COLUMN: Want to Solve the vape crisis? End marijuana prohibition
The “Great Vape Scare of 2019” is well underway, as more than 380 people have been diagnosed with a severe lung condition that has been traced back to the use of e-cigarettes and THC vaping devices. So far, seven people have died as a result. But governments rush to ban vape products that may or may not be responsible for causing the damage.
Dispute over smokable hemp puts farm bill in limbo
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s farm bill has passed the House, but it now may be frozen in the Senate.
Legislation clarifying definition of smokable hemp causes more confusion
RALEIGH — The future of smokable hemp in North Carolina remains unsettled, nearly a month after lawmakers last took it up.
Rockingham woman facing 17 felony drug charges accused of selling crack, meth
ROCKINGHAM — A woman is facing more than a dozen felony drug charges, accused of selling crack cocaine and methamphetamine.
Uncertain status of smokable hemp frustrates entrepreneurs, police
RALEIGH — Todd Smith was out of town one Saturday when he got an unnerving phone call.
It was from a few friends who were running his CBD store, Top Hat Tobacco and Cigars, in Anderson County, South Carolina. Local law enforcement officials had entered the store, saying they needed to test his products for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — the psychoactive compound in marijuana that produces a chemical high.
Fiery talk from N.C. lawmakers over hemp regulations burns out quickly
RALEIGH — Fiery arguments over hemp regulation smoldered out Wednesday, July 24, when House members reversed feverish efforts to criminalize the plant’s smokable flower.
Arguments over smokable hemp cloud debate over farm bill
RALEIGH — If North Carolina bans smokable hemp, hundreds of farmers will lose money on their crops — and faith in their legislators, says Blake Butler, executive director of the N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission.
State bill would ban smokable hemp: Federal laws passed in 2018 say it’s legal
WILSON — A bill in the N.C. legislature that would ban smokable hemp could undercut North Carolina’s emerging hemp industry and curtail immediate relief for those suffering chronic conditions.
Report: Officer finds heroin, pot in car during Rockingham traffic stop
ROCKINGHAM — A man is facing more than a dozen drug charges and other offenses from two Richmond County law enforcement agencies.
Farm Bill could make N.C. pioneer in industrial hemp
RALEIGH — Andrew Ross, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, in January was working private security for a cross-country delivery of hemp. Ross’s task was simple: Guard a truckload of state-approved industrial hemp, grown in Kentucky, and bound for Colorado.
