Investigators with the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants Tuesday at six businesses accused of selling vapes and other THC-laden products, including marijuana.

Sheriff Calvin Woodard said the office has been conducting a months-long probe centered on local high school students who bought the products and, in some cases, overdosed at school. Deputies confiscated 50 pounds of marijuana from one Wilson business, the J Blaize Smoke Shop.

WCSO Chief of Staff Wanda Samuel named six people arrested Tuesday and said additional arrests are expected.

Arrests
– Hamme Nasser, 28, of the 1300 block of Lakeside Drive in Wilson — arrested at Space Exotic in Wilson; charged with felony selling a Schedule VI controlled substance, felony maintaining a place for a controlled substance and felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance.
– Basheer Muhammed Aaser, 41, of the 300 block of Catharine Court West in Wilson — arrested at Tareq I Mini Mart in Stantonsburg; charged with felony selling a Schedule VI controlled substance and felony maintaining a place for a controlled substance.
– Saber Jamal Shaya Korin, 38, of the 1100 block of Forest Hills Road Northwest in Wilson — arrested at J Blaize in Wilson; charged with felony maintaining a place for a controlled substance.
– Summer Ashlyn Fulghum, 21, of the 1100 block of Vance Street in Wilson — arrested at the Smoke & Toke in Wilson; charged with three counts of felony maintaining a place for a controlled substance and three counts of felony selling a Schedule VI controlled substance.
– Tareq Ali Ahmed Zabara, 47, of the 2500 block of St. Christopher Circle, Wilson — arrested at Tareq 1 Mini Mart in Stantonsburg; charged with felony selling a Schedule VI controlled substance.
– Mohammed Outaous, 48, of the 3700 block of Ashbrook Drive in Wilson — arrested at the Grab and Go Mart in Elm City; charged with felony selling a Schedule VI controlled substance.

Businesses searched Tuesday
– Smoke and Toke, 2861 Ward Blvd., Unit G, Wilson
– J Blaize Smoke Shop, 1400 Ward Blvd., Wilson
– 7 Daze, 501 Raleigh Road Parkway W., Wilson
– Space Exotic, 1903 U.S. 301, Wilson
– Tareq 1 Mini Mart, 218 Moyton Ave., Stantonsburg
– Grab and Go Mart, 101 Parker St., Elm City

Rising number of overdoses

“We have been having a lot of vape situations in high schools where kids have been having a lot of medical issues, overdosing on it. Some kids are getting suspended. Some are being charged,” Woodard said.

Using information from the WCSO detective assigned to schools and school resource officers, investigators targeted vape shops and gas stations selling THC products — tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Deputies made purchases from several outlets and had the items tested at a private lab.

“We were able to uncover that these vapes had more THC in them than normal marijuana. Plus, some of the operations they were conducting, they were actually being sold marijuana from behind the counter along with these vapes,” Woodard said. “So we are hitting all these vape stores. We are doing it simultaneously.”

By law, products cannot contain more than 0.3% THC, Woodard noted. “But these vapes were like 85%,” he said.

Woodard said area high schools have seen a sharp increase in vaping-related medical emergencies, disrupting classrooms when EMS and law enforcement are called. He urged parents to be aware: “The parents really need to be mindful of what their kids are doing, what they are vaping.”

Some vapes are flavored and do not emit the scent of marijuana. “From our investigation, these people know that these vapes contain these ingredients and they are still out here selling them to our kids,” Woodard said. “And then we have got kids that are trying to sell them in the schools. We need to get rid of this. These kids are going into medical emergencies at these schools, and we are not going to have this junk. It’s not going to happen in Wilson County and we are not playing with this.”

Regulatory gap complicates enforcement

Maj. Brandon Barbrey said the liquid vapes exist in an unregulated market because current law does not set limits for many THC products. “It is a liquid that is vaporized. It is an unregulated market because there is no legislation as far as the limits with the THC stuff. We have Delta 8, Delta 9, Delta 10. Delta 9 and Delta 10 are — typically they are synthesized or synthetic cannabinoids, and these kids are getting a potent amount of marijuana quickly because this liquid is vaporizing, heating up, and it is causing overdose-like symptoms,” Barbrey said.

He added that without age restrictions in law, a 12-year-old can legally buy these unregulated vapes in some outlets. “You have to be 21 to buy tobacco, right? But these vapes are unregulated. There’s no age as far as the legislation goes.”

The lack of regulation also limits prosecutorial and juvenile petition options. “We can’t do anything with juvenile petitions because it is not regulated,” Barbrey said. He described the strain on families when students are suspended while also being taken by ambulance for vomiting or hallucinations.

Woodard said the problem has grown over years. “I think we have got about 40 cases in the last year. Not all of them are overdoses, but where kids have been found with vapes. Not necessarily saying that it has the substance,” he said. All overdoses are investigated by the sheriff’s drug unit.

To document potency, the WCSO purchased items and paid a private accredited lab for analysis using special funds, Barbrey said. “The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, the taxpayers of Wilson County, have to pay to have these vapes tested because our crime lab doesn’t test for potency,” he said.

Calls for legislative action and parental vigilance

Woodard and Barbrey urged lawmakers to act. “They need to step up and look into what is happening with our kids,” Woodard said. He acknowledged parents work hard and expect schools to be safe, and called for “some strong teeth on these vape shops and some kind of regulation.”

Barbrey suggested legislators could begin by setting an age requirement for vape purchases. Other states have regulated hemp-derived THC products; North Carolina law currently does not.

Woodard noted there are 43 vape shops in Wilson County and said THC products are also sold at gas stations. Barbrey added that a single vape cartridge typically sells for $50 or $55, and students sometimes resell hits in school bathrooms for $10 or $15 each.

Woodard said some stores may be using juveniles to sell the products and that juvenile petitions could follow. “We are letting the owners know that ‘Hey, you need to be mindful of what you are selling. If you are mindful of what you are selling, it doesn’t need to be sold here.’ We have got a duty to protect our kids.”

He urged parents to be vigilant at home as well: “They are going to have to be mindful of what their kids are doing, find these items and get them out of the house, question their children and talk to their children. Without that piece, the kid is still going to continue to do it, and peer pressure is strong. It is strong in these schools.”