Medical marijuana bill stalls in North Carolina. Why cannabis advocates are frustrated

His father was flying a single-engine plane until it stalled over the Colorado Rockies. When the plane crashed into the mountains, it caught fire and the two men had more than one-third of their bodies burned.

After going into an induced coma, having a dozen skin graft surgeries and a year of intensive physical therapy, Tedder found a treatment option that could help reduce ongoing pain: cannabis.

While he’s been able to legally get marijuana prescriptions filled in Colorado and California, the same opportunity isn’t available to him in North Carolina.

After emotional debate, medical marijuana approved by NC Senate

Even if Senate Bill 711 were approved and signed into law, Tedder and other marijuana legalization advocates fear too many North Carolinians with serious health conditions would be excluded.

“It’s just a shame that it's not necessarily going to be available to people like me,” Tedder said.

Included in the bill are more than a dozen qualifying medical conditions, but chronic pain and glaucoma aren’t among them due to concerns from lawmakers of limited research.

Tedder believes he and others could still qualify for a 30-day marijuana prescription under the measure’s provision that labels those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying debilitating condition. But the proposal leaves many others out of luck, including residents without a doctor and those with one who won’t affirm their medical condition.

Chris Suttle, a Chapel Hill resident and cannabis legalization activist who has lobbied lawmakers, thinks there are enough Democrats and Republicans in the House who would get behind the measure. But the bill’s fate could come down to one man.

Shortly after the medical marijuana bill cleared the Senate, GOP House Speaker Tim Moore said he opposes the legislation and doesn’t plan to consider it as the legislative session winds down this month. He also declined to say whether his chamber would hold a vote in the future.

“I want to see where our folks are on it. I really do,” Moore said. “That one has just kind of been thrown down, and I don't see an appetite to take that up in the shorter session. As far as the long session, I won't say one way or the other."

Suttle, who thinks she’d qualify for medical marijuana because he has PTSD, is trying to ramp up political pressure on lawmakers to get the proposal to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

“While I'd love to see it passed in the House right now and have this done and on the governor's desk by July, I know that's not going to be the reality,” Suttle said. “But that doesn't mean that we have to stop.”

The poll conducted from April 6 to 10 reported a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points when respondents were asked about legalization for medical purposes and 2.7 percentage points when asked about legalization for recreational purposes.

Backdoor to legalized weed? Bill potentially legalizing marijuana if feds do heads to Cooper

Senate Bill 448 has many caveats, though.

The FDA must first approve use of the prescription drug. After that, the Drug Enforcement Administration must make the proper change to the federal controlled substance schedules. A North Carolina commission would then have to not object to the change.

Critics argue the plan could create a backdoor to marijuana legalization, while proponents say state officials would retain their authority to oppose FDA-approved treatments containing marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the chemical compound in the marijuana plant that produces the drug's high.

In the meantime, the push for more sweeping legalization continues.

Seven of the 11 commissioners would be selected by Cooper, while Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger would each nominate two to be approved by the legislature. The appointees would include at least three doctors, one registered cannabis cardholder and a parent of a child with a qualifying medical condition.

Suttle said the legalization effort has taken on heightened importance as hundreds of residents die each year from opioids. He believes pot could reduce the death toll, though research into the association between legalized medical marijuana and opioid deaths is limited and conflicting.

Instead of chronic pain being added as a qualifying medical condition, he wants a so-called opioid reduction therapy carveout.

“As long as you have a qualifying condition that would require you to get some type of opioid medication, you should be given the right to choose cannabis instead,” Suttle said. “It is much less deadly. It is much less harmful on the other vital organs compared to opioids.”

“Having been someone that almost succumbed to being an opioid addict, I took one and the world that it created aside from pain is something that still haunts me to this day,” Suttle said. “It was a world that I never want to go back into because it was too perfect.”