Right now in North Carolina, teenagers can walk into gas stations like this one and buy these, THC gummies, legally, with no ID.

- It is the Wild West out there.

- [Reporter] Wild West of cannabis in North Carolina.

- I mean it really is the Wild, Wild West.

It's a dangerous situation in North Carolina.

- North Carolina bans marijuana, yet teenagers can legally buy THC at gas stations.

How is this possible?

To find out, I spoke with a teenager whose life was forever changed by these products.

This is Dabney Ferris.

She's 18 years old, but when she was 15, something happened that changed her life.

- It first started, obviously, like with friends and just kinda like wanting to fit in and then it like just progressively got worse.

- [David H.] After school, Dabney and her friends would go to gas stations to buy THC products.

Most places sold to them, no questions asked.

- The very first time, I was nervous.

I was like, you guys do this, and you like don't like think anything of it?

Like, I was very surprised.

I mean, we were kids.

- [David H.] Over time, she became addicted to THC.

She says the drugs changed her.

- I was hooked from the very first time.

[siren blares] - [David H.] And Dabney isn't alone.

In North Carolina, teen emergency room visits from cannabis jumped 600% since 2019, and here's what most people don't know.

Teenage brains work differently than adult brains when it comes to THC.

The teenage brain is still developing, still forming new pathways.

When THC interferes with that development, it can cause lasting changes that may be permanent.

- Like, I think about to a daily basis.

I'm like, I did stuff to my brain that I can't reverse, and I will never be able to get that back.

- [David H.] So Dabney's story raises an obvious question.

How can teenagers buy drugs in a state where marijuana isn't allowed?

Well, it comes down to something called hemp.

Hemp and marijuana are the same plant.

The only difference is how much THC they have.

In 2018, Congress passed the Farm Bill.

This made hemp legal to grow and sell, but hemp plants could only have 0.3% THC.

Companies, though, found a loophole.

The 0.3% limit only applies to the plant itself.

It doesn't limit the final products, so companies take lots of hemp plants and pull out all the THC, then they put that concentrated THC into products like gummies.

Even though each plant has tiny amounts of THC, one gummy can have a whole lot more.

- When sold correctly, it's safe, and it's available to the public.

- [David H.] But even a lotta people in the cannabis business are calling for an age limit.

- So what we do is we scan everyone's ID when they come in for the first time.

This is the ABC Private Bar Membership app that's required for most North Carolina private bars.

- [David H.] Eric Stahl is the co-owner of Modern Apotheca.

- No product that we carry is not going to list the active ingredient.

- [David H.] They check every customer's ID, and the door stays locked until you scan your license.

- We understand these products should never find their ways into the hands of children, and they should have the same age gating that alcohol and other intoxicating products are, which is 21 plus.

- [Clerk] Let's see, this is the Brightside.

- [David H.] And other hemp shops agree.

Companies like Carolindica, who have several stores across The Triangle, think better rules would help everyone.

- What we see a lot of is confusion in the consumer side of like, you can go into one store and buy something, go into another store and think you're basically buying the same thing, and they're very different.

- [Clerk] And so the magic number you wanna look for is the THC.

- [David] Carolindica wants things, like lab testing and clear labels on every product, things they already do.

- There's nothing that we can do in our power to tell other companies how they should or shouldn't do things, right, that's kinda where you create this legislation that defines what's the way it's supposed to be done.

- [David H.] But nothing has been done yet.

Lawmakers have talked about new rules, but they haven't passed anything yet.

- So our goal is to help individuals find the right products for them.

- [David H.] Stahl hopes lawmakers can pass some sort of rules that keep products away from kids, but let adults still have access.

- We really need to work to remove the stigma that adults shouldn't have these products, these are bad products.

These are really healthy products, when they're made correctly and they're used by people who know what they're doing.

What we can't have is kids in the back of mom's car getting hold of the gummies that she accidentally left on the floor.

You have to treat hemp like you treat alcohol.

- [David H.] Some kids like Dabney likely would've benefited from these kinds of protections, but today, she's in recovery and getting her life back.

- I definitely think having support systems was the biggest part and having friends and people that like encouraged my recovery.

We need laws in place to protect people like me.

- [David H.] She even testified to lawmakers about what happened to her, hoping her experience will lead to some sort of change.

- I hope they can protect kids in the way that I wasn't protected.

It could have saved me from so many things that have affected me now and I want them to save other people.

- [David H.] Meanwhile, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has created a group to study the state's cannabis policies and make recommendations.

So what do you think North Carolina should do?

Should they ban these products?

Regulate them like alcohol?

Or maybe even legalize marijuana entirely.

Comment and let us know.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.