A North Carolina government commission that was appointed by the governor is considering recommending lawmakers legalize marijuana sales through a system of state-run stores that could be supplied by a “central cannabis warehouse”—while leaving cultivation and manufacturing to private businesses.
The North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis, which Gov. Josh Stein (D) convened last year, has been holding an ongoing series of meetings, including via subcommittees focused on specific aspects of marijuana reform.
The body’s Market and Regulatory Subcommittee convened on Friday to discuss options for how to structure a legal marijuana industry, including its production, distribution and retail tiers.
While the panel has not yet made a formal recommendation to the legislature, a document accompanying the subcommittee meeting agenda shows that it is weighing a model where the “state exclusively controls the retail channel while private businesses remain responsible for cultivation, manufacturing/processing, and wholesale distribution.”
The approach, it says, is a hybrid that combines North Carolina’s current “regulatory architecture and experience with state-controlled liquor retail” and Quebec, Canada’s “exclusive cannabis retail channel” and “explicit objective of moving consumers into the regulated market.”
For cultivation and manufacturing, there would be multiple license types, including one for small-scale craft farms, as
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