Lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing back a planned vote on a bill to ban intoxicating hemp products in the state after hundreds of advocates protested in the halls of the legislative building on Tuesday, NC Newsline reports. House lawmakers are now delaying the vote on the bill – which has already passed the state Senate – until after November’s elections.
House Speaker Destin Hill (R) told reporters after the cancelled vote that “the current state” of the hemp laws in North Carolina “are not tenable.”
“There are basically no rules. Things being sold shouldn’t be. Things being sold to kids that shouldn’t be sold. The question is what to do about it.” — Hill via Newsline
The legislation would prohibit the sale of intoxicating hemp products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC and ban the sale of any hemp products, such as CBD, or natural kratom consumables to anyone under 21. The proposal would also outlaw the sale of xylazine and synthetic kratom.
Hall said the delay is so House lawmakers “can make sure they’re solving the problem and not making the problem worse, or doing something with unintended consequences.”
“What I plan to do is put together a group of our members to take a look at this issue and figure out the right path forward,” he said.
Chris Karis, the owner of Carolindica, told Newsline that he supports a bill in the state Senate that would establish regulations for the industry, rather than an outright ban. That bill would establish age restrictions, marketing restrictions, and testing regulations.
“But unfortunately,” he said, “that’s not what we’re here discussing.”
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