Rabon and Lee’s medical cannabis bill earns bipartisan praise, gets spotlight in committee

Amid the flurry of cannabis bills North Carolina lawmakers have proposed this session — each with a unique spin on state-level weed reform — one proposal stands out with bipartisan support.

filed bills earlier this year that would legalize cannabis medicinally and recreationally; other Republicans pushed a more cautious approach that would change N.C.

“Designated caregivers,” a role created previously by other states in their medicinal cannabis laws, would go through the same NCDHHS approval processes, and be authorized to assist patients with cannabis treatments.

“Bill sponsors going to great lengths to discuss how this bill is designed for medical cannabis only, clearly an attempt to assuage concerns from members of their party,” tweeted Sen.

Lee and Rabon worked to ease the distaste held by some in the GOP for any measure that could be seen as a gateway to recreational cannabis.

Mujtaba Mohammed, D-Mecklenburg, implored Rabon to include in his bill a provision that would decriminalize cannabis possession in small amounts, stating that more than 60% of cannabis-related police apprehensions in N.C.

Mohammed retorted he had already co-sponsored such a bill, and it currently waits to be heard in Rabon’s committee.

Applicants for a medical cannabis supplier license face a steep hill to climb if the bill were to become law.

Suppliers will pay a $50,000 license fee to NCDHHS, and a $10,000 annual renewal fee.

The dispensaries will be subject to strict land-use and marketing reviews; no cartoonish imagery, attempts at humor, scintillating packaging or even depictions of marijuana leaves will be permitted.

“We’re on a crash course with federal legalization in my opinion,” said Axel Owen, the campaign manager for a New Jersey recreational cannabis ballot referendum overwhelmingly approved in November 2020.

He added that he faced opposition from Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-legalization advocacy group.

The Compassionate Care Act sat untouched in Rabon’s rules and operations committee for two months before a proposed committee substitute version earned the spotlight before the judiciary committee Wednesday in an informational hearing.

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