North Carolinians Want Legal Cannabis. They Already Have It.
What the new poll found
A WRAL/WSOC poll released October 16 found that 74% of North Carolina voters want medical marijuana legal, and 63% want it legal for adults. Support crossed party lines: 52% of Republicans, 73% of Democrats, and 65% of independents favored full legalization.
SurveyUSA conducted the poll online with 900 North Carolina adults, October 7 to 11. An Elon University poll in September found about the same support for medical use and a smaller majority for adult use. Either way, most North Carolinians want legal cannabis.
North Carolina already has legal cannabis
Most coverage of the poll treats legal cannabis as something North Carolina doesn't have yet. It does. Since the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp flower with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC has been federally legal. THCA flower, the same plant North Carolinians are telling pollsters they want legal, sits on shelves in stores across the state.
These are local businesses. Every batch we sell is tested by an independent lab, and the certificate of analysis is posted in the store and online. We've been open in Salisbury since 2019. When we've needed the police, they've treated us like any other business on Jake Alexander Boulevard.
By industry estimates, hemp in North Carolina is a $4 billion economy supporting about 16,000 jobs.
What changes December 11
On December 11, a federal law passed in November 2025 changes how hemp is measured. Right now, only delta-9 THC counts toward the 0.3% limit. Under the new rule, THCA counts too, so the flower we carry would no longer qualify as hemp.
The same law caps finished hemp products at 0.4 mg of total THC per container. That covers gummies, vapes, and many full-spectrum CBD products, which together make up nearly everything on our shelves.
The law was originally set to take effect November 12. Congress delayed most of it to December 11, but not all of it. That earlier date applies to cannabinoids the rule treats as not naturally produced by the plant. Everything we sell contains cannabinoids that occur naturally in cannabis, including delta-8, CBN, and THCP. But delta-8 and CBN are usually made by converting hemp-derived CBD, and many in the industry expect regulators to apply the November 12 date to them.
The real question: who will own it?
So at the same moment voters are asking for more legal access to cannabis, the legal market that already exists is scheduled to close. Treating hemp and marijuana as two separate subjects hides that.
We think cannabis will be legal in North Carolina eventually. The question is who will own it. If the existing hemp industry is shut down first, a future legal market could easily be built around a few large, publicly traded companies instead of the small local stores that serve customers today.
There's a simpler path: call it what it is, cannabis. Regulate it reasonably, with age limits, testing, and clear labeling. Tax it reasonably. And let the businesses already doing this responsibly keep doing it.
What you can do
Congress has already delayed this deadline once, and December 11 is also a federal funding deadline. Lawmakers will be back at the table, so there's still a window. A phone call takes two minutes, and offices log every call by issue.
| Office | Phone (D.C.) |
|---|---|
| Sen. Thom Tillis | (202) 224-6342 |
| Sen. Ted Budd | (202) 224-3154 |
| Rep. Addison McDowell (Salisbury area) | (202) 225-3065 |
If you'd rather write, each office's website has a contact form.
What to say: "I'm a constituent. I buy hemp products from a local North Carolina business, and I'm asking the senator (or congressman) to support sensible regulation of hemp instead of a ban."
We'll keep posting updates here as things develop.