A new North Carolina Senate proposal would create a 21-year-old age requirement for purchasing or possessing hemp products, including foods and beverages infused with delta-8 or delta-9. WRAL News reports.

Bipartisan Senate Bill 59 passed the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. The proposal would also set the age requirement for purchasing kratom at 21.

The issue is popular with both Republicans and Democrats, and Gov. Josh Stein (D) has also called for better regulation of the products, but previous efforts have failed.

“We have the good sense to put an age limit on these types of products, which is the lowest hanging fruit there is.” — Rep. state Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R), in a statement to the House Agriculture and Environment Committee

A spokesman for the governor’s office said the administration is reviewing the bill.

“Earlier this year, the NC Cannabis Advisory Council issued an interim report with informed guidance to the General Assembly to address the unregulated sale of cannabis in North Carolina, including recommending a minimum age requirement,” the spokesperson said in the report. “The governor is eager to work with the Legislature to protect our children and bring order to this Wild West marketplace.”

If passed into law, the age limit would go into effect on December 1, 2026.

The Pennsylvania Senate rejected it lEGISLATION to remove oversight of the state’s medical cannabis program from the Department of Health and create a new and independent Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board, PennLive reports.

Authored by state Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), the proposal would also give the new agency regulatory power over intoxicating hemp products, as well as any future grow-out cannabis markets in the state.

Laughlin said he knew the proposal would be opposed by some Republicans, but that he didn’t know until the last minute that Democrats would unite against the proposal. Lawmakers opposed the bill 23-27 on Wednesday, with six Republicans against and two Democrats in support.

“I knew it was a risk to put it up for a vote because there was some discussion going back and forth.” – Laughlin, in a statement

However, lawmakers followed up the rejection with a vote allowing the bill to be reconsidered later.

“We’re going to get another pass on that,” Laughlin said. “I’m not sure when, but hopefully by the end of June.”

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) supports the legalization of cannabis for adult use and INCLUDING Revenue from cannabis taxes in his 2026-2027 state budget plan.

The Idaho Legislature last week approved language for a ballot measure seeking to amend the state constitution so that only the legislature has the authority to legalize cannabis and other psychoactive or narcotic substances, Idaho Capital Sun reports.

The adopted voting language includes statements for and against the proposal.

Language supporting the proposal states:

“Drugs destroy lives, tear apart families and threaten the safety of our communities. Decisions to legalize marijuana, narcotics and other psychoactive substances are too important to be taken lightly. The proposed amendment would ensure that any proposal to legalize these dangerous substances would go through the legislative process. Public hearings would be held on the proposal and people could be harmed by the law. Lawmakers would consider carefully each proposal and would be publicly accountable for their votes.

Language opposing the proposal reads:

“The Idaho Constitution states that all political power belongs to the people. But the proposed amendment would take that power away from the people by taking away their ability to pass drug legalization laws themselves through ballot initiatives. The people are just as capable of making good and prudent decisions about drug policy as the legislators. The amendment is also unnecessary because if the people had the power to legislate or ever pass the law for drugs to change or abolish it.”

The ballot measure could appear on the same ballots as a question directed by citizen advocates to legalize medical cannabis. Idaho Natural Medicine Alliance last month submitted petition signatures to county clerks and indicated he had collected more than 100,000 signatures to place the issue on the November general ballot.

It’s unclear what would happen if voters pass both initiatives, voting to both legalize medical cannabis and put legalization reforms solely in the hands of the Legislature.