North Carolina is one of a handful of states that has yet to legalize medical cannabis, but one lawmaker is hoping to jump ahead to adult-use legalization for those 21 years and older.

State Rep. Jordan Lopez, D-Mecklenburg, filed House Bill 413, the Marijuana Legalization and Reinvestment Act, on March 17, to establish a licensed market to regulate and tax adult-use cannabis in the Old North State.

The 19-page bill intends to allow adults 21 and older to possess up to 2 ounces of cannabis, 15 grams of concentrate or 2,000 milligrams of THC and grow up to six cannabis plants in their private residences. The legislation aims to levy a 30% excise tax on cannabis sales at licensed dispensaries—the second highest rate in the nation after Washington’s 37% excise tax—as well as allow for a local tax option of 2%.

The largest portion of the tax revenue (25%) generated from adult-use cannabis sales would be distributed to a Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund established in the legislation with the intent of improving the “well-being of individuals and communities that have experienced a disproportionate negative impact from poverty, unemployment, cannabis prohibition and enforcement, mass incarceration or systemic racism,” according to the bill.

The legislation points to a 2020 report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that found Black Americans are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested than whites for cannabis possession despite similar use rates.

H.B. 413 would also provide automatic expungement by July 1, 2028, for individuals with certain cannabis-related convictions.

“Not only is this a widely used drug, but it’s legal in a number of states across the country,” Lopez told Charlotte-based NRP news source WFAE. “Let’s do what’s right. Make it legal. Let’s expunge records.”

Although 24 states have legalized adult-use cannabis in the U.S., North Carolina is one of eight states that have yet to legalize a medical cannabis program, even a highly restrictive one like in Texas, which limits patient access to products capped at 1% THC.  

To date, no state has skipped legalizing medical cannabis before adult-use cannabis. In addition, H.B. 413 faces an uphill battle in North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly, where recently elected House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said in 2020 that he opposed legalizing any type of cannabis.

That did not deter Lopez from pursuing his bill.

“A lot of mixed reactions, as to be expected, but a majority of North Carolinians want to see marijuana legalized, either recreationally and/or medically,” he wrote Monday on X. “While I clearly support the former, this conversation is still long overdue!”

Medical cannabis legalization, in particular, is a nonpartisan issue among 71% of North Carolina voters who support the policy reform, according to a February 2025 survey conducted by Meredith College pollsters. That survey did not ask voters their opinion on adult-use cannabis legalization.

In addition to the Community Reinvents and Repair fund, H.B. 413 would establish the Cannabis Enterprise Opportunity Fund, which would receive 10% of the tax revenue generated from cannabis sales for the issuance of zero-interest loans and grants to historically impacted applicants and cannabis establishments owned and operated by historically impacted applicants.

The state’s Department of Public Safety would oversee the registration process for a licensed marketplace for cannabis cultivation, retail, manufacturing, transportation, testing, delivery and on-site consumption establishments. An Office of Community Reinvestment within the department would be responsible for promoting and encouraging an equitable marketplace.

Local municipalities would have control to prohibit all types of cannabis establishments within their jurisdictions through the enactment of an ordinance; however, they could not prohibit deliveries within or transportation through their jurisdictions.

Smoking cannabis in public places would remain unlawful under the legislation, as would consuming cannabis while operating a moving vehicle.

The legislation would also require child-resistant packaging and prohibit products designed to appeal to children, including the use of any images designed or likely to appeal to minors, such as the use of cartoons, toys, animals or popular characters or phrases known to appeal to children.

H.B. 413 comes after unsuccessful medical cannabis legalization attempts in 2022 and 2023, with the latter year’s reform effort drawing a 36-10 supermajority vote in the North Carolina Senate for legislation that fell on deaf ears in the lower chamber under former House Speaker Tim Moore’s decade-long tutelage.

Medical cannabis reform continues to face a more welcoming pathway in the upper chamber, where Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Guilford, indicated an openness to legalization as long as any forthcoming legislation addresses concerns about unregulated THC products derived from hemp, Queen City Newsreported on Jan. 29.

As of March 16, however, no bills focused on medical cannabis legalization had been introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly, where lawmakers meet through July 31.

Despite the absence of legalization, North Carolina adults 21 and older still have the option to legally purchase cannabis on the roughly 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary in the western part of the state, where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians launched sales in September 2024.

Possessing any amount of cannabis outside of the native reservation, however, is a misdemeanor penalty, including the possibility of jail time for more than half an ounce. Possessing more than 1.5 ounces is a felony.