Buncombe's Democratic commissioners back medical marijuana

ASHEVILLE — Buncombe County's four Democratic commissioners signed a letter of support this week asking the state legislature to consider legalizing medical marijuana in North Carolina.

Chairman Brownie Newman and commissioners Ellen Frost, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and Al Whitesides signed the Sept. 16 letter, which urged lawmakers to support policies for "seriously ill people who have a medical need to use cannabis."

Commissioners were asked by North Carolinians for Medicinal Rights, a Fletcher-based group, to sign the letter. It comes after supporters lobbied for commissioners to sign a resolution in support of medical marijuana.

Under county policy, however, commissioners don't consider resolutions dealing with state or federal issues.

Asheville City Council unanimously voted this year to support a state bill legalizing medical marijuana.

Related: Mission Health CEO clarifies medical pot stance

Twenty-nine states have legalized medical marijuana, but North Carolina bills have been blocked this year by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Buncombe's three Republican commissioners — Mike Fryar, Robert Pressley and Joe Belcher — did not sign the letter.

"Changing state law will have the practical effort of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use cannabis," the Sept. 16 letter said.

You can read the letter here: