North Carolina's Advisory Council on Cannabis approved an interim report on April 2 recommending that the state replace its prohibition-based approach with a regulated adult-use market. Gov. Josh Stein (D), who convened the bipartisan council last year via executive order, endorsed the findings and renewed his push for legalization.
The report frames the current situation as a regulatory void: hemp-derived intoxicating products are widely sold through retail stores, vape shops, convenience stores, and online vendors with no uniform manufacturing, testing, labeling, packaging, or age-verification standards, while marijuana remains entirely illegal—including for medical use. North Carolina is one of only 10 states without any legal, regulated cannabis access, and the report estimates $3 billion was spent on illegal marijuana in the state in 2022, ranking it second nationally for illicit market size.
"North Carolina's intoxicating cannabis market currently exists in a dangerous policy gap that is neither true prohibition nor meaningful regulation," the report states.
The council recommends molecule-based regulation centered on THC regardless of plant source, arguing that "the plant source is irrelevant and should not drive different treatment when the intoxicating compound is the same." It explicitly rejects a medical-only program as an interim step, calling instead for an immediate adult-use market incorporating medical-grade safeguards—low-THC options, comprehensive testing, expanded warnings, recall authority, and access to medical consultation. The adult-use model would also generate the most state revenue for public health education and enforcement. Without action, the report warns, North Carolina risks becoming a prohibition enclave surrounded by regulated neighboring markets, complicating enforcement and cross-border product flows.
Stein said: "Our state's unregulated cannabis market today is the Wild West and is crying for order. Let's get this right. Let's protect our kids and create a safe, legal, and well-regulated market for adults."
Because the council can only recommend policy rather than enact it, the report places authority squarely with the General Assembly. A final report is due December 31, 2026; new subcommittees on regulatory structure, criminal justice reform, and revenue and federal compliance are now underway.
Stein previously led a marijuana-focused task force as state attorney general under Gov. Roy Cooper (D) that recommended decriminalization. The Senate has passed several limited medical marijuana bills in recent sessions, each stalling in the House. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened North Carolina's first marijuana dispensary in 2024, over Republican congressional objections.
