The North Carolina Senate on Monday passed a bipartisan medical cannabis bill that includes changes aimed at getting the measure through the House, which has for years killed similar measures, WTVD reports. The measure passed Monday includes provisions that would not allow adult-use cannabis legalization unless approved by the legislature, even if the federal government were to legalize cannabis broadly.
The bill was initially passed last week, tacked on to a hemp regulation bill which includes enhanced regulations on the state’s existing hemp and CBD products.
In an interview with WTVD, Dr. David Casarett, a palliative care fellow at Duke University, noted that under the current state ban on medical cannabis, he unable to talk about cannabis with his patients.
“I need to work within the bounds of what’s legal. I also need to help my patients and I also need to be open and willing to talk about it because, you know, if a patient comes to me and asks me about medical cannabis and I say it’s illegal, I can’t talk about it, I’m basically shut off.” — Casarett via WTVD
House Speaker Tim Moore (R) as said that he supports legalizing medical cannabis but that the proposal is unlikely to be considered in the House because not enough House Republicans support the issue. The new language seeks to get the approval from the chamber’s more conservative members.
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