Greensboro THC crawl draws crowds as state calls hemp market wild west

Downtown Greensboro was packed with people stopping at Chandler’s, Little Brother Brewing and Grey’s Tavern to try THC-infused drinks, gummies and other hemp-derived products, a sign of how quickly the market has spread across Guilford County even as state leaders warn the rules have not kept up.

Most of what shoppers were trying was not marijuana under North Carolina law. It was hemp, a category that federal law defines as cannabis with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by weight. That definition helped open the door to intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 and hemp-derived delta-9, products that can produce a high while still being sold through a legal loophole.

The state’s North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis, created by Gov. Josh Stein in June 2025, says that loophole has created a market with no statewide potency limits, no standardized laboratory testing and no clear labeling requirements. In its interim report, approved on April 2, 2026, the council said North Carolinians can legally buy intoxicating hemp-derived products in a system that is “neither true prohibition nor meaningful regulation.”

That gap is central to the debate now moving toward Raleigh. The council is not endorsing one single path, but it is laying out options for lawmakers, including tighter rules on hemp products or a regulated adult-use cannabis market. Stein said the report shows North Carolina needs a “safe, legal, and well-regulated market for adults” that protects kids.

The report also found that North Carolinians spent about $3 billion on illegal marijuana in 2022, a reminder that hemp products have not replaced the illicit market. A federal update set to take effect in November 2026 could tighten the hemp definition and limit many of the products now on sale in Greensboro and elsewhere in the state.

For businesses pouring hemp drinks or stocking gummies in downtown Greensboro, that leaves an uncertain future as the North Carolina General Assembly prepares to open a new session on April 21, 2026. Some people at the crawl said legalization should come with stronger controls to keep intoxicating products away from teens. Others said North Carolina is behind and should move toward broader legalization. For shoppers, the immediate reality is simpler: THC products are already easy to find in Guilford County, but there is no easy statewide system to verify how strong they are, how they were tested or how they were labeled.