The booming intoxicating hemp industry has spurred a new legal complaint in North Carolina, where a prominent cannabis activist and politico is asserting that confusion between legal hemp products and illegal marijuana goods has led to an unconstitutional double standard between businesses and residents.
“North Carolina’s cannabis laws are being applied unfairly, creating a two-tiered system where some individuals are punished while others profit from nearly identical substances,” Barbara Gaskins, a former congressional candidate and “citizens cannabis advocate” said in a press release.
While intoxicating hemp goods are still technically legal in North Carolina due to the 2018 federal Farm Bill, marijuana – both medical and recreational – is strictly prohibited.
Gaskins and consultant Chris Suttle, another North Carolina cannabis activist, said they filed formal complaints with both the U.S. Department of Justice and the North Carolina attorney general’s office, requesting an investigation into what they claim is a new cannabis-based crackdown on minority communities.
The two also requested a formal legal opinion from the state’s attorney general office and Supreme Court on the “constitutional validity of current cannabis enforcement practices,” legal guidance on “whether cannabis convictions should be reconsidered” given the federal legality of the hemp market, and policy recommendations for state lawmakers to help resolve the situation.
The complaints cite “inconsistent treatment” of hemp-based THCA products – which retailers are allowed to sell, but private citizens are often arrested for consuming them – and suggests the state could be ripe for a civil rights lawsuit. The ongoing enforcement against citizens who use intoxicating hemp products, the complaint asserts, “raises constitutional concerns under the Equal Protection Clause” of both the U.S. Constitution and the North Carolina State Constitution.
“THC-A businesses (primarily benefiting white-owned enterprises) are permitted to operate while individuals – particularly from marginalized communities – face criminal charges for cannabis,” the complaint asserts. “North Carolina’s legal system is punishing some individuals while allowing others to profit from nearly identical substances.”
The complaints also cite data from the American Civil Liberties Union that shows minorities are 3.4 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white residents.
Suttle said Monday that filings were provoked by a recent arrest in North Carolina in which a woman was beaten by police while being arrested for public cannabis consumption, despite the fact that she had been smoking a legally purchased hemp pre-roll.
“If we have to make some good trouble and some noise by filing this with the Department of Justice, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Suttle said. “Our ultimate goal with this is to bring to light the discriminatory tactics that are being used when it comes to cannabis law enforcement in North Carolina.”
“We’re looking for clarification and we’re looking to place an end to unwarranted cannabis arrest in North Carolina because right now there’s no way to tell the difference between THCA and THC, and without that clear, definite ability to be able to tell the difference, then any cannabis arrest in North Carolina is invalid,” Suttle argued.
Suttle added that the intoxicating hemp industry in North Carolina is enormously popular and pervasive, with hemp goods being sold not only in smoke shops but also in gas stations and convenience stores. He said that on his commute to his office in Chapel Hill, he typically passes by six hemp stores on just a single street.
“That doesn’t even count the number of gas stations along that same route where people could buy gummies or pills. I mean, we have everything shatter, wax concentrates, edibles,” Suttle said. “There’s no end to the amount of products that are easily available in North Carolina at a number of locations, some literally within a stone’s throw of each other.”
Advocates filed complaints with the state’s attorney general’s office and Supreme Court asking for clarification on how THC and THCA are regulated. Read More
