Legislation dealing with hemp did not make it across the finish line in the House on Tuesday.
The Republican-led North Carolina House declined Tuesday to take up a bill that would tighten regulations on hemp products, in a week that could be the last for lawmakers before they return in November, after the election.
That capped a day with a lengthy meeting in the Republican caucus, pro-hemp advocates flooding the legislature, and a press conference by law enforcement leaders in favor of the bill.
The legislation, House Bill 328, had already been passed by the Senate with bipartisan support in early July and would have headed to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desk had it been approved.
“Folks recognize that the current state of our law is not tenable. There are basically no rules,” House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters on Tuesday. “I think there’s a lot of unintended consequences from prior bills and prior sessions. I don’t think folks intended to essentially legalize some of the things that are legalized back when the hemp debate was going on.”
Hall said that lawmakers need more time to address concerns about the bill and that he would rather address “low-hanging fruit” now and revisit hemp legislation when the chamber returns.
A deal on hemp regulations has eluded lawmakers for years. Broadly, both GOP-led chambers have agreed that these products should be limited to those over 21. But disagreements on other provisions have halted passage.
Hall said that he plans on organizing a group to research hemp legislation to reach a solution.
As a conference report, the legislation represents a compromise negotiated by a small group of lawmakers after the House and Senate disagree on a bill. Conference reports cannot be amended on the floor.
Rep. Jimmy Dixon, chair of the House Agriculture and Environment Committee, gives support to HB 328, proposed legislation that would revamp current hemp laws on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett [email protected]
At the law enforcement press conference Tuesday, Rep. Jimmy Dixon, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Agriculture and Environment Committee, urged fellow lawmakers to pass the bill. There, Dixon said Republicans who voted on a bill that created an industrial hemp agricultural pilot program in the state in 2015 were “misguided.” He said that the legislation changed significantly as it moved through the General Assembly, evolving from a licensing bill into a hemp bill that was added to the House calendar on the chamber’s last day of session. The bill ultimately passed the House.
Dixon told The News & Observer at the end of the House session that the caucus debated the measure and after a vote, “the majority of the caucus did not want to hear that conference report at this time.” Asked if it was due to concerns about the impact on businesses, Dixon said that was a factor.
But, “if I had to identify one thing that prevailed, was dissatisfaction with the process, just like my statements that I made about 2015, not having things before committee, the same things happened. This was a conference report, and the changes that the conferees agreed to had never been heard in a committee,” Dixon said.
“There was a genuine concern within our caucus that some of the provisions that came back had not been vetted in committee,” Dixon said.
“November or January, February in the next session, I would like to see us legitimately address this situation and hear from all sides,” Dixon said.
Details on the bill and governor’s thoughts
There are no age limits under federal and state law on buying or using hemp.
HB 328 would prohibit hemp use by anyone under 21. Selling to or possession by anyone under 21 would be a Class 2 misdemeanor. It mirrors a new federal definition of hemp that is set to take effect Nov. 12 based on total Tetrahydrocannabinol levels rather than just delta-9 THC. That ban would apply to hemp products with more than 0.3% THC or more than 0.4 milligrams per container. Sellers also would face civil penalties for violations.
The bill does not include licensing, lab testing, or packaging requirements, which have been included in some past failed hemp legislation.
THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid in the cannabis plant. What distinguishes legal hemp from illegal marijuana is the level of delta-9 THC — the compound responsible for the classic “high.” Under current federal law, hemp must contain 0.3% or less delta-9 THC by dry weight.
While the state bills mirror the impending federal ban, the federal government itself has signaled it may revise or delay the standard. The state’s hemp bill says it’s intended to remain in effect “notwithstanding any subsequent federal action that would weaken or repeal” it.
Stein told reporters Tuesday morning that the bill wasn’t adequate. He said he was “all for businesses, but what I’m really about is public health and public safety. We need to protect kids. What’s going on out there today in the market is wrong. There are no protections for kids. There are no protections for adults who choose to use these products.”
What’s being sold, he said: “It’s junk. What they’re representing, it either has (more) THC than it says it has, or has less THC than it (says it) has. It has all kinds of bacteria in it. This stuff is bad for people. What we need to do is have a well-regulated THC market for adults to do whatever they want to do with, where they know what they’re buying, they know the quantity, and they know what the ingredients are and we need to completely protect kids.”
“That is not happening with the law today, and unfortunately, that bill that the legislature is thinking about doesn’t get us there either,” Stein said.
The legislation also 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. Drugs in that schedule have a currently accepted medical use and less risk for abuse compared to other more restricted drugs. Xylazine is not currently a scheduled drug in the state.
