The hemp industry in North Carolina has been booming in recent years with little to no regulation. Some businesses are policing themselves until lawmakers give them some framework.
Some in the hemp-derived THC industry are trying to break the stigma surrounding these psychoactive THC products. But their efforts get set back when next door, there could be a vape shop selling illegal marijuana disguised as legal hemp.
“Smells exactly the same, looks exactly the same and almost does exactly the same stuff,” said Max Oglesby, owner of Above the Roots.
Law enforcement’s job got significantly harder when hemp was legalized, and marijuana lookalikes became widely available.
“We have had a few sheriff deputies come in; we have had local New Bern PD come in. We’ve been compliant with everything they need,” says Oglesby.
Major David McFadyen with the Craven County Sheriff’s office tells us they’ll have deputies request samples from vape shops to be tested for illegal levels of Delta-9 THC. That level is greater than 0.3% concentration.
“Avazyme was originally founded as an agriculture and food testing laboratory, catering essentially to the entire food value chain from farm to fork,” said Volker Bornemann, CEO of Avazyme Labs.
This is Volker Bornemann, founder and CEO of Avazyme Labs. After winning a state contract, Avazyme became one of the biggest private evidence labs in North Carolina and has tested between 30-50,000 marijuana samples.
“I would say more than 95% of the materials, the evidence samples we have tested turn out to be marijuana. Only a very small percentage, usually from seizures in like vape stores, they sometimes have two hemp samples,” said Bornemann.
If an evidence sample comes back as ‘hot’, or above the legal limit, a store owner could be charged with felony offenses- of selling and possessing marijuana. Though UNC Chapel Hill professor, Phil Dixon, says it’s often difficult for these charges to stick- especially if the evidence is just above the legal limit.
“But it’s hard to show that the store owner knew the product was illegal. Our law requires that it is knowing possession of controlled substances, and that’s usually presumed like ‘hey you got a bag of drugs in your pocket we presume you know what that is,’ but if you come forward and say ‘actually, I really didn’t know, I have a good faith basis to believe this was a legal product,’ the state then has to rebut that,” says UNC Professor Phil Dixon.
For over a year, the NC General Assembly has been trying to clear the hemp industry of bad actors in both manufacturing and retail. Most recently, legislators introduced House Bill 563, a bill that would regulate the sale and distribution of hemp-derived products.
“It put standards in place, it might be testing standards, there’s milligram standards, it put compliance standards in place for manufacturers and also retailers,” says John Bell, President of Asterra Labs and House Majority Leader.
Rep. John Bell is the House Majority Leader and President of Asterra Labs, a company that manufactures hemp product. He tells News 12 HB 563 passed unanimously through the house and through the senate committees, but before it could get to the Governor’s desk, the Senate Rules Committee Chair, Bill Rabon of Brunswick County, added in the Compassionate Care Act- which would legalize medical marijuana. With that new addition, any chance of getting the hemp regulations passed quickly died out.
“I feel like from a legislative perspective we’ll be able to work those out, hopefully by the end of the year. If not, we’ll come into the 2025 session and we’ll put the same bill forward, which is the CBD and Hemp regulations,” says Bell.
In the meantime, both Rep. Bell and Oglesby will continue to push for regulations, standards, and additional training for law enforcement.
“We have an opportunity here to have a robust and growing industry here in the state of North Carolina. And the only way to do that is to have proper regulations in place, which is what this bill does,” says Bell.
While speaking with these industry leaders, News 12 got in the weeds about exact testing, how some of these products are made and the problems law enforcement face when differentiating between hemp and marijuana. For those interested in learning more, visit our YouTube page for the full interviews.
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