Hemp Legalization Hits a Political Roadblock
– July 2021 UPDATE: Governor Roy Cooper Signs Bill That Protects Hemp Industry In North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C.– North Carolina may soon legalize hemp production and sales, but not if a minority of state lawmakers have their way. Hemp is a health-beneficial plant and cousin of marijuana has long sparked controversy — including among those who worry about THC levels in cannabis products.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, the State House leaders removed a proposition to permanently legalize hemp from the Senate Farm Costs, raising the stakes in a high-profile political standoff that could make a burgeoning industry prohibited overnight.
Since then, the hemp market has blossomed in this state. If it isn’t extended, the state’s regulated compound law would no longer make a difference between hemp and marijuana, which is prohibited.
The State House and the Senate have passed language to completely legalize the crop, but each chamber wants it to pass at its expense, not the other chamber’s. That resulted in an impasse between the farming leaders of the two bodies.
State Rep. John Ager, D-Buncombe, echoed Jackson’s dissatisfaction. “I recognize there are another costs in the Senate that’s a standalone bill. If we can’t, I believe we require to think about putting hemp back in here.
Rep. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, likewise voiced concern about the exemption. “Is that costs going to go through the Senate,” he said, “or do we have to be concerned about it not being in this bill?”
Jackson reacted: “I can’t respond to that concern at this moment in time. We’ll look at it and examine it. As far as, it sitting in the Rules Committee, and that’s not my committee.”
“I am sorry that you all chose to pull hemp out of this expense,” Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, the Senate Farming chair, and the bill’s author, stated throughout a Home Farming Committee meeting Wednesday. “I recognize there’s another expense in the Senate that’s a standalone bill.
