In a vote on Monday evening, the 6th of June, N.C. Senate gave final approval to legalize the use of medical cannabis in North Carolina. The Compassionate Care Act (SB 711) lays out a system with a limited number of licensed producers, distributors who must be associated with those producers, and two boards to regulate the new arena made up of representatives from the law enforcement sector and the N.C. Department of Agriculture, plus cannabis industry experts, doctors, and pharmacists, all appointed by N.C. lawmakers and the governor.
Led by Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, the measure puts N.C. among 36 states where terminally ill people, or those with specific medical conditions, can have 1.5 ounces of cannabis for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s prescription for a 30-day supply.
“This bill is going to, in my opinion, help a lot of people at the end of their life at a time that they need some compassion,” Rabon said, urging his colleague to vote in favor of the bill.
“This is exciting, it’s a good step, but we are a farming state,” said Harrison Tulloss, a Wilson-based hemp producer. “I would like to see a way to have it benefit more farmers, more communities, across North Carolina. Right now, it seems like the big publicly-traded companies are at the table. As long as we have the specs and the standard operating procedures, a consortium of small growers across the state could do this as well as anyone. It would help more of our rural communities find a new market.”
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