A new bill proposed in Raleigh would make it legal to legally possess up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use. State senator Paul Lowe, a Democrat from Forsyth County, proposed SB 58, which would decriminalize low level drug possession.

It would also allow for some past offenders to have North Carolina drug violations expunged from their record. Possession of up to three ounces of cannabis, the bill proposes, could be erased by a petition with a $100 filing fee. Lowe’s bill would not alter laws regarding sentencing for hashish possession.

Michael Kosta visits a Trump rally in South Carolina to find out how the president's supporters feel about his proposal to add a Space Force branch to the U.S. military.

The Hop Ice Cream Cafe will soon be serving up a bold new flavor with a unique ingredient—cannabis. More specifically they are using CBD oil extracted from cannabis plants.

"It's the only thing that helps keep my pain more or less in check after a surgical procedure, where I was on narcotics and this and that," CBD oil user Jeff Paskow said. For pain relief, inflammation, anxiety and more, patients, like Paskow swear by using CBD oil.

"It stops that moment of a little something and I feel better about it, because this is a killer," Paskow said motioning to his left shoulder. Paskow said he rubbed or vaped the oil, which Brian Bullman, co-owner of Carolina Hemp Co., said would not give him a buzz like smoking marijuana.

A Forsyth County legislator is sponsoring a Senate bill that would make it legal to possess up to four ounces of marijuana for personal use.

Senate Bill 791, and companion House Bill 994, would allow for an increase from the current limit of one-half of an ounce to four ounces before the amount qualifies as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth), the bill’s primary sponsor, said he introduced the bill in an effort “to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. This is heading in the right direction.”

The Tar Heel State could be one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana.

That's the goal of a new House Bill, which was filed this week and was just sent to a committee for review. If this bill is voted on and approved, having four ounces or less of marijuana would be OK.

The bill's sponsor is a longtime proponent of legalizing marijuana. Rep. Kelly Alexander says making small amounts of marijuana legal to carry is a step in the right direction.

"Over the last four years, maybe five, the population has become much more accepting us changing our laws," Rep. Alexander said earlier in the year.

And according to an Elon University survey, 80 percent of those asked approve of the legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a powerful Republican from North Carolina, suggested in a letter shared with Business Insider that the Senate Judiciary Committee is "likely" to discuss marijuana legalization this year.

The letter was addressed to Rod Kight, a North Carolina lawyer who works with companies in the cannabis industry. 

When listing off drugs you can snort up your nose, marijuana usually doesn’t make the list. But with cannabinoid-spiked nasal sprays, that’s now possible, though it might not be any different than smoking.

Homemade cannabis nasal sprays have existed on the fringes of the medical weed market for years now, but a Colorado company recently released a commercial version. Verra Wellness’s “nasal mist” comes in three ratios: 10:1 THC to CBD, 1:1, and 1:100.

According to the company’s marketing material, spraying the mist up your nose allows for “increased bioavailability,” of the cannabinoids. But an expert I spoke to said there’s not much science to back up these kinds of claims.

Some cannabis studies may overstate the substance's benefits because participants know when they are 'high', one scientist argues. Countless studies have shown that active cannabinoids can effectively treat everything from chronic pain to depression and PTSD - at least according to high people.

Most cannabis studies are double-blind trials, meaning that neither researchers nor participants know which of two groups got a sample containing active cannabinoids, and which got an otherwise identical, inactive substance.

But when feeling 'high' tips off participants in studies using THC - the cannabis chemical the creates that euphoric feeling - the results become skewed, argues one Duke University medical professor. Medical marijuana is now legal 29 states in the US. 

One of North Carolina's two U.S. senators has joined the call for expansion of research into the medical benefits of marijuana.

Sen. Thom Tllis (R-N.C.) is co-sponsoring a bill that would reclassify a derivative of the plant -- CBD. Tillis said that would remove unnecessary barriers to studying the potential benefits and risks.

"Cannabidiol is currently a controlled substance," Tillis said in a statement. "This bill would reassess that categorization and expand research into the potential medical benefits of marijuana components."

But not everyone is pleased with the bill.

Several local farmers have joined North Carolina's industrial hemp pilot program. They believe the Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act is nothing more than bad medicine.

North Carolinians overwhelmingly want to see medical marijuana legalized, according to a new Elon University poll. 

Twenty-nine states have signed off on the medical use of marijuana, and a majority of North Carolina voters polled say they want their state to become the 30th – 80 percent say they approve of legalizing it. Seventeen percent of those polled opposed legalization.

Democrats and independent voters were the most likely to support medical marijuana legalization, with 83 percent approval. Republicans weren’t that far behind, with 73 percent approval.