Lawmakers move to outlaw intoxicating cannabinoids and restrict kratom, citing a public health crisis that threatens local farmers but promises to purge unregulated substances from store shelves.
The North Carolina Senate has approved a bill, House Bill 328, that would ban the vast majority of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products. The Senate approved the bill last Thursday after significantly amending the House version, which means it will have to go back to the House for final approval.
The bill would immediately ban the sale of any hemp consumables to people under age 21, as well as banning xylazine and synthetic kratom, and limiting natural kratom sales to people 21 and over. It would also define intoxicating hemp products as any product containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC and institute a ban on their sales on November 12, to align with the looming federal hemp ban.
The House had already adjourned for a mid-summer break, but Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) asserted that the substances posed a crisis that couldn't wait.
"The personal loss that has occurred across the state of North Carolina as a result of these products is such that we just could not and should not delay any further," Berger said after session Thursday. "We have gotten to such a point where doing nothing was not an option."
Intoxicating hemp products have been unregulated and widely available in the state since Congress legalized hemp federally in 2018, sparking a growing backlash that led to this year's legislative activity.
During debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth) cited the lack of regulation to support the bill.
"Some of these products that are sold in these stores, they come from other countries, they can't even be sold in the country that they come from," Lowe said. "I have no problem voting this bill at all, because I don't think this stuff is safe."
Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch (D-Wake) said she supported the bill mainly because of the restrictions on kratom and xylazine, which she called "gas station drugs that are really harming our constituents." But she worried that the effective ban on hemp-derived cannabinoids could impact products that are used medically.
"What I hope that we can do is move forward, with regards to the next month that we're not going to be here, to sit down, give them our ideas, see if they can incorporate it in a conference report that addresses a lot of North Carolina farmers who are growing hemp so that they don't go bankrupt," Batch said.
While the federal hemp ban could still be avoided—the Trump administration has called on Congress to delay its implementation—Sen. Berger said passage of the state bill would protect North Carolinians regardless of what happens in Washington.
"What we have put in place — or what we're trying to put in place, hopefully the House will pass the conference report — is a ban on intoxicating hemp products. And if the feds decide that they don't want to do that as we go forward, North Carolina would still have a ban on intoxicating products," Berger said.
Still, he suggested he was open to regulation in the future.
"If there are folks that want to legalize marijuana, then they can introduce that bill, we will talk about that," Berger said. "If there are folks that want a specific regulatory scheme of some sort on some of these things that would allow folks over 21 to purchase them, let them introduce a bill and let's see about it."
The House version of the bill would only have barred minors from purchasing hemp-derived consumables, leaving the broader market in intoxicating hemp products undisturbed. Whether the House will agree with the Senate changes remains to be seen when it returns to work on July 27.
Hemp supporters hope the House balks.
"This legislation is throwing the baby out with the bathwater," said Eric Stahl, owner of Modern Apotheca in Raleigh. "It's getting rid of every single retailer, farmer or manufacturer in North Carolina who carries or manufactures these products and replaces them with nothing other than a ban to make them completely illegal. Essentially, 99% of the products you see on our shelf today would be made illegal," he said.
"We'd never want this to end up in the hands of children. The average user of hemp products today in North Carolina are women 45-plus. So, what we really have to do is eliminate access in places like vape shops and gas stations that aren't following those same 21-plus guidelines," he said. "We got into this because we are passionate about it. If hemp becomes illegal, I actually don't know what I do with myself. I have seven employees behind you. I have three daughters," he said.
And state Sen. Lisa Grafstein (D-Wake) warned banning the products could simply push sales underground.
"My concern is that this simply opens up a black market that will expose our kids to even worse things," Grafstein said. "We may be causing ourselves a different problem and maybe a more intractable problem once this becomes a criminal enterprise on the streets."
