North Carolina's unregulated cannabinoid market sparks a call for a unified, safe, and legal system, urging action beyond hemp versus marijuana.
North Carolina lawmakers have not gotten around to legalizing marijuana or even medical marijuana, but the state is nonetheless awash in intoxicating cannabinoids thanks to an unregulated hemp market. Now, an advisory council appointed by Gov. Josh Stein (D) is describing the cannabis status quo as a "Wild West" situation and calling for a legal, regulated market in cannabinoids whether they are derived from marijuana or hemp.
The state should not only legalize marijuana, it "should adopt a unified approach that regulates products based on total tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content and intoxicating potential, rather than creating separate regulatory structures for hemp and marijuana," the North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis said in an interim report released earlier this month. "This approach recognizes that the plant source is irrelevant and should not drive different treatment when the intoxicating compound is the same."
The council estimates that the state is the second largest illegal market for marijuana in the country, putting the size of the black market weed industry at $3.2 billion. And it estimates the size of the hemp-derived intoxicating cannabinoid market, complete with no age limits, no testing, no uniform labeling, and no potency limits, at roughly $1 billion.
"Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products, often marketed as legal alternatives to marijuana, are being sold in an environment without any uniform standards for manufacturing, testing, labeling, packaging, or age verification, and absent any enforcement or oversight authority," the advisory council report says.
"As a result, North Carolina’s cannabis marketplace has been characterized as a "Wild West" landscape. North Carolinians – including our youth – can legally purchase intoxicating hemp-derived products devoid of any potency limits, standardized laboratory testing, or clear labeling requirements, raising significant and widespread concerns regarding consumer safety, youth access, and public health. The absence of statewide enforcement authority and regulatory guardrails have created uncertainty for consumers, responsible businesses, healthcare providers, educators, parents, and law enforcement and most importantly, have put North Carolinians at risk."
Gov. Stein appointed the advisory council to make recommendations to "create a safe, legal market for adults that protects kids," he said in a June 2025 announcement.
Stein stayed on message in responding to the advisory council's initial recommendations: "This report provides the General Assembly with guidance and makes clear that a well-regulated market, including both oversight and enforcement authority, is a safer market for our state," he said in a statement. "Our state’s unregulated cannabis market today is the Wild West and is crying for order. Let’s get this right. Let’s protect our kids and create a safe, legal, and well-regulated market for adults."
The Republican-dominated state legislature has tried but failed to pass laws regarding hemp-derived cannabinoids, but differences between the upper and lower chambers have blocked these efforts. This is a "short session" year for the legislature, meaning it is addressing budgets and taxes and is unlikely to take up hemp or cannabis legislation this year. That will have to wait for the next "long session," which begins next January.
The state's cannabis turmoil comes amidst a shifting federal backdrop. The 2018 federal farm bill legalized hemp production, but the subsequent unanticipated explosion in hemp-derived intoxicating cannabinoid products caused Congress to pull back last year by shifting the definition of hemp from cannabis containing less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC to cannabis containing less than 0.3 percent total THC, limiting the amount of THC per serving, and banning synthetic cannabinoids.
That new federal regime comes into effect in November unless the hemp industry and other interested stakeholders can convince Congress to either revisit its hemp stance or delay implementation of the new regime.
The state advisory council is set to produce a final report in December.