After returning test results from THC-A products purchased at two businesses in Chatham County, the sheriff’s office announced charges against the operators and warned the community of their marketing toward minors.
A release from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office on Monday detailed a recent investigation that led to sheriff’s deputies seizing items that tested over the state’s legal limit for THC-A (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), which can become psychoactive when exposed to heat. In July, the narcotics unit of the office completed controlled purchases of products from P’s Vape Escape off Sanford Road in Pittsboro and Smokerz Depot on 11th Street in Siler City. The items returned from a nearby laboratory with TCH levels more than 10 to 200 times the legal limit and “far above what was advertised,” according to the alert.
Investigators brought charges against business operators in both cases, in part because each had previously receiving warnings during an earlier investigation when law enforcement found the shops to be out of legal compliance. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office emphasized its concern of these products, and similar ones, being marketed toward children — as the bright packaging, flavors and variety of vaping devices are often made to be attractive to young buyers, despite the contents being more potent than advertised…