RALEIGH, N.C. — Smokable hemp was so popular Wednesday, it was the focus of two separate House committee hearings.
Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, is adamant that smokable hemp, which looks and smells like marijuana but lacks the THC potency to get anyone high, needs to be banned in North Carolina, or else marijuana prosecutions will be next to impossible to pursue. So, he has inserted the ban into the annual Farm Act, and he also rewrote a Senate bill on controlled substances to define smokable hemp as marijuana. Both bills cleared committees Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the full House passed updates to the Read to Achieve elementary school reading program after a lengthy debate on the merits of phonics and sent to Gov. Roy Cooper the "Greg Lindberg bill" limiting the ability of insurance companies to invest in affiliated businesses. Lindberg, a major political donor indicted on bribery charges, made a fortune in the insurance business by pulling money out of some of his companies and investing in others.
A bill that would treat recipients of athletic scholarships handed out by University of North Carolina schools as in-state students was pulled from the House floor after some disagreement over whether the measure skipped some committees in the legislative process.
Outside the Legislative Building, testimony continued in a lawsuit challenging the House and Senate voting districts lawmakers drew in 2017 as illegal gerrymanders meant to benefit Republicans. Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who oversaw the map-making process, sharply criticized the lawsuit, saying the districts were properly drawn.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
