Ban? Age limits? NC lawmakers try to agree on hemp before their session ends
As the state legislature winds up its work for this session, lawmakers are debating how to regulate the sale of hemp products.
The House and Senate have filed several bills this year seeking to regulate hemp, which is legal in the state and federally and can be sold — whether in the form of gummies, drinks or vaping products — without any age restrictions.
Hemp comes from the cannabis plant — as does marijuana, which remains illegal. But hemp can’t have more than 0.3% of delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (the substance commonly associated with marijuana’s high). From the cannabis plant, various other cannabinoids beyond delta-9 THC can be extracted.
In the latest development in the saga of trying to regulate hemp in North Carolina, the state House is pushing a limited version of regulation — at least compared to what the Senate is proposing, which could effectively lead to a ban on most hemp products on the market today, allowing only for hemp products with delta-9 THC in very small doses.
And that limited version could be on the floor for a vote in the House on Tuesday after passing the House Rules Committee as a last-minute addition to the committee’s agenda.
Bills from the rules committee Tuesday are expected to be on the House floor at 4 p.m. House lawmakers overhauled a Senate bill on underground safety revisions to turn it into a bill making it illegal to sell or give hemp-derived consumable products to anyone under 21.
House Rules Committee Chairman John Bell — who in this position has a large role in deciding what bills make it to the floor — told The News & Observer he wanted to see age restrictions put in place but had concerns with the Senate’s bill.
The Senate bill “instead of actually protecting our kids and regulating the industry, it annihilates the industry,” Bell, a Wayne County Republican, said.
Asked if it would affect AsterraLabs, a Nashville, North Carolina, based CBD and hemp company for which Bell has served as president since 2023, he said: “This has nothing to do with AsterraLabs. It actually does away with the entire industry.”
He said it would make “90% of all hemp-derived products illegal in the state, even CBD, which no other state does.”
“I’ve got some concerns on that. And of course, there was a tremendous amount of people here today talking with legislators and who also had the same concerns,” he said.
House proposal
On Tuesday morning, House lawmakers brought forward a bill in response to the Senate bill, recommending how to regulate hemp.
Lawmakers amended House Bill 468 during a committee meeting. The bill originally focused on regulating the drug kratom. It now also prohibits hemp-derived consumable products on school property and bans possession of these products by those under 21.
An age limit appears to be the change with the most support among lawmakers.
“What we have now is no age limit at all,” on hemp product sales, said Rep. Jeffrey McNeely, a Stony Point Republican and a primary sponsor of the bill.
“I added this amendment to the kratom bill for one reason and one reason only: we have to get something passed this session, in my opinion, to stop allowing 10-year-old kids to be able to walk into a vape shop they have no business being in and buying these cannabinoid products,” he said.
“Everybody in law enforcement has come up and said: somebody do something to put an age limit on these products,” he said.
Later on Tuesday, House lawmakers added an overhauled Senate Bill 328 to the rules committee’s agenda.
That bill has what appears to be nearly the same language as the amended HB 468. It would now make it illegal to sell or give hemp-derived consumable products to anyone under 21. If someone selling these products thinks a buyer might be under 21, they must ask for ID.
A hemp-derived consumable product is defined as something made from hemp that people can ingest or inhale. These products can’t have more than 0.3% of delta-9 THC, but they might have larger amounts of other substances from hemp, like CBD — cannabidiol — or delta-8 THC. The rules under the bill don’t apply to things like hemp lotions or hemp seeds that are considered safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The bill would also make it illegal for anyone under 21 to have or use these products. If someone breaks these rules, they could be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Senate proposal
Meanwhile, the Senate last week amended House Bill 328, which originally focused on prohibiting hemp products inside school buildings, to expand it to impose sweeping regulations.
This included requiring a license to sell, distribute or manufacture the products, and prohibiting their use and sale for anyone under 21. The bill also required extensive testing of hemp products prior to distribution and effectively banned kratom use.
The bill limits what products are allowed, banning delta-8 THC, cannabidiol (CBD) and more.
That doesn’t include hemp products intended for topical application, or seeds or seed derived ingredients that are generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Sen. Amy Galey, a Burlington Republican, said that bill was not “written by the cannabinoid industry for the benefit of the cannabinoid industry. This bill was written with public good front and center, and we’re going to make sure that what is being sold in our communities has no toxins, no synthetics, and keep them, and keep these products out of the possession of minors.”
As for critics, she said: “If you want to weaken the bill? Why would you want to do that? Because it’s going to cost you more money in the long run? Well, I think that the lives and the health — especially of our children — the safety of our people is worth that,” she said.
Asked about the potential for compromise between the House and Senate, Bell said age restriction bills have been passed a number of times by the House.
“From the House, everyone in our caucus and both sides of the aisle believe the age restrictions are the right thing to do, and we’ll continue to put that noncontroversial bill forward,” he said. Bell said he’s “had conversations” with the Senate bill sponsors.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Ban? Age limits? NC lawmakers try to agree on hemp before their session ends."
