Hemp Legalization Bill Clears North Carolina Senate, Heads to Governor

Hemp Legalization Bill Clears North Carolina Senate, Heads to Governor

North Carolina’s full Senate – with an 101 to 7 vote – has given approval to an amended version of Senate Bill 313, which allows industrial hemp to be cultivated in the state for the first time in decades. Having already passed the House of Representatives, it now heads to Governor Pat McCrory for consideration.

If signed into law by Governor McCrory, or allowed to become law without his signature, the measure would establish an Industrial Hemp Commission which would oversee a hemp pilot program. The commission would be tasked with granting licenses to farmers as well as the state’s A&T University to cultivate industrial hemp.

“I did run an industrial hemp bill several years ago and had opposition from the law enforcement community,” said the bill’s primary sponsor Senator Stan Bingham. According to Bingham, law enforcement no longer objects.

“Currently [hemp is] imported from China into America, and (the bill) will give an opportunity for a market here that we can easily take away from China,” says Bingham.

Senate Bill 313 has been sent to Gov. Pat McCrory for consideration. There’s no word yet on whether or not he’ll sign the bill, though McCrory did sign a medical cannabis bill into law in July.

– TheJointBlog