something that especially is going to be mimicked on the federal level,” he said.
This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Photo courtesy of Pexels/Kindel Media.
