North Carolina Governor Backs Marijuana Legalization And Forms A Bipartisan Commission To Craft A Plan

The governor of North Carolina has come out in support of legalizing marijuana and is convening a bipartisan commission to study the issue in hopes of moving the GOP-controlled legislature to act on reform.

Gov. Josh Stein (D) said during an interview with WRAL News that was published on Tuesday that he wants to see the largely unregulated market for intoxicating hemp products reined in to prevent youth access and support public safety—but believed that adults should be able to buy cannabis products from licensed retailers.

“If you are an adult and that’s the choice you want to make, you should be able to make that choice,” Stein said. “I do not have all of the answers. I have some philosophical views on matters, but there are real, complicated, practical implications of every decision you make.”

To navigate those complicated questions, the governor has issued an executive order to create the North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis—comprised of up to 30 members, including lawmakers, law enforcement officials, agriculture industry stakeholders, health experts, tribal representatives, advocates and others to explore possible regulatory models for adult-use marijuana and hemp.

The order says there’s a need for reform because the “current lack of regulation, including age, potency, and purity limitations, poses a threat to all North Carolinians, particularly our youth.” And “rather than allowing this unsafe and unregulated market to continue, smart and balanced regulation presents an opportunity not only to protect the health and well-being of our people, but also to generate revenue that can benefit our state.”

The panel will be required to hold its first meeting in July and then convene at least every other month through December 2026. Members will be tasked with developing and submitting initial recommendations on a “comprehensive cannabis policy, including any proposed legislation” to the governor by May 15, 2026. Final recommendations will be due by December 31, 2026.

The report would need to look at youth prevention strategies, deterring impaired driving, promoting public education around cannabis, supporting criminal justice reforms such as expungements for people with prior records and more.

“It’s really ironic that in some ways, the most liberal, pro-marijuana adult-use state in the country is North Carolina,” he said, referencing the currently unregulated consumable hemp market. “It’s not Colorado, it’s not Massachusetts, it’s not these states that legalized it and then created a regulatory structure to sell it. It’s North Carolina, where we have no rules whatsoever.”

“It is the wild West out there,” he said. “The idea that we have a system where this product—which is a drug that can get you high—is for sale out there without any restrictions on how it’s sold, to me, is insane.”

Rather than sticking to the status quo, the governor said the state should move to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older. That would represent a significant policy change for North Carolina, which is one of the rare remaining examples of a state without a comprehensive medical cannabis program.

“Our state’s unregulated cannabis market is the Wild West and is crying for order,” Stein said in a press release on Wednesday. “Let’s get this right and create a safe, legal market for adults that protects kids.”

“I want to thank members of the General Assembly for their interest in addressing this gaping loophole in state law,” he said. “Let’s work together on a thoughtful, comprehensive solution that allows sales to adults and that is grounded in public safety and health. We can work together and get this right.”

During his time as the state’s attorney general, Stein led a separate task force under then-Gov. Roy Cooper (D) that examined racial injustice issues and ultimately recommended decriminalizing marijuana and studying broader legalization in response to racially disparate enforcement trends.

In recent sessions, multiple limited medical marijuana legalization bills advanced through the Senate, only to stall out in the House.

But Stein is making the case that moving forward on comprehensive recreational reform would help avoid issues that other states have experienced transitioning from medical to adult-use marijuana markets.

“I’m aware of how different states have wrestled with it. I’ve heard from regulators that the states that start with a medical marijuana system and then come later with an adult recreational use system end up having pretty irrational systems because the regulatory regime for one is very different than the regulatory regime for the other,” the governor said in the WRAl interview.

That position might put one of the advisory council’s appointed members, Sen. Bill Rabon (R), in an awkward place, as the senator has long championed bipartisan medical marijuana legalization legislation and insisted it should not be viewed as a step toward adult-use legalization.

“I think we can have one system,” Stein said. “A cannabis control system where we know what’s in the product so that people know what they can take and what they can tolerate and what they can’t.”

“That’s why I’m bringing in folks from both parties, both chambers [to the council],” the governor added, “so we can have a shared understanding of what is happening, a shared appreciation for how other states are dealing with it and then a shared strategy of what North Carolina should do.”

“Adults should be able to use cannabis with intoxicating THC if they want. I do support that. But what I really support is making sure that kids cannot buy it, and by law today in North Carolina, they can. That is absolutely unacceptable to me.”

Another member of the committee will be Rep. John Bell (R), who is also president of the hemp company Asterra Labs that produces consumable CBD products.

Meanwhile, in the House, Rep. Aisha Dew (D) filed a bill in April that would legalize medical marijuana for patients with a variety of specified conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD, end-of-life care and other serious ailments.

The North Carolina Compassionate Care Act is considerably more detailed than a separate Democrat-led medical cannabis bill introduced earlier that month that would allow access only for patients enrolled in a “registered research study.”

Advocates had been awaiting House introduction of a comprehensive bill, especially since Senate President Phil Berger (R) said his chamber is deferring to the House to move first on medical marijuana reform this session.

Two other measures introduced so far this session would legalize cannabis in North Carolina. In the Senate, S350 would create medical and adult-use marijuana systems, while H413 in the House would legalize only recreational marijuana.

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House Speaker Destin Hall (R) said in early March that Republicans in his chamber could be willing to consider medical marijuana legalization this session. But he didn’t indicate any forthcoming House bills, instead suggesting legislation would come from the Senate.

Voters, for their part, seem to be on board with cannabis reform. A poll published in February found that 71 percent of likely voters in North Carolina support legalizing medical marijuana in the state, with majorities across party lines and in every surveyed demographic—aside from people over the age of 80—in favor.

Former House Speaker Tim Moore (R) said last year that while he personally supports legalizing medical marijuana, there is an informal rule in the chamber that at least 37 GOP members must back any given bill in order to bring it to the floor.

The current House speaker, Hall, has in the past voiced opposition to medical cannabis reform.

Former House Majority Leader John Bell (R) said in 2023 that while there were “still discussions going on” about medical marijuana legislation, he was “very sure you won’t see that bill move” due to insufficient support among Republicans. He said that was “unfortunately” the case.

An Indian tribe in North Carolina launched the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary last April—despite the protests of certain Republican congressional lawmakers. More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. in Cherokee last year, thousands from across the region made purchases.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

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