I’ve been meaning to highlight this for some time now: the School of Government’s annual summary of legislation of interest of court officials is available here as a free PDF. It includes sections on criminal law, motor vehicle law, and juvenile law, as well as other sections that may be less relevant for readers of this blog. Below, I note one important legislative change that will come into effect soon.
That change, which I may explore in more detail in a later post, is contained in S.L. 2014-119. The bill amends G.S. 90-113.22, and adds new G.S. 90-113.22A, in order to make possession of marijuana paraphernalia a Class 3 misdemeanor and a lesser-included offense of the general drug paraphernalia offense, which remains a Class 1. The change is effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2014, so officers, lawyers, and judges will soon be dealing with it. Interestingly, it appears that paraphernalia intended for use with synthetic cannabinoids will remain a Class 1 misdemeanor.