Medical marijuana is a priority for the General Assembly this year, so much so that the first bill filed in the state Senate during this year's session was an effort to legalize it.

The “Compassionate Care Act,” would legalize medical cannabis, though it would be highly regulated, allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana only to people with severe conditions, such as cancer, epilepsy, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a handful of other serious ailments.

Sens. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth), Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), and Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) introduced the legislation on Wednesday.

A virtually identical bill passed the state Senate last year but failed to pass the House.

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More than 4 million people live in rural North Carolina, but 11 rural hospitals have closed across the state since 2006, leaving entire communities without access to care.

One policy that could stop the bleeding (pun intended) and protect the rural hospitals that remain in the state is the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion, an opt-in program that allows states to expand Medicaid health insurance coverage to nearly all adults with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level ($18,755 for an individual in 2022), with the federal government covering 90% of costs.

A 2018 study using nearly a decade’s worth of data found that hospitals in Medicaid expansion states were 84% less likely to close than facilities in non-expansion states.

But under Republican leadership, North Carolina is one of 11 states that has failed to expand Medicaid, even as it would provide access to affordable health insurance coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians, save lives, and create jobs.
If the legislature is able to finally get expansion done in 2023, it would be welcome news for the state’s rural residents.

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Sixteen-year-old Raleigh resident Craig Curtis Jr. was killed earlier this month in a tragic shooting and his father, Craig Sr. is now speaking out against gun violence and the widespread availability of the deadly weapons.

"This has to stop, it has to stop, people are suffering, communities are suffering behind gun violence,” Curtis Sr. told ABC 11.

Since taking control of the General Assembly in 2011, Republicans in North Carolina have blocked more than a dozen proposed gun safety bills, even as gun violence has surged.

From 2011 to 2020, North Carolina saw a 35% increase in gun deaths and an 88% increase in gun homicides.

State Democrats continue to push for action on the gun violence epidemic, but it will be up to Republicans in the legislature whether any gun safety laws—most of which are incredibly popular—actually pass.

A 2022 poll from Third Way found that North Carolina residents overwhelmingly support several gun safety laws, including requiring background checks for all gun sales (89% support), raising the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons to 21 (75%), and red flag laws that would keep weapons out of the hands of people at extreme risk of becoming violent (78%).

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