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Lawmakers are moving a bill to put stricter hemp regulations on the books.
Legislation dealing with hemp was added to the Senate calendar Thursday and passed that chamber a couple of hours later with bipartisan support, on a day dominated by final votes on the state budget.
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The bill would prohibit the use of hemp by those under 21, as well as changing the definition of hemp to make it more restrictive in line with federal changes.
Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters after the vote “what we have put in place … is a ban on intoxicating hemp products, and if the feds decide that they don’t want to do that as we go forward, North Carolina would still have a ban on intoxicating hemp products.”
“I think the dangers that we’ve seen, the damage that we’ve experienced, the personal loss that has occurred across the state of North Carolina as a result of these products, is such that we just could not and should not delay any further, for whatever reason,” he said.
While the Senate passed it, 37-6, the House adjourned without taking it up, leaving the future of the bill unclear as lawmakers wrap up their work at the General Assembly for now.
“It’s up to the caucus, at the end of the day,” Republican Speaker Destin Hall said at the end of the House session on Thursday.
“It was a complicated bill, and so folks are going to have probably a month to digest it and see if they approve of it,” he told reporters.
Lawmakers passed an adjournment resolution that has them returning July 27.
The hemp bill is a type of legislation that follows after the two chambers disagree on an initial bill and appoint a small group of lawmakers to attempt to negotiate a compromise. That type of legislation cannot be amended on the floor. Those bills, called conference reports, can be voted on the same day they are unveiled.
The move comes after years of attempts to regulate hemp products, which are derived from the cannabis plant. Unlike marijuana, hemp is legal under both federal and state law. There are no age limits under state or federal law for buying or using hemp products.
While both chambers have long sought to restrict youth access to hemp products, negotiations had stalled over differences between the House and Senate on what other hemp regulations should look like.
The sections related to the change in the definition of hemp would be effective Nov. 12, if passed into law. The age restriction would be effective July 15.
This year’s breakthrough comes through House Bill 328, which would ban the sale of hemp to those under 21.
The bill also redefines hemp to match a new federal definition — which goes into effect Nov. 12 — that is based on total THC levels.
THC is the psychoactive component — or cannabinoid — in the cannabis plant. What makes marijuana illegal and hemp not is the levels of delta-9 THC, which provides the classic “high.”
Hemp must contain 0.3% or less of Delta-9 THC by dry weight under federal law’s current definition. But there are several other types of THC, such as delta-8 THC.
Not distinguishing between THC types for the 0.3% threshold would “effectively wipe out the state’s hemp industry overnight,” said Chris Karazin, CEO of the North Carolina–based hemp retailer and manufacturer Carolindica.
Other products that “are very well known and very popular, and very valuable to the consumers of the states, are being kind of shelved aside,” he told The News & Observer on Wednesday.
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He said on Wednesday he had heard via organizations that advocate for hemp that the bill could be voted on this week.
Passage of this bill is “pretty much the nightmare for us, all our consumers, employees, all 20,000 plus people who are directly in this industry,” he said.
The legislation would ban synthetic kratom products and restrict the use of regular kratom products to those 21 and over. It would also make xylazine a Schedule III controlled substance.
Hall said he “personally support(s) making sure that we’re cracking down on these substances that are sold in gas stations. Some of them are harmful to anybody, others are harmful for people under 21, and so you strike the right balance, but I’d rather err on the side of caution in terms of getting those things out of the marketplace, and I think our caucus generally agrees with that position as well. They just need some time to study.”
“If the caucus wants to do it, it’ll get a vote,” he told reporters.
He said the bill will “generally align” the state with the federal ban.
The White House budget office last week sent a letter calling for the federal hemp changes to be delayed or for a revision of “the Federal regulation of hemp to ensure the fair treatment of hemp products.” Asked by The N&O about the White House letter, Hall said he had not yet seen it and didn’t know if it swayed House members’ decisions.
“I think it was more so just the complicated nature of the bill,” Hall said.
He added his caucus has “strong feelings” about topics surrounding cannabis and doesn’t want to “do medical marijuana or anything related to marijuana.”
Democrats in the legislature have largely supported some form of marijuana legalization. They’ve sponsored bills and largely voted in favor of Republican-drafted bills that failed.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein created a council to study and recommend options for a comprehensive, statewide approach to cannabis. That council recommended North Carolina set up a legal, regulated marijuana and hemp market for adults.
On Thursday, while most Democrats voted for the hemp bill, some spoke with concerns. A few, including Sen. Sophia Chitlik of Durham, voted against the bill.
“This sort of piecemeal, ‘let’s do what we can’ approach doesn’t actually get us to the place that we need to go, which is something that actually keeps kids safe by creating a high demand, regulated marketplace for adults, where only adults can buy these substances, instead of pushing them into the darkness where children and whoever else can have access to these substances,” she said.
The bill will impact businesses and farmers and limit North Carolina’s ability to access tax revenue, she said.
In its original form, HB 328 would have required public schools to adopt policies prohibiting hemp-derived consumable products in school buildings, on school grounds and at school-sponsored events. It also would have expanded the state’s definition of tobacco products to include vapor products, making them subject to existing laws restricting tobacco use in schools.
Last June, the Senate rewrote the bill, expanding it into a measure that would have effectively banned most hemp products currently on the market by allowing only hemp products containing very small amounts of delta-9 THC. The House rejected those changes on April 21, the first day back in this year’s short session.
On June 23, the Senate and House appointed a small group of lawmakers to attempt to negotiate a compromise: Reps. Reece Pyrtle, Brenden Jones, Neal Jackson and Donnie Loftis, and Sens. Bill Rabon, Michael Lee and Tom McInnis. And a compromise was reached.
Rabon, a Republican, has filed legislation in multiple sessions — though not this year — to legalize medical marijuana. Those efforts have failed despite Rabon’s leadership role as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
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This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 1:10 PM.