Bill Summary for S 711 (2021-2022)

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Summary date: 

Jun 2 2022

Bill Information:

View NCGA Bill Details2021
Senate Bill 711 (Public) Filed Wednesday, April 7, 2021
AN ACT ENACTING THE NORTH CAROLINA COMPASSIONATE CARE ACT.
Intro. by Rabon, Lee, Lowe.

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Bill summary

Senate amendment to the 5th edition makes the following changes.

Updates the legislative findings and purpose in GS 90-113.111 to provide that as of February 2022, 37 states, four territories, and DC have removed state-level criminal penalties for the medical use, cultivation, and distribution of cannabis, and in enacting new Article 5H, North Carolina now takes similar action to preserve and enhance the health and welfare of its citizens.

Amends the definition of Commission by correcting the cross-reference to the statute establishing the Medical Cannabis Production Commission (Commission).

Amends GS 90-113.114 as follows. Amends the advertising prohibition to now prohibit a physician from advertising the physician’s ability to issue written certifications (was, may not advertise on the side of a medical cannabis center). Adds that a physician providing written certifications to qualified patients may not do either of the following: (1) be employed by or have any financial interest in a supplier or independent testing laboratory or (2) profit from a patient obtaining a written certification. Specifies that this does not prohibit a physician from charging an appropriate fee for patient visits.

Amends GS 90-113.115 to require the Department of Health and Human Services (Department), instead of the North Carolina Medical Care Commission, to adopt rules to implement the statute. Makes conforming changes in Section 2(c) of the act.

Amends GS 90-113.118 to require that the Commission, when approving medical cannabis supplier licenses, require that each supplier own and operate no more than eight (was, no more than four) medical cannabis centers.

Amends GS 90-113.119 by making a clarifying change.

Amends GS 90-113.120 by amending the amount charged for suppliers seeking license renewal, to include a renewal fee of no less than $10,000 plus $5,000 for each new production facility or medical cannabis center and $1,000 for each existing facility or center (was, $1,000 for each production facility or medical cannabis center, no matter if the facility or center was existing or new) the supplier proposes to operate under the license.

Amends GS 90-113.121 by making a clarifying change by referring to the entire Article instead of the individual statute.

Amends GS 90-113.122 by adding the requirement that licensed suppliers report to the Commission quarterly on all cannabis or cannabis-infused products the supplier sold or manufactured in the previous quarter.

Amends GS 90-113.130, which requires independent testing labs to analyze a representative sample of all cannabis or cannabis-infused products before they are sold or transferred by a production facility to a medical cannabis center. Now requires that an independent testing lab report the results of all required testing to the Department and to the Commission (was, report the results of all testing required by the Department to the Department). Also prohibits a person who owns, operates, or has a financial interest in, or is employed by an independent testing lab, from owning, operating, or having a financial interest in, or being employed by a supplier, a production facility, or a medical cannabis center.

Amends GS 90-113.131 by adding a prohibition on the advertisement of cannabis or cannabis-infused products in any manner except as allowed under the Article. Now requires the Department to consult with the Commission in adopting rules and requires that those rules include monitoring standards in addition to defining standards for a medical cannabis center’s name, signage, and logo to ensure a medical rather than recreational disposition.

Amends GS 90-113.134 by making the North Carolina Collaboratory, instead of the UNC System, responsible for creating the North Carolina Cannabis Research Project. Makes conforming changes. Allows the Collaboratory’s academic research partners, in addition to the Collaboratory, to possess, transport, store, test, and dispose of cannabis as necessary to conduct scientific research and requires that it be research conducted under this statute.

Deletes proposed GS 90-113.135 concerning the development of an educational campaign about the regulated medical cannabis supply system that was to be advertised through television, online, or in social media.

Amends the provision providing for the staggered terms of members of the Compassionate Use Advisory Board to require that the terms of members appointed under GS 90-113.113(a)(1)f. have an initial term of two years. No longer requires that members appointed under f, g, and i. represent a specified area of experience or expertise. Removes provisions concerning the terms of members appointed under h. and i.

Changes the effective date of changes to GS 15A-974, concerning the exclusion or suppression of unlawfully obtained evidence, from December 1, 2021, to December 1, 2022.