Marijuana legal in Western NC for 2 weeks but US House member still trying to stop it

Cannabis has been legal now for two weeks in parts of Western North Carolina, but the member of Congress representing the region is persisting in his fight against it.

After a September referendum by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in favor of legalization, the tribe began limited sales July 4 in its territory, the Qualla Boundary. The Eastern Band had already been selling medical marijuana and their region is the only place in North Carolina where any adult can purchase it.

But Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, who has made efforts to stymie legalization or easing of criminal enforcement, said he will continue to push back.

“I remain steadfast in my opposition of legalizing recreational marijuana in the mountains of WNC. The data is overwhelming on the harmful effects of marijuana, and my views on protecting our youth have not changed," he said in a July 18 statement to the Citizen Times.

On a larger scale, opposition has also come from the state's two U.S. senators, Republicans Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, who sent a March 1 letter raising questions about the Cherokee's legalization with top administration officials, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.

Meanwhile, Democrat Caleb Rudow, a state House member running against Edwards' for the 11th District congressional seat, said the congressman was pushing a “Reefer Madness” narrative about marijuana's dangers that is "disconnected from reality" and science.

"Cannabis can be regulated safely to keep it out of the hands of minors," Rudow said.

In terms of Edwards' efforts, he has had some success, but advocates of legalization say he is fighting a losing battle in a state and country that have grown increasingly accepting of the once-vilified plant.

Edwards' anti-marijuana actions

The Stop Pot Act. The bill, technically known as House Resolution 5323, would withhold 10% of federal highway funds from governments that violate federal law under the Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits marijuana, classifying it as a Schedule I drug, a group said to be the most harmful of controlled substances without currently acceptable medical use. Edwards' introduced the bill Sept. 1, 2023, saying “communities are seeing unprecedented crime, drug addiction, and mental illness" and that if passed the bill would "help prevent even greater access to drugs and ease the strain placed on our local law enforcement and mental health professionals who are already stretched thin." Four days later, the resolution was sent to the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, which has taken no action in the following 10 months.

Protections for banks financing cannabis businesses. Last month, Edwards helped strip language out of H.R. 8773, the 2025 Financial Services and Government Appropriations Act, that would have protected banks from adverse government action for lending to marijuana businesses, saying during a subcommittee hearing the country has never allowed anything illegal to be banked and that there was growing evidence pot can cause "irreparable harm, particularly to younger minds.”

Prevent marijuana rescheduling. Edwards was among 14 GOP House members in 2023 to call on the Drug Enforcement Agency to reject the rescheduling of cannabis as proposed by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Heroin is also in the Schedule I category. In the less restrictive Schedule II group are methamphetamines and cocaine.

Chief Michell Hicks and other Eastern Band leaders, who were targets of Edwards' bill, have not responded to requests for comment, including on July 18. In a Sept. 6, 2023 editorial in the tribe's official newspaper, the One Feather, tribal officials pushed back on his claims of societal harms, saying studies by entities such as the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health actually show a correlation with lower hard drug use and less crime.

"Numerous studies have identified several other ways that adult use cannabis actually decreases crime and promotes public health and order," they said.

Rudow, Edwards' Democratic opponent, has criticized the bill as government overreach against tribal sovereignty. Rudow said he opposes all the congressman's anti-pot efforts.

"The science and research doesn’t support his beliefs and there are many other substances, like alcohol, that do have negative societal impacts but we still allow for people to purchase them and make their own personal choices," he said.

Banks should be protected when working with businesses in areas that have legalized marijuana, he said, adding, if legalized, cannabis "could be a boon" to the state's economy and its farmers.

Rescheduling would better align with marijuana's "actual danger to society," he said, and allow law enforcement to focus on more dangerous substances.

"Too many Americans that were not a threat to themselves or their communities have been imprisoned because of overregulation of cannabis," Rudow said.

Going forward?

Edwards' declined July 18 to elaborate on issues such as whether he thought marijuana was more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamines ? or if his efforts would succeed or had staying power.

Morgan Fox, spokesperson for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said most of the country and its politicians are moving in the other direction.

"I'm not particularly concerned about the Stop Pot Act," Fox said, noting sponsors were not among those members of Congress with outsized clout and the penalty of withholding road funding actually hurts its chances.

"There are 24 states comprising more than half of the population that have adult cannabis laws on the books, including many of them with representatives who are Republicans," he said.

Some actions cannabis advocates want, though, have not come to fruition, he acknowledges.

Rescheduling has not happened despite promises if reducing enforcement by President Joe Biden. Still on July 17, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear asked the DEA to take that action.

Banking protections, meanwhile, have passed the House seven times when it was under Democratic control and once in an important Senate subcommittee during its current period under Democrats. The biggest issue is that cannabis reform, while supported by many, "is a relatively low priority," Fox said.

But the movement is in that direction, the NORML spokesperson said.

"People are becoming a lot more informed about this issue and there’s a lot better information now. And smart politicians are looking at the polling."

More: Statewide medical cannabis stalls; Passed GOP Senate with help of Western NC legislators

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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at [email protected], 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Pot legal in Western NC for 2 weeks; US House member still opposes