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A proposed medical marijuana law for North Carolina cleared its first significant hurdle on Wednesday as a Senate committee approved bipartisan legislation that creates a patient, manufacturing, licensing and sales structure for its use.
A majority of judiciary committee members agreed on a voice vote for the measure to offer marijuana legally for easing pain and nausea associated with several illnesses and diseases. Some supporters say cannabis use can lessen the severity of their afflictions.
The measure is about giving “some compassionate care for specific ailments, to those people in North Carolina that need it, and to make them law-abiding citizens if they want to be,” said Sen. Bill Rabon, a Brunswick County Republican, bill sponsor and cancer survivor. “We need to compassionately care for our fellow man in any way that we can.”