Good morning yall!  You’ve probably seen headlines like these this last week:

‘New bill could change cannabis legality in North Carolina in 2026’

‘Marijuana could soon be decriminalized by voters in North Carolina’

‘North Carolina bill puts cannabis decriminalization up for public vote’

And these are less fanciful than some of the ones you’ll see on social media.  In some it sounds like we’ll get to vote on Legalization!  While I like that it’s in the news, I think the headlines can lead to an unintended consequence, so I’m going to dive into what the bill filed last week actually has in it, and give my opinions on its future and the timing of it.

 So what does this bill propose to do?  Senate Bill 1072, filed on May 4th, 2026, titled AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA TO PROVIDE FOR THE QUALIFIED DECRIMINALIZATION AND MEDICAL USE OF CANNABIS, primarily sponsored by Senators Smith, Theodros, and Lowe, asks to put 2 proposals to voters to decide.

The first proposal is:

‘The possession of limited amounts of cannabis for personal use shall not be a criminal offense in this State. The General Assembly shall enact general laws governing the possession of limited amounts of cannabis for personal use consistent with this section.’

With the available selections being FOR or AGAINST.

The second proposal is:

‘The possession of limited amounts of cannabis for medical use by patients with qualifying conditions shall not be a criminal offense in this State. The General Assembly shall enact general laws governing the possession of cannabis for medical use consistent with this section.’

With the available selections again being FOR or AGAINST.

I like that they are attempting to bypass consistent congressional inaction on this, but I must point out the question that is NOT asked; Should North Carolina allow full Adult Use Legalization?

I understand that NC politics are what they are in some ways, and that this is a step they are trying to make to push us towards hopeful, eventual, cannabis freedom, but why doesn’t it also propose what we actually want?

If personal amounts are legal, WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?  I’m guessing a personal amount will be somewhere between 1 and 3 ounces of flower.  So anything above that would still be a crime, leaving the illicit market flourishing, and keeping people in jail for non-violent cannabis crimes.

Medical only systems tend to lead to corporate cannabis controlled ‘cartels’ where patient access is not great, the products are also not great, and local producers that actually care about their communities are shut out.  Medical legality also does not address the glaring issues around selective enforcement of cannabis laws.

So, will we actually see these proposals on our ballots come November?  On May 5th, after it passed its first reading, it went into the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate.  For perspective here, last year’s ACT TO LEGALIZE AND REGULATE THE SALE, POSSESSION, AND USE OF CANNABIS IN NORTH CAROLINA in the NC House went into committee the day after it was filed, on March 18th, 2025, and is still there.

So the unintended consequence that I was worried about is this: that NC voters will think things are actually moving.  They aren’t.  I’ve had 2 meetings cancelled this month with Senator Ted Budd’s representative to try and talk about sustaining our local farm business in NC, and my dad had a meeting cancelled on him yesterday from another politician’s office.  Apparently we aren’t paying enough money to get to talk to them.  We need politicians to take bold action, stop bowing to lobbyists, and write laws that encourage local economies, allow personal choice freedoms, and stop putting people in prison for non-violent cannabis offences.

The timing of filing this bill is also odd to me.  If Governor Stein’s North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis interim report released last month recommended full Adult Use Legalization, why isn’t that question in this bill?  If the full report from the Council is set to be released in November of this year, it seems like a waste of political capital to push for this now.  Our best bet is elect people in November who go on the record saying they support actual freedom for North Carolinians to make their own decisions about their healthcare, and hold them accountable.

We need the ‘non-traditional’ cannabis supporters to make some noise; this is how we eventually break the stigma, and show that it’s just another tool in the wellness toolbox.  All it could take is sharing a story about how you use gummies to sleep, or the hemp cannabis salve you use that does wonders, or how some CBD dog treats made a world of difference for your aging bestie.  You don’t even have to like cannabis flower to realize it’s silly that consumers can buy THCA cannabis flower at NC shops all day, but NC farmers are not allowed to grow it.

I’ve probably deleted more than I’ve written this morning, I could go all day about this stuff.  It’s confusing, convoluted, and manipulated by big money with big plans for what you can and cannot do, and how much they will make you pay for it.

Anyhoo, that’s the deal with Senate Bill 1072; if you’ve gotten this far, thank you, you’re a patient, thoughtful person and I appreciate your time.

Sam