A medical cannabis bill that passed the North Carolina Senate in February has hit the end of the road this year, according to House Speaker Tim Moore.
Moore said July 11 that opposition from House Republicans has likely quashed medical cannabis legalization efforts this year, according to the Associated Press.
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Senate Bill 3, the NC Compassionate Care Act, cleared the Senate in a 36-10 vote. The legislation largely mirrors a medical cannabis legalization proposal that also passed in that chamber last year, before Republicans voted against advancing the bill in the House.
Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick County, has sponsored the NC Compassionate Care Act for the past two years. As Cannabis Business Times previously reported, this year’s proposal would allow qualified patients aged 21 and older to purchase cannabis from state-licensed retailers to treat symptoms. Some of the qualifying conditions included in the legislation are cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, Crohn’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
S.B. 3 directs a newly created Medical Cannabis Production Commission to issue licenses to 10 entities to grow, process and sell cannabis. Each license holder would be authorized to open up to eight dispensaries, which would be called medical cannabis centers.
The legislation received a committee hearing in the House in early June, AP reported, but it has since stalled in that chamber. House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne County, has said there is not enough support for the bill to advance in the House, according to the news outlet, and Moore has indicated that he agrees with Bell’s assessment.
There is a rule within the House Republican Caucus that a majority of its members must be willing to vote yes on a bill on the House floor in order for the bill to be heard, and Moore told AP that adhering to this rule “would require a number of House members who’ve taken a position of ‘no’ to literally switch their position to want to vote for it.”
“I just don’t see that happening,” Moore said.
Bell told Spectrum News 1 that medical cannabis legalization will likely come up again during next year’s legislative session, which kicks off in May.
“There’s passion on both sides,” he told the news outlet. “We have members of our caucus that are 100 percent supportive of it, and we have other members that are 100 percent against it.”
This year’s legislative session is set to wrap up later this month.
Meanwhile, a WRAL News poll released last year revealed that 72% of North Carolina voters support medical cannabis legalization.
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