Did respond to NC NORML’s 2020 Questionnaire

Do you support prohibiting access to marijuana (cannabis) by persons younger than 21 years, unless for evidence-based medical applications prescribed by a healthcare provider and with parental consent? YES

Research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that states with legalized cannabis saw a reduction in opioid use and opioid overdose deaths. Would you consider legalizing medical cannabis as a strategy to reduce opioid use? YES

According to the Cato Institute, North Carolina spent ~ $263.3 million in state and local dollars to enforce cannabis laws in 2016. Meanwhile, the American Journal of Drug Alcohol Abuse found that arrestees who tested positive for THC had low incidents of aggressive crime. Aggressive crimes were associated with self-reported use of alcohol. Would you consider decriminalizing possession of cannabis since its use results in less aggression than legal alcohol? YES

A Mayo Clinic study has shown that cannabis has lower addiction rates than alcohol (Nicotine 32%; Heroin 23%; Cocaine 17%; Alcohol 15%; Cannabis 9%). Do you agree that adults should have the right to use cannabis? YES

Contradicting the myth that cannabis is a gateway drug, the RAND Corporation reported in 2012 that the use of cocaine dropped 50% as cannabis use increased 40%. Cannabis is associated with lower use of hard drugs and is not a gateway drug. Would you consider legalizing adult use of cannabis? YES

Comments: " The war on drugs he has had many unintended victims. Families of defendants, who have been locked up because of cannabis, suffer without their loved ones.  Those defendants carry the stigma of an arrest record, and suffer the time and expense of fighting the charges, and losing a portion of their lives if they are convicted. Taxpayers whose hard-won money has been used to enforce laws against possessing a plant are also victims.  They also suffer when they see the size and the power of government expand for no good reason, and when these cannabis laws take their government’s attention away from enforcing legitimate laws against force and fraud, against people and property. Farmers who can no longer feed their families by growing crops like tobacco and cotton are unable to grow hemp, because of drug laws.  And when they do, if their crop is above a certain level of a psychoactive substance, they must destroy it. I do not personally indulge in or support the use of cannabis for recreational purposes. But I will defend the right of my fellow citizens to produce it or market it Within a reasonable regulatory framework, or use it for medical or recreational purposes. Other states have figured out how to regulate and tax legal cannabis. North Carolina can too."