Legal atmosphere
Every fact below carries a verification date and a source. We do not state law without provenance. Stale facts are flagged. The next review date for each field is in the cartographer's monthly cadence unless an active session or court action requires faster review.
Adult-use program
No program
as of 2026-10-22
No adult-use program. Adult-use and comprehensive medical bills (including H 413 and S 350) remained pending and unenacted as of Oct. 22, 2026; small-amount possession is decriminalized.
Source:HB 1220 (2014); HB 766 (2015); North Carolina DHHS (ncdhhs.gov); NCSL, State Medical Cannabis Laws (ncsl.org/health/state-medical-cannabis-laws), checked 2026-10-22 (Table 2, limited-access laws)
Next review: 2027-01-22
Medical program
No program
as of 2026-10-22
No comprehensive medical program. The Epilepsy Alternative Treatment Act (HB 1220, 2014; HB 766, 2015) allows registered caregivers to possess hemp extract (at least 5% CBD, less than 0.9% THC) for intractable epilepsy patients.
Source:HB 1220 (2014); HB 766 (2015); North Carolina DHHS (ncdhhs.gov); NCSL, State Medical Cannabis Laws (ncsl.org/health/state-medical-cannabis-laws), checked 2026-10-22 (Table 2, limited-access laws)
Next review: 2027-01-22
North Carolina has a large hemp market under the state hemp program; the Epilepsy Alternative Treatment Act is hemp-extract based. Federal change PENDING: P.L. 119-37 s.781 redefinition takes effect Nov. 12, 2026 and Dec. 11, 2026 - not yet in effect on the verification date.
Next review: 2027-01-22
Possession
Marijuana possession is criminal, decriminalized at small amounts. Only the narrow hemp-extract caregiver provision applies.
Public consumption
Public consumption of cannabis is prohibited.
Driving
Driving under the influence of cannabis is prohibited; enforcement is impairment-based unless a program rule states otherwise.
Federal overlay
Federal overlay (all states): 91 FR 22714 (Apr. 28, 2026) placed marijuana in FDA-approved products and marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license in Schedule III; all other marijuana remains Schedule I. The broader rescheduling proceeding was stayed Sep. 29, 2026 and is PENDING - not decided - as of Oct. 22, 2026. P.L. 119-37 s.781 hemp redefinition takes effect Nov. 12, 2026 (cannabinoids the plant cannot naturally produce) and Dec. 11, 2026 (remaining provisions, incl. 0.4 mg/container total-THC cap) per P.L. 119-103 - PENDING, not yet in effect.
Telehealth
Telehealth availability for medical certification follows the state program's own rules; not stated here where the cited sources do not establish it.
Employment protection
State-law employment protections, where they exist, do not bind federal employers, federal contractors, or safety-sensitive testing regimes.
Home cultivation
Prohibited for cannabis; licensed hemp cultivation only.
Program structure
What kind of place you actually go to in this state, what kind of license they hold, and how patients (where applicable) access the program. Vocabulary matters here — Louisiana has pharmacies, California has retailers, Texas has dispensary organizations.
Operator model
No commercial operator program
Patient access
Caregivers register under the Epilepsy Alternative Treatment Act; there is no general medical registry.
Out-of-state acceptance
Not recognized
License classes
- No state cannabis license classes - no program
Notable restrictions
- No comprehensive medical or adult-use program
- Medical and adult-use bills pending, not enacted - checked 2026-10-22
- Interstate transport prohibited - federal law
What's moving
Active legislation, court actions, ballot measures, and regulatory actions. Reviewed weekly during active sessions, monthly otherwise. Empty categories below are honest — nothing pending is information.
Regulatory actions
State cannabis regulator named in the legal-atmosphere source citationActive - status checked 2026-10-22
Action type: Ongoing program administration and rulemaking
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22
Population overlay
State-level pressures we expect people across North Carolina to be navigating. This calibrates how the platform routes by default. It is never used to categorize you as an individual — the data lives at the state level. The boundary is architectural.
Federal employment density
Federal employees, service members, and federal contractors in every state remain subject to federal drug policy regardless of state law.
Military presence
Military and federal installations, where present, apply federal prohibition on site.
Veteran population
VA operates under federal law; veteran patients should confirm current VA policy directly with the VA.
Recovery community signals
State-licensed treatment and recovery resources operate independently of cannabis program status.
Boundary: population-level only. Never user-level. The data model enforces the separation between state demographics and individual memory. State pressures inform routing defaults; individuals are met where they are.
Cities in atlas
What we cover in this state, and what we don't yet. Tier 1 means the city has earned the right to a public, indexed surface — full local intelligence with named cartographer review. Tier 2 means internal navigation. Tier 3 means graph reference for Bud routing.
Tier 1 — public, indexed, has earned coverage
No Tier 1 cities in North Carolina yet. See pending below.
Pending Tier 1 — execution plan
- City nodes pending - this staged entry covers legal status only
Tier 3 — graph nodes for Bud routing
These are present in the routing graph so Bud can answer context-dependent questions across North Carolina. They are not public surfaces. They exist to make Tier 1 city answers correct.
- Statewide legal-status node only - city nodes pending cartographer build-out
◉Cartographer
CannaIQ Atlas Refresh (MX-038, agent-staged)
Staged legal-data refresh, 2026-10-22. Sources cited per section. NOT a deployed cartographer review - owner/cartographer review is required before deployment (MX-106).
Last reviewed:2026-10-22Next review:2027-01-22Cadence:Quarterly, aligned to the state-legality substrate refresh cadence.