Newly filed legislation in North Carolina allows individuals who have registered for a research study to access medical marijuana.
HB 984, also known as the Cannabis Treatment Research Act (CTRA), would enable patients and their caregivers to be registered with the state. This would then allow them to possess up to 1,5 ounces marijuana legally. Julia Greenfield and five other Democratic legislators are its sponsors.
The bill, which is three pages long, would create a Cannabis Treatment Research Database for the Department of Health and Human Services. Patients would have to enroll in a research study that was conducted by a registered hospital, university lab, pharmaceutical company or private research firm.
No age restriction is specified for registered caregivers, however patients must be 18 years old to qualify. The legislation does not list any specific conditions that qualify, but it requires that patients get a statement signed by a “physician with whom they have a genuine physician-patient relation” stating that the condition is a legitimate medical one and that the benefits from medical cannabis use would outweigh its risks.
The authors appear to have intended the program as relatively open, but it’s unclear how easily accessible they intend this program to be.
In the measure, it is stated, for example that “any physician who has issued a written medical certification to a person will be allowed to take part in objective scientific studies.” Research is defined as including “the establishment of strict quality, purity, labeling, and testing standards for cannabis”; providing sound advice, recommendations, and best practices on safe, efficient, medical marijuana use; and analyzing the genetics and healing properties to identify which cannabis strains are best for specific conditions or treatments.
The bill protects both the research institution and its employees from any liability in addition to legalizing possession by registered patients and caregivers. This bill specifies the protection of patient, caregiver and research institution identities from being made public. However, in some instances, it permits records to be shared with law enforcement.
The Democrat led measure was presented Thursday to the House of Representatives. Lawmakers—including Senate President Phil Berger (R)—have said they’re deferring to the House on medical marijuana reform this session, but it’s not clear whether HB 984 is the only bill that will be introduced in that chamber.
Berger, in his comments made earlier this month, left the door open for medical marijuana to be progressed this session. However he stated that recreational cannabis was not on the table.
He said that the House will be the one to take the first step.
Berger stated, “I’m not sure that the Senate is going to pass anything in its initial session.” I think that we will wait to see what the House does.”
Kevin Caldwell said that he expected more hemp and medical marijuana bills to come up this year.
Caldwell stated that research legislation “usually has a number of issues attached to them,” and the proposed measure “seems like a half-measure.”
“At the end of the day, who would want to compare a test group with real patients to a placebo-treated group?” He said this in an email sent to MEDCAN24. “That’s cruel.”
Caldwell wrote that it was time for the North Carolina House of Representatives vote to pass a compassionate care law. The Tarheel State must decide on the parameters for access to medical marijuana and the illicit market, rather than hemp that is unregulated. The state has the power to change hemp regulation legislation so that it includes the entire plant.
North Carolina could legalize cannabis through two more measures that have been introduced in this legislative session. The Senate’s S350 bill would establish a medical marijuana system and an adult-use marijuana system, while the House H413 measure would only legalize recreational marijuana.
Caldwell said in an earlier conversation that the North Carolina has “a long way left to go.” [legislative] The session will be held this year,” he said, adding that he is watching for possible future bills by other legislators. He cited Sen. Bill Rabon as an example of a senator who was “very determined to get access to the patients in his own state.”
In the past, Rabon has given a lot of attention to medical marijuana. He chairs the Senate Rules Committee. The Senate has passed his bills several times, but they have stalled repeatedly in the House.
House Speaker Destin Hall, a Republican from the House of Representatives (R), said early in March that Republicans could be open to considering medical marijuana legalization in this session. Hall did not indicate that any House legislation was imminent, but suggested the Senate would be responsible for bringing in new legislation.
In a wide-ranging interview with the The News & Observer, the publication reported that Hall “said House Republicans could be more open to what the Senate sends over to them” than they have in past sessions.
Cannabis reform seems to have the support of voters. A poll published in February found that 71 percent of likely voters in North Carolina support legalizing medical marijuana in the state, with majorities across party lines and in every surveyed demographic—aside from people over the age of 80—in favor.
Berger stated earlier this year “It appears that there’s a chance to address medical marijuana issues” as well as cannabinoids derived from hemp “at some time during the session.”
Last summer, the state Senate approved a bill that would legalize medical marijuana—but it stalled out in the House once again.
This legislation is similar to one sponsored by Rabon, who was a cancer-survivor and has sponsored several medical marijuana initiatives. The senator previously described his interest in using the hemp legislation as a potential vehicle after his most recent standalone died in the House.
When he speaks about his support for legislation, the senator emphasizes that he is speaking personally. As he’s previously disclosed, Rabon said his doctor advised him to use marijuana before he went through serious chemotherapy, and he visited his local law enforcement to tell them that he intended to break the law to use the plant for therapy.
Last year, former House Speaker Tim Moore said that he supports the legalization of medical marijuana. However, there’s an informal rule that says that 37 GOP lawmakers must support any bill to get it on the floor.
Hall has previously voiced his opposition to the medical marijuana reform.
Rabon’s standalone legislation moved through the Senate and was taken up by a House committee last year, but it did not advance further in that chamber.
Former House Majority Leader John Bell (R) said in 2023 that while there were “still discussions going on” about medical marijuana legislation, he was “very sure you won’t see that bill move” due to insufficient support among Republicans. He called it “unfortunately”.
A previous version of the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act from Rabon passed the Senate but did not get a vote in the House of Representatives in 2022.
The Senate president previously acknowledged that opinions are shifting when it comes to marijuana in the state, and he said that Rabon specifically “for a long time has looked at the issue.”
Rabon also took another step, including medical marijuana regulatory appointments for the yet-to-be-enacted program in a separate measure that passed the Senate last year.
An Indian tribe in North Carolina launched the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary last April—despite the protests of certain Republican congressional lawmakers. More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. in Cherokee last year, thousands from across the region made purchases.
A federal report from the CDC says that marijuana edibles, vaping and dabbing are growing in popularity.