RALEIGH, N.C. — Cannabis is a controversial substance in North Carolina that Modern Apotheca owner Eric Stahl is trying to destigmatize.

“North Carolina, more than any other state in the nation, has really perfected the art of taking a consumable crop, creating a regulated marketplace, and selling it not just nationwide but worldwide. Right. Because we’ve been doing that with tobacco since the 1800s,” Stahl said. 

Stahl sees selling it as a major opportunity.

“So what hemp and cannabis is for North Carolina is an opportunity for, not us, just to be the 44th or 45th state to legalize cannabis. What we really have is an opportunity between our farmers and our pharmaceutical industry to lead this industry into the future,” Stahl said. 

Stahl says he and his wife got into this business for health reasons. But they soon realized the need is there because of the demographic that uses hemp and cannabis the most.

“When you really start to look at the demographics of who are using cannabis today, it’s overwhelmingly men and women 35-plus,” Stahl said. 

According to the latest study from the U.S. Cannabis report, North Carolina was second in size for the largest estimated illicit cannabis market without medical or adult-use sales. That’s why hemp store owners like Stahl keep pushing for legalization and regulation because the definition of “illicit” is unclear to him and many others. 

“Do they define the sales that I have for my store as illicit. Right. Because a number of hemp stores like us have been asking for regulation and oversight, which also means taxation from the North Carolina government for the last seven years. And actually for about 10 sessions in a row, we’ve created a bill, gotten that bill through a number of committees and then it’s died,” Stahl said. 

Gov. Josh Stein assembled a North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis to do more research on how legalization and regulation would impact the state. 

“We bring in experts. We bring in cannabis regulators from other states. We’ve been really talking to each other in a very deep way. So there’s a lot of work that happens on the council. And we are we’re very proud of what we’ve done, and I’m very proud of the work of this group. Though we have a we have a ways to go and we know that,” North Caroline Advisory Council on Cannabis member Larry Greenblatt said. 

The council has been working on this since July 2025,  and its final recommendations to the governor are due by the end of 2026.

“We recommended against a medical marijuana market. And the problems with it are if you have the medical market, it still allows and even in some ways facilitates an illicit market,” Greenblatt said. 

Alternative health and wellness attorney Morgan Davis says North Carolina’s justice system and law enforcement still has a narrow-minded view when it comes to cannabis.

“Prohibition is still very much in the mindset of a lot of law enforcement and a lot of North Carolinians, and they don’t understand when it comes to marijuana, why they have a very set perspective that’s been set that way for a long time,” Davis said. 

At the end of the day, Stahl says all he wants is to bring more money to the state and help people responsibly.

“We want North Carolina-grown cannabis plants grown by North Carolina farmers, manufactured by North Carolina manufacturers and then sold to the public responsibly by North Carolina retailers,” Stahl said.

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