Opinion: For crying out loud, North Carolina, legalize weed and use the revenues for good – avlwatchdog.org
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Pamela Kimmell has an idea that is just so crazy, so out there whackadoodly-do — I’m talking Martians-tripping-on acid at a Grateful Dead show weird — that it’s just going to blow the top of your head clean off.
“I’m serious that mental health and addiction services should have to be funded from the legalization of cannabis,” Kimmell told me over tacos in West Asheville on a recent Tuesday.
See what I’m talking about, people?! Talking about legalizing the Devil’s lettuce and then using the proceeds to do something sorely needed in the Tar Heel state? My mind is in splinters.
Perhaps I exaggerate. That’s because Kimmell, 73, makes perfectly good sense, even though the chance of legalizing marijuana in this state this year, or perhaps in the next 20, is about as good as the Pit of Despair downtown being turned into, well, anything useful.
State Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, summed it up nicely for me.
“Not a chance of legalization for recreational use,” she said via text last week. “I think not even of medical marijuana this year.”
State Rep. Linsay Prather, D-Buncombe, co-sponsored a bill last year to legalize recreational cannabis, with tax proceeds going to benefit a plethora of good causes. She, too, is clear-eyed about its chances.
“There are a hundred reasons why legalizing cannabis would be a good idea,” Prather told me, rattling off good programs that could come from it. “It has zero chance in the legislature. Absolutely zero chance, right now, with the makeup that we have.”
She cited Republican leaders, including state Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Warsaw, who chairs the Agriculture Committee, for their opposition to legalization. It’s a tough bunch to sway.
This comes despite most North Carolinians favoring some form of legalization.
Meredith College published a poll in February that showed overwhelming support for medical marijuana. A news release about the poll noted that last year the state Senate passed the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act, “which would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for a number of physical and mental conditions.”
The House didn’t vote on it, but there was hope it might come up in this year’s session, although that looks like it’s not going to happen, as Mayfield said.
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“A large majority of North Carolinians (78%) support the passage of this type of bill with only 18 percent of our respondents being opposed,” Meredith Poll Director David McLennan said in the release.
McLennan also noted, “North Carolina is one of only 12 states without some form of legal medical marijuana. With the public strongly behind such a law and most within the medical community supporting this legislation, it seems like this might be a good time to pass such a bill.”
We’re just stupidly stubborn about this here, much like we were with enacting lottery legislation that finally made it legal in 2006 for North Carolinians to buy tickets here instead of driving to South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and every other state that wanted a slice of the enormous revenue pie that I call the “stupid tax.” Hey, I play the lottery on occasion — won 10 bucks last week on a scratch-off! — but let’s be honest: you’ve got to be stupid to play it and think you’re going to come out ahead.
Or how we waited a decade to expand Medicaid because the Affordable Care Act was enacted under a president, Barack Obama, that conservatives didn’t like.
If you don’t like vices that can inflict financial damage and familial misery, you have to laugh at North Carolina so giddily allowing sports betting this year. I can’t imagine how much money, or homes, people are losing on that.
Prather noted that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of the mental health profession, lists gambling on the same level as heroin when it comes to addictiveness.
So go lay down those bets, North Carolinians! But legalize weed? Hell no, you commie hippie!
Honestly, it’s just bizarre at this point.
As Smoky Mountain News pointed out in an excellent article in April about the chances of weed legalization here, writer Cory Vaillancourt cited figures that should make every North Carolinian perk up.
“The states where recreational cannabis products are legal have seen revenues associated with its taxation grow to hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” Vaillancourt wrote. “Financial advice website Motley Fool said in November 2023 that were North Carolina to adopt an average cannabis taxation structure, it would see revenues of more than $182 million a year within three years of establishment.”
I suspect that’s on the low end. I mean, have you walked through downtown Asheville recently and taken in the wafting aroma of the dude in front of you burning down in public?
Plus, I suspect we could benefit on both ends of this equation, with farmers taking advantage of our mountain soil that was ideal for growing burley tobacco to grow weed – yes, I know this is already happening – and processors processing it and distributing it to retail shops. Down east was a center of flue-cured tobacco, and I suspect they could grow a few marijuana plants, too.
We’re missing out, and it’s just dumb at this point. I know we have a lot of CBD shops, and some of that stuff is engineered to get you quite high, as my colleague John Reinan reported last month.
But a well-regulated and taxed legal marijuana industry could be a huge boon to the state. Yes, it comes with a need for regulations and safety, as some of this stuff is incredibly strong, but we’ve managed to regulate alcohol — and profit from it handsomely — since Prohibition ended in 1933.
Still, I suspect local attorney Ben Scales might be right when he told Reinan, “I like to say, we’ll be the 52nd state (to legalize marijuana).”
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, technically a sovereign nation, has legalized weed, but that seems to have had no effect on our state legislators.
Prather also is not optimistic about North Carolina suddenly seeing the light.
“I’ve been saying for years that I think the country will go legal before North Carolina does,” Prather said. “I really do.”
The federal government has recently moved toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, so maybe that will come to pass.
