NC hemp bill passes key Senate committee
North Carolina took one more small step toward legalizing the hemp industry in the state Thursday as the 2022 Farm Act passed the Senate’s rules committee.
Passage by the rules committee is considered a formality before the bill heads to the Senate floor. The full Senate is expected to pass the bill next week. The bill passed the Senate agriculture committee on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 792 would distinguish hemp from marijuana by defining hemp as cannabis having less than 0.3% of Delta-9, the chemical in marijuana that produces the drug's high. It would also exclude hemp from the state's list of controlled substances.
The change conforms to federal law, and is necessary because the 2015 state law that legalized the hemp industry in North Carolina is set to expire on June 30, sponsor Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, told the state Senate agriculture committee Tuesday.
Allowing the current law to expire would effectively outlaw hemp in North Carolina, he said. Passing the bill, on the other hand, would save an industry that has spent millions of dollars already, he added.
In recent years, any discussion of permanently legalizing hemp drew protests from law enforcement groups, who said it would make it impossible to arrest people for possession of marijuana. But this year, there has been little opposition to the bill.
The North Carolina Sheriffs' Association, which has long opposed legalization, told WRAL News this week that it is still reviewing the proposed legislation.
