Earlier this month, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said a medical marijuana bill is likely dead for this session.
It passed the Senate. And a majority of House members back it.
But a majority of the GOP House caucus isn’t on board, and Moore said he wants a House Republican majority to support anything that moves forward.
So for now, North Carolina remains one of the most strict states when it comes to marijuana. The Old North State is one of just 12 states that doesn’t allow either recreational or medical marijuana.
But while lawmakers are squabbling over medical marijuana, they are missing the (hemp) forest for the trees.
Stores across Charlotte are now selling legal hemp-based products that will get you high. I did a story about it for WFAE. You can read it here.
The background:
In 2018, the federal government removed hemp from a list of controlled substances, so long as it contained less than 0.3% Delta 9 THC. That’s part of the plant that gets you high.
In North Carolina, lawmakers last year passed a law that aligned the state’s hemp regulations with the federal government, specifically allowing for hemp derivatives.
Over the last few years, the power of the market went to work. Growers and manufacturers found ways to extract psychoactive substances from hemp that doesn’t have Delta 9 THC.
Some, like Delta 8, have been around for a while. One of the newest products is THC-A, which is not psychoactive on its own. But…
