NORTHERN CAROLINA – The legalization of medical marijuana has been an ongoing debate in Tar Heel state, but a recent poll shows that an overwhelming majority of North Carolina residents are in favor.
What you need to know
- Most people in North Carolina support medical marijuana, although it is currently illegal, according to an exclusive Spectrum News / IPSOS survey.
- One of the largest support groups is veterans
- Medicinal marijuana can help with anxiety, depression, PTSD, opioid addiction, and more.
- The Senate is currently discussing a bill that would legalize medical marijuana for certain groups of people
One of the largest groups supporting medical marijuana in North Carolina is veterans. They say it could provide great health benefits, if only it were legal.
Maxwell Oglesby owns a CBD dispensary and is trying to help veterans with hemp products while working within legal restrictions.
Oglesby has been passionate about his work with CBD since he was just 14 years old. He now co-owns Above the Roots, which specializes in selling CBD and Delta-8 products.
These products are not allowed to have a high concentration of THC, which is the part of cannabis that makes you drugged. While Oglesby does his best to help people under strict legal guidelines, he is also a strong advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana and the health benefits it could bring.
Oglesby breaks a Delta-8 CBD flower to put in a smoking portion.
“It’s wonderful,” Oglesby said. “I don’t know why science isn’t proving it here in North Carolina to people sitting in the right seats. But in the end it will get there.”
It is also a personal problem for Oglesby.
“What really came home,” Oglesby said. “I, my older brother, as well as one of my younger brothers, were in the military. Unfortunately, he died in 2014,” Oglesby said of his brother. “Not for anything in the military, but for cancer.”
He says that when his brother was undergoing chemotherapy, he continued to listen to recommendations for cannabis oil. But with medical marijuana still illegal, his brother couldn’t get it. Oglesby thinks it would have helped a lot, which is why he opened this store. He says many state lawmakers who are against it may not have had such a personal meeting.
“You have cancer patients who come from all over the world to North Carolina to receive some kind of care for chemotherapy,” Oglesby said. “And the moment they go out to eat or smoke anything with cannabis, they become a criminal. That’s wrong with me. “
Oglesby is just one of many people in North Carolina who support medical marijuana. In an exclusive Spectrum News / IPSOS poll, 72% of registered voters in North Carolina are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana while 21% were against it.
Oglesby says with so many military personnel in North Carolina, veterans will specifically play an important role in changing the law.
“Who in their right mind would stand in the way of veterans receiving some kind of treatment,” Oglesby said.
It could help them with anxiety, depression, PTSD and opioid addiction, among other things.
“They put their lives in danger for us,” Oglesby said. “I do not understand why when they return and need our help, we cannot offer them. We fell short here. “
The current bill being debated by the Senate would only legalize medical marijuana for certain groups of people, but it does not include those suffering from chronic pain.
Oglesby says he partially agrees that something is better than nothing, but there are always more people who could benefit. I’d rather get the laws right the first time so they don’t have to go back and fight to change it once again.
Above the Roots CBD dispensary
