HB84

House Bill 84, the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act, would be a great first step toward sanity in North Carolina. The bill has several co-sponsors and now faces its first logistical hurdle - the rules committee.

Eighteen states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington and the District of Columbia — have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. Patients in these states enjoy legal protections to use medicinal marijuana under a doctor’s supervision. Seriously ill citizens of North Carolina deserve nothing less.

North Carolina voters strongly support this change in law. According to a January 2013 Public Policy Polling statewide survey, 58 percent of North Carolinians favor allowing doctors to authorize specified amounts of marijuana for patients suffering from serious illnesses.