After many sessions of great bills that have gone nowhere, there was significant movement this session on cannabis reform.

Quick Actions 

• Check out the update from Raleigh

• Send a quick email to the AG Office

• An email to copy/paste and send to your Senator in the General Assembly (especially if you are a vet!)
• How you can apply to join our Leadership Team
• A report from our lobbyist

Please send the email below to your Senator in the NC General Assembly (then read the report from our lobbyist) https://ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators

Lobbyist Report:

S711 was re-referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) was heard today; no vote, only discussion and public comments. 

Please send the message below to your NC Senator. Go to Find Your Legislators and click the NC Senator radio button.

Please send the following email to your Senator in the NC General Assembly (Find your Senator here https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators):

Please copy and paste the following email and send it to your Senator in the NC General Assembly (https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators)

Please copy and paste the following message and send it to your Representative in the NCGA (https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators)

Medical cannabis has the potential to ease North Carolina's Opioid Crisis. 

Please send the following email to NC Senate Health Committee Chairs Senators Burgin, Krawiec and Perry. 

NC NORML witnessed NC cannabis history on June 30, 2021! 

Lobbyist Update: The Senate Judiciary Committee discussed Senate Bill 711 on June 23, and heard public comments. A vote may be held next week. This is a highly regulated bill that will be implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, a Medical Cannabis Advisory Board, and a Medical Cannabis Production Commission. Senators Rabon and Lee and others drafted the bill to address the concerns of senators who have deep misgivings. The medical conditions in the bill are limited, but there is an avenue for change in the future. The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board may add other debilitating medical conditions. See the bill summary below.

https://dashboard.ncleg.gov/api/Services/BillSummary/2021/S711-SMBP-63(CSBPxfr-15)-v-3

Lobbyist update:  The General Assembly is focused on the budget so it will likely be July before any cannabis bills are considered in committee or the possibility of a Senate vote. We are working to change S711 language so 1) physicians decide the medical conditions, dose, and delivery system and 2) ensure there is content labeling. Cannabis corporations recognized the progress NC NORML has made, and has hired lobbyists so the landscape has become more complicated. 

The reality is that bills without bipartisan sponsors aren’t likely to be heard. We will keep you posted with any changes. Your legislators still need to hear from you. 

Please send the following to your Representative and Senator in the NCGA, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A VETERAN (https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators)

During the last weekend in May, our nation collectively observed its nineteenth Memorial Day since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. In the weeks and months leading up to this somber reminder of the true cost of war, federal lawmakers were busy filing bills to increase access to medical marijuana for veterans in states where it has been previously legalized. 

Before getting into this week’s content, we’d like to remind you to sign and share the petition in support of medical cannabis. Print a copy and post at your favorite shop and send up pictures of complete pages!

Post-Crossover Lobbyist Report

As reported earlier, the reality is that passing a bill is more likely with bipartisan sponsors. That is why we worked so hard to find Republican sponsors. Both S711 (Rabon, Lee, Lowe) and H858 (Martin, Faircloth) have bipartisan sponsors. Neither has been reassigned to a substance committee yet, which is true of the Democratic sponsored bills as well. Although we had hoped for action by “crossover”, bills with budget or tax implications can be amended and passed at any point before the end of the session in the summer of 2022.  Pharmacists, the MS Society, cannabis businesses, and maybe others are offering language changes to the bill that will slow the process. It is very important that you continue to contact your legislators to have hope for medical cannabis by the summer of 2022. Physicians should decide the medical conditions, dose and treatment of medical cannabis.

We’ve launched a petition to tell legislators that their constituents support immediate access to medical cannabis. www.ncnorml.org/petition You can also print and post paper versions to gather signatures and email full sheets to us at [email protected] so they can be added to the master petition. Help get 10s of thousands in a month’s time. 

Sign the new Petition encouraging the General Assembly to act this year!
Electronically sign the petition to show how many North Carolinians are ready for cannabis access now. Please share it everywhere and consider printing copies to have your customers sign and scan to email NC NORML.