The wasted opportunity is a shame, because Kimmell has a good idea when she talks about using marijuana revenues to provide better mental health care in North Carolina.
As I reported in our Down Town series last year, “One in five adults in North Carolina have a mental illness — some 1.5 million people — and more than half of those are not receiving treatment, according to the report, ‘2022: The State of Mental Health in America,’ by the nonprofit Mental Health America.”
Regarding Kimmell’s idea, Prather said, “The mental health piece, I love that idea from her. We absolutely need to increase our funding and support for mental health services, particularly for young people.”
Prather concedes that weed is not harmless, and we would need serious guardrails in place, especially for youth, but she also knows that “there are science-based reasons to legalize it” and “medical benefits to THC when it comes to certain conditions.” Not even discussing it on the floor of the legislature is “extraordinarily frustrating” to her because it’s such a lost opportunity.
“I think it’s a lot easier to have those fact-based, science-based discussions about it and learn about it” out in the open “if we’re not all scared to talk about it,” Prather said.
We talked about alcohol and the problems it causes, which include plenty of car accidents and family strife.
“Honestly, going through this entire process makes me wonder if alcohol was up for a vote today, would North Carolina legalize it?” Prather said. “I don’t know.”
I kind of doubt it. She did, too.
Kimmell taught English overseas, including in Mexico, Jamaica, and in the West Bank. In the late 1970s she wrote curricula for high school programs for drug and alcohol education.
Originally from Massachusetts, Kimmell also published a magazine geared toward lesbians for 15 years and did counseling for the LGBTQ community. Here in Asheville, Kimmell worked as an office manager for a veterans and senior care facility.
She lives in West Asheville and continues to do odd jobs and assist older people who need help. But as someone who’s struggled with clinical depression, Kimmell says she also needs help.
Kimmell says she tried to get Lexapro, an antidepressant, at no cost but ran into numerous hurdles and essentially a system in which no one is in charge of helping indigent people get what they need.
“It took me seven months to get a one-month free supply of Lexapro,” Kimmell said. “I could not get the Lexapro continued.”’
Kimmell half-joked that she’s got a better chance of getting it than a lot of people because “there are services for old and crazy people.”
Ironically, Kimmell was able to get a free prescription for a popular weight loss drug because she needs to lose a certain amount of weight before she can get a hip replacement.
When it comes to mental health, though, Kimmell said it seems nothing is easy. And she points out another troubling truth about those struggling with mental health issues.
“It’s harder for people with mental illness to fight for themselves,” she said.
North Carolina, like a lot of other states, has a huge shortage of beds and care in general, all going back to the push a few decades ago to “reform” mental health care institutions and privatize much of the industry.
“This state could use 10 times the amount of addiction centers,” Kimmell said.
Kimmell is open about her own mental health.
“I’ve been as low as suicidal and as high as happy-go-lucky,” she said.
She talked about a recent trip she made to Boston, where weed is legal. A shop she went into was neat and clean, with concierge-type service.
It made her think of the possibilities North Carolina is missing out on. Going without care is not a healthy option, she says, noting that group therapy sessions she found very helpful were discontinued.
“I want my services. I want my group therapy. I want my meds,” Kimmell said. “I want everybody with mental illness to stop suffering because of the government. It’s bad enough I have to suffer because of my brain — it’s worse that it happens at the hands of the government.”
North Carolinians surely would fight about where the money from weed sales and production would go, and we would need to be careful about allowing the strongest types of weed to be sold, while seriously protecting minors. But alcohol causes way more societal woes, accidents, and deaths than marijuana ever has or will.
So here we are, stuck again. I think I’ll go buy a lottery ticket with a one-in-7-gazillion chance of winning, bet money I don’t have on an NBA playoff game and then check the stats on how many North Carolinians died during the decade state legislators dawdled instead of expanding Medicaid.
It’s the Carolina way. You can bet on that.
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And look how much we revere alcohol and encourage people to drink…
Exactly!!
I would also like to point out that there are an increasing number of reports about how the dangerous Delta 8 products, which are NOT well regulated, are causing life threatening reactions! I personally know someone who had a horrible reaction which caused confusion and stroke-like symptoms which sent her to the emergency room. I have read of other reports of teenagers who have had frightening reactions. Medical marijuana which is controlled is not life threatening.
The decision whether or not to legalize marijuana will be made at the ballot boxes and lobbyist’s $$$. Jimmy Dixon’s removal from NC House district 4 appears to be a good place to start. Less than 25,000 votes were cast in district 4’s 2022 election.
So typical of the left to push “Look how much money the state can get in Taxes”. They don’t care if it hurts our young folks who will surely get their hands on it. The government just pisses the money away on stupid things. I say no! Medical yes!
The young folks are already getting their hands on it.
Yet alcohol is legal and they are loosing out on a ton of revenue. It’s way easy to continue to get it on the “black market” anyway. And you can easily cross State borders to get it in a state where it is legal, which benefits that State with increased revenue!! Seriously??!!! Voting won’t make a difference because it’s a a Republican platform to NOT legalize it, even though many Replublicans support and use marijuana. There is no way a Republican would ever vote for a Democrat just to get marijuana legalized. What they SHOULD do is make it a ballot item and let the people vote on it, regardless of their political affiliation!! Doesn’t take a rocket scientest to figure this out.
