Are NC Republicans about to legalize marijuana? Depends on who you ask.

Eight.

That’s the number of times in the past 16 days that the N.C. House has pulled from its calendar a bill that could legalize the medical use of marijuana.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Winston-Salem Republican, said the bill had unanimous support until it reached the House floor, when concerns were raised that it could unintentionally legalize all uses of marijuana.

And Rep. Graig Meyer, a Hillsborough Democrat, made the move to do just that Thursday when he filed an amendment to the bill that would not only regulate the use of medical marijuana but also legalize the drug’s recreational use.

“Marijuana legalization is incredibly popular,” Meyer told The News & Observer on Thursday. “Given that they (Republicans) have not taken any action on legalizing it in any form we would like to consider making that a campaign issue.”

Elon University polled North Carolina voters earlier this year and found that 73% support medical marijuana and 54% support full legalization, The N&O previously reported.

Senate Bill 448

Republican Senators Joyce Krawiec, of Winston-Salem, Jim Burgin of Angier and Jim Perry of Kinston sponsored Senate Bill 448.

The bill is also known as “Amendments to Schedule VI of the Controlled Substances Act.” It automatically approves tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) and marijuana for medical use if the Food and Drug Administration approves the use of the prescription drugs, the Drug Enforcement Administration makes changes to the federal controlled substances schedules and the N.C. Commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse doesn’t object to the changes within 30 days.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously May 10 and received favorable reports from two House committees but stalled once it hit the House floor June 2.

“The Republican opposition is from people who are opposed to legalizing marijuana of any kind,” Meyer said. “I was told that there were at least a couple dozen members of their caucus who would not vote for any bill with the word marijuana.”

Lambeth confirmed that the bill raised questions among Republicans when it hit the House floor about what it actually does.

“I think the issue that came up is if we pass this bill does it take us one step closer to legalizing marijuana,” Lambeth said. “Some members were really concerned about it.”

Most Republicans thought the bill was harmless when it was first filed. It essentially does nothing to current laws but waits for the federal government to make changes later.

But Lambeth said Republicans began asking what happens if all uses of marijuana are approved federally.

The amendment

Meyer said House Democrats were ready to vote on SB 448 Thursday after hearing that Republicans had enough votes to push the bill forward.

Meyer filed his amendment, known as the Marijuana Justice Act, on Thursday.

“My amendment would do legalization of adult use of cannabis for both medical and recreational reasons and decriminalize marijuana possession, including setting up an expunction system for anyone that has previous convictions that would no longer be a convictable offense under the new legislation,” Meyer said.

The amendment would set up a revenue structure for taxing marijuana and reinvest that money into communities that have been most harmed by “the war on drugs,” he said.

Meyer said he does not use marijuana but as a social worker he has seen the impact the criminalization of marijuana has had on children’s success.

“I spent my career working with kids from communities of color, trying to help them go to college, and all the kids I worked with would be first generation or first in their family to go to college,” Meyer said. “And for a lot of those kids one of the barriers to opportunities for them was having a parent who had been incarcerated.”

Meyer said many of those incarcerations were drugs or other low-level offenses related to the drug economy.

“I mean, I saw the devastation that it played on kids’ lives, and we were trying to make up for that stolen opportunity,” Meyer said. “I could get a kid in college, but I can’t make up for their dad being in jail.”

Meyer said he also watched as these kids fell into the same cycles as their parents and, while some made personal choices that affected them, others fell victim to systemic elements that he said made it hard for some families and kids to make good choices.

Meyer added that he in no way condones marijuana use by adolescents.

“I just think it’s time to have a sensible regulatory system and focus on doing adult use right,” he said.

Amendment banned

When the amendment and the bill reached the House floor again Thursday, House Speaker Tim Moore pulled it.

“A lot of questions came up about the impact to criminal law and I realized that it had not been to a judiciary committee, and I have a number of judiciary committees that have an interest in it with a lot of attorneys on each one,” Moore said after Thursday’s floor session. “So I said, you know what, let’s let all four of them take a look at it.”

Meyer said Moore told him that Attorney General Josh Stein had concerns with the bill.

Stein’s spokeswoman, Nazneen Ahmad, said the Attorney General’s Office is still reviewing the bill and has not taken a stance.

Lambeth said House Republicans thought they had worked out all of their concerns before Thursday’s session, but more came up.

He said they had gotten opinions from the N.C. Sheriff’s Association, the Attorney General’s Office and the Medical Society about what the bill actually does.

The opinions of those organizations’ attorneys about whether the bill could legalize all marijuana use have differed and changed multiple times.

Lambeth said putting it back into committee allows lawmakers to make a more informed decision later.

He said since lawmakers believe they’ll spend most of the year in Raleigh they have the time to do so.

Moore added that his decision to pull the bill from Thursday’s calendar had nothing to do with Meyer’s amendment.

“I’ve already told Rep. Meyer I would rule that amendment out of order, because it goes well beyond the scope of this bill,” Moore said. “There’s been some other truly practical legal questions about what the bill does.

“There’s no question what his amendment would do,” he said.

Meyer confirmed.

“We’re going to appeal the ruling of the chair and just have a brief commentary on the need to take on real marijuana legislation, not this marijuana-lite that they’re trying to pass.”

Colin Campbell of the NC Insider contributed to this report.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.

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