If you are a NC resident, there’s some exciting new legislature that could affect you or someone you love. Support is growing for Bill 711, dubbed the Compassionate Care Act. This bill, make no mistake, is about making medical marijuana legal for certain qualifying North Carolinians. And that’s a big deal. For all of us – not just for those of us who may qualify for medical cannabis.
Today, we’ll share what’s important about Bill 711, how you can support Bill 711, and what it means for North Carolinians if this bill passes.
Key Points
- What is Bill 711, the Compassionate Care Act?
- What it means for North Carolinians if Bill 711 passes
- How can you support bill 711?
Why Does it Matter if You Don’t Want to Smoke Weed?
Because the language around all cannabis derivatives, and the cannabinoids that come from hemp, opens doors for all of us. Health and wellness options like those from cannabis and hemp are important for all of us, whether or not we intend to use medical cannabis.
Say, for example, you become ill and your doctor suggests medical cannabis. This bill says that’s ok. You won’t go to jail and neither will your doctor for prescribing it. And, you won’t have to move to another more cannabis-friendly state to get the supportive and compassionate care that you need. While some people equate smoking weed with criminal activity, this bill may help normalize some cannabis use as a way to take care of our bodies, relieve pain and other symptoms of illness, and relieve the stress and pain many experience toward the ends of their lives.
This bill is about compassionate care.
Also, a variety of hemp derivatives and CBD oils also contain THC, the psychoactive agent in medical cannabis – so we want the legal language to allow THC on a therapeutic level for all sources, from THC gummies or capsules all the way to medical cannabis, and every cannabinoid in between.
Bill 711: Medical Marijuana / The Compassionate Care Act
Bill 711 is called the Compassionate Care Act, but really, it’s a bill that proposes legal medical marijuana for qualifying people with a doctor’s prescription.
Not only does it provide compassionate availability for medical marijuana, but it also permits a certain number of legal growers and distributors in the state, offering a revenue source for Carolinians.
Furthermore – it would decriminalize the agreement between patient and medical doctor that medical marijuana is a viable treatment option. It releases both patient and the doctor from potential legal ramifications of resorting to medical cannabis for more compassionate care. The bill defines who would qualify and who would not, but also defines a committee that can add other qualifying disorders, diseases or conditions to the list of qualifying ones.
This new turn for medical cannabis demonstrates a more hemp-friendly state where your rights to use cannabis derivatives would be more protected. Other cannabis derivatives, like CBD products with THC in them, are important to many Carolinians as a path to improved health, wellness, fitness, and overall quality of life.
This hemp-friendly legislation is one more step for the state in the right direction – toward CBD, THC, and marijuana -friendly legislation that puts your quality of life first. This helps create a state where you have a variety of plant-based options available to you when you need them. A state where big pharma isn’t your only option for quality care.
CBD makers (like us!) are watching, closely, what North Carolina lawmakers do to push this 711 bill forward and get it passed into law. If you want to show support for Senate Bill 711, now’s the time to do it!
Who’s Backing the Bill?
This historical bipartisan bill’s sponsors are:
- Senator PAUL A. LOWE, JR. (DEM)
- Senator BILL RABON (REP)
- Senator MICHAEL V. LEE (REP)
Co-sponsors: deViere; Harrington; Nickel; Woodard
Qualifying Conditions
Here’s how the bill defines qualifying conditions:
“Debilitating medical condition. – A diagnosis of one or more of the following 34 for which a physician provides a written certification:”
- Cancer
- Epilepsy
- Positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Crohn’s disease
- Sickle cell anemia
- Parkinson’s disease
- Post-traumatic stress disorder, subject to evidence that an applicant experienced one or more traumatic events. Acceptable evidence shall include, but is not limited to, proof of military service in an active combat zone, that the person was the victim of a violent or sexual crime, or that the person was a first responder. Details of the trauma shall not be required.
- Multiple sclerosis
- Cachexia or wasting syndrome
- Severe or persistent nausea in a person who is not pregnant that is related to end-of-life or hospice care, or who is bedridden or homebound because of a condition
- A terminal illness when the patient’s remaining life expectancy is less than six months
- A condition resulting in the individual receiving hospice care
- Any other serious medical condition or its treatment added by the Compassionate Use Advisory Board
How Can You Support Bill 711?
While Bill 711 isn’t perfect, it still opens the doors for medical cannabis for some North Carolinians. It’s a good start! If you want to show your support for Bill 711, you can do several things:
- Use your social media to get the word out about this very important piece of legislature. Ask for the public to show their support for Senate Bill 711.
- Contact North Carolina’s lawmakers and ask them to pass Senate Bill 711.
- Send a letter of thanks and support to the sponsors of the bill. Let them know you support cannabis-friendly legislation in North Carolina.
Reference:
North Carolina General Assembly Senate Bill 711
Read the full bill here
Senate Bill 711 Info Doc
Stay Tuned with Asé Pure Naturals Team of Experts
Admittedly, we’re not legal experts here at Asé Pure Naturals. But we are experts in CBD and wellness living.
Our thing is wellness. Wellness amplified by hemp derivatives. We are about how you can live a better life with CBD. We bring you this article to help drive positive cannabis language and legislature which can help all of us who enjoy CBD products.
We want to make it easier and more normalized to make our own choices regarding our bodies and the supportive cannabinoids we can get from hemp. There are many paths to health and wellness (not just pharmaceutical ones!) – and we’re just glad that those paths to better health and wellness paved with cannabis derivatives (like medical cannabis / marijuana, or others like CBD and THC supplements) are likely going to get a little wider for us.
Senate Bill 711, if it passes, is good news for North Carolinians!