Look who’s making money on prisons, alcohol and gambling to understand why cannabis is illegal.
Prolly the pharma lobby in the research triangle has a lot to say, and pre$$ure to apply about legalizing an un-patentable weed for medical purposes.
Is there a substantial difference between alcohol use and recreational pot use?
Do people drink bourbon to get drunk or high? Do people smoke weed just to dull the everyday edge?
Do you feel safe knowing someone has done a joint and then is driving on Merrimon?
Is it EVER safe driving on Merrimon?
Much safer than alcohol.
John,
Once again you have retrieved common sense from the chaos.
1) Every time we hear that there will be some windfall of tax revenues – it never redounds to the benefit of taxpayers.
2) The adverse health effects of weed are under-reported, as the media is now terrible.
3) Look at the experience in CA, where illegal weed is under-cutting legal weed.
4) Yes, it’s popular because people are uninformed.
You are absolutely correct. There is NO legitimate science on the benefits of legalized THC. Only one institution in the country is federally permitted to grow and possess marijuana – Univ of Mississippi. The research they conduct there are on levels of THC that have a fraction of potency than the black market stuff. Big pharma may resolve that if THC is reduced to a Schedule-III drug. But ask any traffic cop how difficult it is to prove someone was driving under the influence of marijuana. It’s not possible to compare alcohol impairment (.08% BAC) to marijuana impairment, and their associated crash risk. Check out the increase of traffic fatalities in states where marijuana was “legalized.” Arguments regarding the legalization of marijuana are extremely complex…don’t be blinded by the prospect of increased tax revenues which would likely be wasted anyway.
In Michigan, the most recent state we lived in before returning to the South, Michigan legalized medical marijuana via a citizen ballot initiative. (They also instituted nonpartisan districting that way since we moved.) NC however outlawed citizen initiatives back in 1918. While ballot initiatives can work both ways, we really need to have that law changed in NC so the people can institute changes that the General Assembly refuses to act on.
I was raised in an environment of verbal and physical abuse, job loss, financial insecurity and all that umbrella covers, and suicide. The adults who perpetrated this on us were not dulling their pain with weed but alcohol. I only wish they could have used weed instead. I have yet to hear of anyone threatening to load a gun and kill their household members because their anger was jacked up from using weed.
Exactly!
I’m a life long Democrat who is now very much a moderate by the standards of the current left. And I am dead set against the legalization of marijuana in NC! And I will for the first time ever vote for Republicans that oppose it before voting for any Democrat in favor of legalization. I worked for a congressman for this district once. Chaired his campaign is a key seat adjoining county, and I will actively work against any Democrat that has legalization of Marijuana as part of their platform.
Well, legalized weed might generate a lot of revenue, but how is the revenue from the lottery being used. Would the revenue from weed actually be put to useful purposes? Are the schools really getting a proper share of the lottery revenue?
Well the Cherokee aren’t stupid like the rest of this state. They just passed recreational use of marijuana on the Qualla
Boundary. I’m 80 and in
constant pain. I refuse to
use the medical fields
horrible addictive pain
medication. Thanks NC for
nothing… getting ready to
move to a kinder state.
Need only look at what has happened in states that have legalized to know this is a lot more risky than most people think. First, a black market develops for weed cheaper than licensed growers can produce. (This has involved human trafficking in some states to provide the labor.)
Then expect more impaired driving and impaired working (employment testing may not be possible where weed is legal).
Add a significant increase in under age use and trips to the ER due to children consuming edible products. And if you think the tax money will be used for treatment programs you are even more gullible than I thought. The only good reason to legalize is because the Cherokee have already insured that WNC is going to be dealing with all of the issues mentioned above. Medical marijuana seems a reasonable compromise. The regulations are a joke but at least it slows the train a bit on full legalization.
The Republicans in North Carolina are in the process of erasing the liberal arts from its universities. Look what they’ve historically done with Medicaid. What’s the chance that they will rise up off their conservative rear ends to help those with mental health issues (which is the group in which we also place those who can’t control their fingers on gun triggers, right?) Tax benefits or not, we’ll be lucky if NC legalizes before Alabama and Mississippi.
Anyone who doesn’t understand how damaging legalizing weed is to the younger generation is either naïve or stupid.
Take 5 guys, put them in a room with alcohol, they will end up fighting. Take the same 5 guys and let them smoke cannabis and they from a band! A well regulated, legal cannabis industry is exactly what we need! Lets get out of the stone ages in NC. I will say the Cherokee have the right idea and NC will miss out. So, I say good for them!
When ppl say voting doesnt matter AND THEN grippe (sp) about low wages and 20th century drug policies (illegal marijuana for one) they dont connect the 2.
PLs VOTE for State candidates! NC is currently dominated by backwards GOPers and MAGA in the legislature.
Fun fact: Cities like Asheville can’t vote on a Sustainable minimum wage! Why? Raleigh has jurisdiction. Vote the Backwards ppl out!
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