I am writing this letter to implore you to hear the suffering of those North Carolinians who have been placed in an impossible position of being among the citizens who are need of relief. You must act to protect them. On June 6, the Senate voted 37-6 to approve SB 711, the NC Compassionate Care Act. I urge you to join your colleagues in the Senate and pass this carefully crafted legislation expeditiously. As a North Carolina lawmaker, you have the power to give North Carolinians relief. It is cruel and heartless to brand them as criminals and force them to get their medicine from the unregulated and illicit market. Know, that the illicit market will continue to thrive in the absence of a well-regulated medical cannabis program. Patients in our great state do not want to break the law but are finding the choice between suffering and abiding by state laws puts them in an untenable position. With your vote, you can show compassion and allow fellow citizens to have the freedom to make their own personal medical choices. Will you please support the N.C. Compassionate Care Act?

North Carolina voters would pass medical cannabis legislation in a heartbeat if given the chance to do so. On June 6, the Senate approved the N.C. Compassionate Care Act with a vote of 37-6. A May 2022 Carolina Partnership for Reform poll found 82% of North Carolina voters support legalizing medical cannabis. But unlike about half of the states in the country, we have no voter initiative process and must rely on our lawmakers to do what is right. When conservative states, such as Utah, Mississippi, and Alabama, have recently approved well-regulated medical cannabis programs, why must we continue to resist the will of the people in our state? Please work to pass the N.C. Compassionate Care Act in 2022. Patients battling serious medical conditions have already been dealt a tough hand. They should not be criminalized for using a medicine that works. North Carolina should not steer its suffering patients to highly addictive and often deadly opiates when a far safer natural remedy has been shown to be effective.

North Carolina’s criminalization of medical cannabis is particularly shocking in the context of veterans. Men and women, who risked their lives for our country, have been jailed for their use of cannabis to treat the physical and mental wounds they developed while protecting our freedoms. Twenty-two veterans die by their own hands every day. Many veterans in our community face the side effects of a VA system that overly relies on opiates, antidepressants, and other pharmaceuticals. We are asking that you afford veterans the medical freedom to choose medical cannabis if they, and their doctors, feel it is the best treatment for their wounds. Will you please work to pass the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act this year?

I am writing this letter to implore you to hear the suffering of those North Carolinians who have been placed in an impossible position of being among the citizens who are need of relief. You must act to protect them. On June 6, the Senate voted 37-6 to approve SB 711, the NC Compassionate Care Act. I urge you to join your colleagues in the Senate and pass this carefully crafted legislation expeditiously. As a North Carolina lawmaker, you have the power to give North Carolinians relief. It is cruel and heartless to brand them as criminals and force them to get their medicine from the unregulated and illicit market. Know, that the illicit market will continue to thrive in the absence of a well-regulated medical cannabis program. Patients in our great state do not want to break the law but are finding the choice between suffering and abiding by state laws puts them in an untenable position. With your vote, you can show compassion and allow fellow citizens to have the freedom to make their own personal medical choices. Will you please support the N.C. Compassionate Care Act?

This is one of the most restrictive bills in the country. In the past several years, numerous other states — including Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah — have passed compassionate care laws. In the meantime, thousands of North Carolinians have needlessly suffered when medical cannabis could have brought them relief. Others have uprooted and left their support networks to relocate to more compassionate states. Others have died, maybe sooner than they would have if cannabis had been available to assist in maintaining a healthy appetite as they battled cancer or tried to quell devastating seizures. I hope you agree it’s past time North Carolina provides relief to suffering patients. The N.C. The Compassionate Care Act deserves your support.

In 37 other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, seriously ill patients have the advantage of using medical cannabis for treatment with their doctors’ approval. Why not here? It makes no sense that our doctors aren’t trusted to recommend medical cannabis and instead must prescribe far more dangerous medications. No one has died of a cannabis overdose, but more than 14,000 Americans die each year from prescription opiates. Why is North Carolina pushing patients and doctors to the far more harmful option? This compassionate bill passed the Senate in a 37-6 vote that included several of the most conservative senators. Can I count on you to support the N.C. Compassionate Care Act to bring this medical freedom to North Carolina?