North Carolina Bill Setting a 21+ Age Limit for Hemp and Kratom Advances in the House
Photo: Jmturner / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Nothing has changed in North Carolina yet. Senate Bill 59, rewritten in a House committee this week to bar anyone under 21 from buying or possessing hemp-derived consumable products and kratom, advanced to the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. North Carolina currently has no statewide minimum age for either.
The House Agriculture and Environment Committee gave a favorable report on Wednesday to a proposed committee substitute of Senate Bill 59 from Representative Jimmy Dixon of Duplin County, replacing the bill's previous contents. An amendment from Representative Jeff McNeely added kratom to the measure, applying the same 21-plus restriction to kratom products. Both the amendment and the rewritten bill cleared the committee unanimously and without debate.
The rewritten bill creates a new section of state law, G.S. 14-313.1, making it unlawful to knowingly sell or deliver a hemp-derived consumable product to a person under 21, requiring sellers to demand proof of age when there are reasonable grounds to believe a buyer is underage, and prohibiting possession by anyone under 21. Violations are a Class 2 misdemeanor carrying fines of $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second, and $1,500 for a third or subsequent offense. If enacted, the law takes effect December 1, 2026.
Dixon called the age limit "the lowest-hanging fruit" in the legislature's long-running hemp debate. Efforts to regulate hemp products have stalled in Raleigh for years; last session, the House and Senate passed separate regulatory bills, the House voted down the Senate's version in April, and no conference committee was appointed.
North Carolina today imposes no statewide minimum age on hemp-derived consumables or kratom, and the bill would put retailers under a mandatory ID-check requirement with misdemeanor exposure for violations.
The bill is not law. It still needs to clear the House Rules Committee, a House floor vote, the Senate, and the governor before anything changes for retailers. A House floor vote could come as soon as this week.
The Senate is the open question. Senate leader Phil Berger said Thursday the measure does not go far enough for his taste, telling reporters he would personally favor banning the products entirely, at least temporarily, while adding that he hopes the chambers can pass something. The same week, the Senate voted 41-2 for a separate bill, Senate Bill 455, that conforms state hemp law with federal law and removes hemp from the state's controlled substances act, a signal of how far apart the two chambers sit on where hemp policy should land.