TITLE 4: ECONOMIC RESOURCES DIVISION 5: BUSINESS REGULATION
§ 53002. Purposes. The Legislature declares that the purposes of this chapter are: (a) To create a CNMI Cannabis Commission; (b) To allow the personal, medicinal, and commercial use of cannabis or marijuana in the CNMI provided that such activity occurs pursuant to this chapter or pursuant to the laws of a Senatorial District; (c) To create a hemp industry for the CNMI; (d) To eliminate the problems caused by the prohibition and uncontrolled manufacture, delivery, and possession of marijuana in this Commonwealth; (e) To protect the safety, welfare, health, and peace of the people of this Commonwealth by prioritizing the Commonwealth’s limited law enforcement resources in the most effective, consistent, and rational way; (f) To permit persons licensed, controlled, and regulated by the CNMI Cannabis Commission to legally manufacture and sell marijuana to persons 21 years of age and older subject to the provisions of this chapter; (g) To permit doctors and their patients to make decisions about the use of medicinal marijuana without undue governmental interference; (h) To establish a comprehensive regulatory framework concerning marijuana under existing Commonwealth law; (i) To declare that in the interest of enacting rational policies for the treatment of all variations of the cannabis plant - hemp should be regulated separately from strains of cannabis with higher delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations of 0.3%; and (j) To declare that it is necessary to ensure consistency and fairness in the application of this chapter throughout the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands; therefore, the matters addressed by this chapter are, except as specified herein, matters of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands’ concern. Source: PL 20-65 § 2(102) (Sept. 21, 2018), modified. Commission Comment: The Commission changed “Act” to “chapter” pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(g).