The best stories usually come from a simple question.

One that came up in our newsroom recently was this: Given how attitudes and laws about marijuana have changed so dramatically across the country in recent years, especially with medical usage, is North Carolina seeing fewer people charged with those crimes — particularly minor offenses?

It would make sense, you'd think. A small amount of pot, which is perfectly legal in 10 states and legal for medicinal uses in nearly three dozen, may not seem that big of a deal anymore to law enforcement agencies that probably have much more serious issues to worry about, such as the opioid epidemic.

So we've set out to find an answer to our question.

Reporter Paul Woolverton obtained data on marijuana arrests for every North Carolina county for the past several years. We've crunched the numbers and found some surprising results.

[POLL: Should marijuana be legal in NC?]

Certain categories of marijuana charges have actually gone up, as recently as 2018. We've seen dramatic spikes in the number of charges for even the most minor offenses, such as possession of under a half-ounce of pot or possession of marijuana paraphernalia. Cumberland and Onslow — our state's two largest military communities — have seen the biggest increases among our urban counties. And that means that thousands of North Carolinians who may have no other criminal record, now do.

Now we have many more questions:

• Why are more North Carolinians being charged with marijuana offenses?

• What are the consequences for our workforce? College prospects? Military careers? Overburdened court systems?

• Are racial disparities in these types of drug citations and arrests becoming even more pronounced?

• Are we doing a disservice to veterans suffering from PTSD and other ailments by outlawing medicinal marijuana?

• Should North Carolina legalize?

Paul is working to answer all of these questions for what will likely be a package of several stories coming soon in the Observer.

Usually, we wouldn't tell you all of this ahead of publication. But we are bringing you in the loop because we want to involve you, our readers, in our reporting process. We want to hear your opinions about legalization in North Carolina. We want to hear from people who have benefited from medicinal use in other states, or even illicitly here in North Carolina. Or, conversely, people who have suffered consequences from marijuana usage.

Do you think our laws should change? Do you think it's a positive or a negative that we've seen more criminal charges for marijuana in North Carolina?

Contact Paul, our reporter, and share your views. Your name and comments won't be published in any of our reporting unless you agree to be interviewed. If you only want to share your perspective privately, just say so. We know this is a sensitive issue.

But we hope to include many voices and perspectives in what we ultimately publish. Legalization, which seems to be gaining some slight traction in North Carolina but isn't likely to go anywhere in the legislature soon, is a topic that deserves robust debate, for and against.

You can reach Paul at 910-486-3512 or pwoolverton@fayobserver.com.

Or, take our online poll and leave your comments there: bit.ly/marijuanaNC.

Thanks for weighing in.

Executive editor Matt Leclercq can be reached at mleclercq@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3551.