Help Protect Mary Lopez Carter & Carolina Hemp Hut from ALE’s Overreach
Our Story
My name is David Carter. My wife, Mary Lopez Carter, is the founder of Carolina Hemp Hut — a trusted, community-centered store that has been serving North Carolina since 2017.
Mary isn’t just a shop owner. She’s an educator, a caregiver, and the heart behind “Mama Mary” at Carolina Hemp Hut. She has taught over 500 people through her Learn Your CBDs classes, patiently explaining cannabinoids, terpenes, and natural plant compounds with clear metaphors that anyone can understand.
Doctors at Duke, UNC, and Cone may not be allowed to “officially” recommend hemp, but their patients often come to Carolina Hemp Hut. Why? Because Mary and her team provide safe, science-based education, never medical claims — just access to research, transparency, and compassionate guidance.
Why Carolina Hemp Hut Matters
From the very beginning, Carolina Hemp Hut has stood for:
- Healing, not the high. Always hemp, always compliant.
- Transparency. Every product purchased with COAs, every customer carded 21+.
- Community service. Donating masks during COVID, supporting local events, and offering Hero discounts for teachers, firefighters, and first responders.
- Inclusivity. A staff that reflects the community: multiracial, multicultural, including veterans, autistic team members, and LGBTQ representation. Mary treats them like family — she invests in their training and their future.
Carolina Hemp Hut is one of the cleanest, most reputable hemp stores in the state.
What Happened
Despite this record, the NC Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) division raided our stores in 2025. Products purchased legally under the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill were seized and treated as illegal marijuana under outdated Controlled Substances Act (CSA) standards.
Mary was humiliated with an aggressive arrest in front of me, her 60-year-old body cuffed too tightly despite her arthritis, even though she was no flight risk. Our stores were damaged. Employees and customers were mistreated. Deputies even told customers at the door: “They’re probably not going to be ever open again.”
The NC Department of Revenue then piled on with inflated tax claims, weighing packaging and tubes as if they were contraband and further ignoring the fact that the product was hemp and would require proper weighing and testing in order to levy any sort of tax or penalty.
The truth is simple: Carolina Hemp Hut followed the Farm Bill. ALE applied a different rulebook and fabricated a case.
Why This Matters
- This fight is bigger than Mary.
- If ALE can target a law-abiding hemp business like Carolina Hemp Hut, they can target any hemp business, anywhere.
- If Mary accepts a plea deal, ALE will claim victory and set a precedent against all small hemp shops.
- If Mary fights and wins, it protects not just her name, but also every entrepreneur, employee, and customer who relies on hemp.
Why We Need Your Help
Legal defense is tremendously expensive. Mary has taken no salary since this started — every dollar has gone to paying her staff and keeping the doors open. But the costs of lawyers, filings, and appeals are more than we can carry alone.
Your donation will go directly to:
- Covering Mary’s legal defense.
- Keeping Carolina Hemp Hut alive during this fight.
- Protecting the integrity of hemp in North Carolina.
Something About Mary
Mary isn’t just fighting for herself.
She’s the woman who:
- Helped me live with primary intracranial malignant melanoma, a rare, aggressive brain cancer, since 1992 — researching tirelessly, step by step, to keep me alive.
- Built Carolina Hemp Hut as a safe, trusted space for healing when doctors said, “go home and die.”
- Educated thousands about hemp and wellness, always with honesty, never hype.
- Created opportunities for employees that others would turn away, and treated them like family.
Mary is my angel. She’s been the community’s angel, too. Now she needs the community to stand with her.
How You Can Help
- Donate what you can — every dollar helps.
- Share this campaign with friends, family, and anyone who cares about fairness, hemp, or small businesses.
- Stand with Mary against ALE’s overreach.
Together, we can protect Mary, protect Carolina Hemp Hut, and protect the future of hemp in North Carolina.
Thank you for helping us fight for truth, fairness, and healing. Mary has spent years protecting others. Today, she needs your protection.
Added:
The New Federal Hemp Ban Makes Our Fight Even Harder — and Even More Important
Dear Carolina Hemp Hut Family, Friends, and Supporters,
We want to share an urgent and deeply personal update about the situation facing Mary Lopez Carter, our team, and Carolina Hemp Hut.
In the middle of everything we are already fighting — including ALE’s unjust actions, Mary’s wrongful charges, and the financial devastation caused by the raids — the federal government has now passed a new law restricting and effectively banning many hemp-derived products nationwide.
This new legislation changes the very definition of hemp and places severe limits on the total amount of THC (including THCa) allowed in any product. The legal limit is now so low that even ordinary full-spectrum CBD, CBG, and other therapeutic hemp extracts may soon be impacted.
And here’s the heartbreaking truth:
The products this ban threatens — CBD, CBG, full-spectrum tinctures, herbal blends — aren’t “intoxicants.” They’re lifelines for people who are hurting.
They’re used by people managing chronic pain, anxiety, trauma, inflammation, autoimmune conditions, neuropathy, sleep issues, and more. These are products that have helped countless individuals live fuller, more comfortable lives without pharmaceuticals, addiction, or harmful side effects.
For years, Carolina Hemp Hut has been a safe, reliable, transparent place to find these natural options.
A place built around education, compassion, and healing — not the high.
Now, between the ALE raids and the new federal ban, the pressure on Mary and our business has intensified in a way we could never have imagined.
What the New Federal Ban Means for CHH and for Mary
Products we have always carried responsibly and legally may soon be restricted or removed.
Inventory has already lost value overnight due to legal uncertainty.
Customers depending on us for relief may suddenly find themselves without access.
Revenue needed to fight Mary’s case, recover from ALE’s damage, and keep the doors open is threatened even further.
Our entire mission — helping people heal naturally — is now at risk.
We are not just fighting to clear Mary’s name anymore.
We are fighting to protect the right to hemp-based wellness for thousands of North Carolinians and millions of Americans who rely on safe, non-intoxicating plant-based support.
Why Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Every contribution helps Mary continue her legal fight against charges that never should have been filed.
Every contribution helps keep CHH alive as these new federal rules take effect.
Every contribution sends a message that natural wellness — CBD, CBG, full-spectrum hemp, herbal support — is worth defending.
We have always stood up for this community.
Now we humbly ask this community to stand with us.
Mary has spent years helping educate people — from everyday customers to UNC and Duke medical professionals — on how to use hemp responsibly and safely.
She has given her time, her energy, and her heart to anyone who needed guidance.
And now she is suffering more than she ever has.
Between legal fees, lost revenue from the raids, the uncertainty surrounding the federal hemp ban, and the emotional toll of being wrongfully criminalized for helping people, Mary is bearing a weight no small business owner should ever have to carry.
If you believe in natural health…
If you believe in fairness…
If you believe in defending safe, responsible access to hemp…**
…then please consider supporting this GoFundMe today.
Your help is needed now more than ever.
Donate or share today!
Thank you — truly — for being part of this fight.
Thank you for caring about Mary, our team, our customers, and the future of natural wellness in North Carolina.
We are not giving up.
And with your help, we won’t have to.
Organizer
