Sponsors of a bipartisan state Senate medical marijuana bill expressed hope Wednesday that the latest version will gain enough support to finally clear the legislature after a 13-year journey.
Senate Bill 3, titled “NC Compassionate Care Act,” still has Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, as one of three primary sponsors along with Republican Sens. Bill Rabon of Brunswick County and Michael Lee of New Hanover County.
Lowe said the re-filed version is essentially the same at Senate Bill 711, which passed the Senate by a 37-6 vote in June.
However, House Republican leadership shelved the bill for the session.
The bill was addressed Wednesday in a non-vote manner in the Senate Judiciary committee. There is at least one amendment expected to be submitted when a voting Judiciary meeting is held.
SB3 also has to clear Senate Finance and Rules and Operations committees before a floor vote.
The legislation “is designed to help people who often can’t help themselves,” Rabon said.
Lowe said his support comes from his belief that the use of medical marijuana will help many North Carolinians with their chronic and debilitating health issues.
“Our citizens should be able to take part in medicine that will help them,” compared with using opioids as painkillers, he said.
Potential opposition from House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and House majority leader John Bell IV, R-Johnston, could derail the vote during the current session, said John Dinan, a Wake Forest University political science professor and national expert on state legislatures.
“At this point, we have to rely on the comments of (Moore and Bell), who have cast significant doubt on plans to consider medical marijuana legalization,” Dinan said.
12-year journey
SB3 is the latest in numerous attempts over the past 12 years to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The bill has been on an arduous path since being introduced during the 2021 session.
It requires the medical marijuana system to pay for itself following initial money to set up the system.
The funding would come mostly from license fees and a monthly fee equal to 10% of the gross revenue derived from the products sold at medical cannabis centers.
The bill previously was amended to reduce the number of medical cannabis centers from eight to four, two of which would be located in the state’s 20 Tier 1 counties — likely Mecklenburg and in the Triangle.
Forsyth and Guilford counties are in Tier 2.
Opponents have expressed concern that the legislation would serve as a gateway to legalized marijuana in North Carolina by 2024; that the licensing fee for vendors is too low; that a license should not be sold; and that the potential profit levels need to be lowered.
Rabon called SB711 “the tightest, best-written bill, seeing what other states did wrong and trying to omit those pitfalls.”
“We had to jump through a lot of hoops to do this, and we jumped through them the right way,” Rabon said. “We have been calculating, methodical, written and rewritten, taken things out, taken advice to come up with a final product that every person in the legislature can be proud of.”
That included physicians being barred from advertising that they offer medical marijuana. It also addressed potential conflicts of interest between physicians, independent testing laboratories and suppliers.
“It will be, from start to finish, traceable and trackable to every single supplier, grower, manufacturer …,” Rabon said.
Compassionate
Although Rabon did not use medical marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer, he said his own experience, coupled with discussions with other cancer patients, convinced him of the need for making the option available.
“It can help a number of people at the end of their life at a time that they need compassion … what time they have left should be as comfortable and as easy as they can be,” Rabon said.
“There’s not anyone in this room who has not had someone in their family, or a close friend, that could have benefited from this legislation.”
Jordan Monaghan, press secretary for Gov. Roy Cooper, said “studies have shown medical marijuana can offer many benefits to some who suffer from chronic conditions, particularly veterans.”
“The governor is encouraged that North Carolina might join the 36 other states that have authorized it for use.”
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