Advocacy efforts
The lack of action on the bill came on a day of competing demonstrations.
Hundreds of hemp advocates rallied at the legislature in the morning to oppose the legislation, arguing it amounted to a ban while many said they support regulations such as age restrictions and product testing. They also said it’d lead to businesses shuttering and thousands losing jobs.
Some of those protesting were from Apotheca, a North Carolina-based dispensary with 60 locations. The company closed several stores Tuesday so employees could attend the demonstration at the state legislature. Green-aproned employees joined hundreds of other protesters gathered at the building to voice opposition to the bill.
Hundreds of hemp advocates, farmers, and business owners, filled the hallway outside the legislative auditorium, while legislators and lawmakers held a press briefing calling for new stronger regulations for the hemp industry on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett [email protected]
Joshua Lardie, chief compliance officer and director of government affairs, said that Apotheca and other businesses that sell THC products have advocated for testing, labeling, age restriction and licensing regulations for years. Previous bills to address regulation have gotten stuck, Lardie said.
“We’ve asked to be taxed,” Lardie told The N&O.
“It’s a wonderful foundation for a state who is in need of economic aid, and that’s that’s what we want to provide, not to the detriment of public safety … certainly not to the detriment of our law enforcement officers, which we support on a regular basis,” Lardie said.
“It seems there’s been a pitting of the hemp industry versus law enforcement,” he said.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials from multiple agencies attended the press conference urging lawmakers to pass the bill, contending the measure was needed to protect children and others from harmful unregulated products. Notification of the press conference was sent out via email from Speaker Hall’s office.
Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said the coalition of law enforcement groups supporting the bill reflected the importance they placed on addressing what they described as problems with the current hemp market. Since hemp was fully legalized in North Carolina in 2019, following passage of the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which legalized hemp nationally, hemp has “spread in every county across our state, creating what is in effect an unregulated recreational marijuana market,” said Hughes. He said products were targeted towards youth and contained “powerful intoxicating substances.”
At the news conference, various hemp-derived products were displayed. Hughes said that these were purchased less than a quarter-mile from the General Assembly and were “targeted clearly toward youth.” While seeming harmless and appealing, they contained “powerful intoxicating substances,” he said. Hughes said the bill would allow law enforcement to address those concerns.
A variety of hemp derived products, lawmakers say need to be regulated with new legislation, displayed during a press briefing on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett [email protected]
“Some will say this bill will put stores out of business. I say, if a business depends primarily on selling these dangerous products to our children, then that will indeed be the result,” said Hughes.
Hughes added that others argue the legislation could create a black market for marijuana. “The truth is the illegal market existed before 2019, and it will continue to exist regardless. This is not the reason to allow an unregulated retail market to flourish,” he said.
District Attorney Andrew Gregson of Randolph County, president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys, said retailers and manufacturers oppose the legislation because “it threatens their pocketbook.”
“But anyone whose business depends on selling these products should not be in business. They’re actually peddling poison for profit,” Gregson said.
“This is not about debating whether responsible businesses exist. This is a decision about whether we’re going to continue to protect an industry that is willfully exploiting loopholes in the law,” Gregson said.
Randolph County District Attorney Andy Gregson voices his support for stricter hemp laws, currently under consideration in the General Assembly, during a press briefing on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett [email protected]
Jesse White, co-owner of Elevate NC THCA, a dispensary in Knightdale, told The N&O his company, which sells THC-infused drinks, edibles and other hemp products, takes several precautions to ensure that minors don’t access them, including a double-door entrance where customers must show ID before entering the store.
He and his co-owners opened their business just days before the federal government tightened its definition of hemp. On top of federal changes, North Carolina’s hemp bill, which White said effectively bans hemp sales, would shut down his business.
“We put our lives into this. We put our we put our retirement, we put all the money we get saved to open this building and to open our store and to chase our dream,” White said.
“We are highly, highly for regulation, but not shutting us down,” White said. “To me, just speaking bluntly, it’s people that don’t understand what hemp really is trying to make laws about hemp. It’s like trying to tell people, ‘Hey, you can only make liquor using 0.5% alcohol.’ That’s not liquor anymore. It’s basically water.”
Tom Gilson, another co-owner at Elevate NC THCA, said that the products that they sell help people like veterans manage their post-traumatic stress disorder. He said the products also help people who are struggling with pain management or who are in recovery from alcohol abuse. If this bill passes, Gilson worries that people will turn to alcohol abuse or the black market for THC products.
Capitol Bureau Chief Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 8:18 PM.
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