How difficult is it for underage people to get vapes? WRAL goes undercover to find out

There are more than 13,000 stores across the state of North Carolina that sell tobacco products. Eight hundred of those shops are in Wake County.

While federal law says a person must be 21 years or older to purchase tobacco products, in North Carolina, the law allows for the sale of tobacco to those 18 years and older.

"But they don't card, I can tell you that much," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein told WRAL Investigates.

Teen advocates at the Poe Center for Health Education in Raleigh said they don't think it is difficult for underage people to get vapes.

"Many shops don't ask for their ID," said Anishka, one of the teen advocates at the Poe Center.

Oak, a 16-year-old in treatment for vaping, said the same thing.

"I always paid like someone in my grade to go get them for me," Oak said.

The same sentiment was expressed by local teens we met in Apex.

"Like just about anybody could get access to vaping," said 18-year-old Liam.

Sarah, 20, said she has been vaping since she was 16 and is addicted to it. "There's so many vape stores," she said.

WRAL spent months speaking to doctors, people who work for the state and a lot of young people. All said the same thing – kids are finding ways to get vape products, even those too young to purchase them legally.

So WRAL decided to check stores ourselves.

We sent WRAL news production assistant Delaney Kearns, 21, with a hidden camera into vape stores all over Raleigh, including some on North Carolina State University's campus to see if she would get carded. Kearns said she has never vaped and doesn't plan on starting.

"I just pointed at it. I said, 'Can I have that one?'" Kearns said. "Then I paid and left. I never got asked about my ID."

This happened at every shop on the first day.

The next day, Kearns went to six more stores, including a a drive-through.

"I just drove up and again told her just a very generic one and she grabbed it for me and I drove off with it," Kearns said. "No questions were ever asked about ID or age."

Just two out of the 12 total shops said she needed an ID to buy a vape. All of the stores should be asking for identification.

But advocates say having the state law differ from federal law makes things unclear.

“It's confusing, it's conflicting, and it really just creates a loophole is what it does,” said Danna Thompson with the American Lung Association.

Lawmakers recently passed vaping legislation in North Carolina, but the bill doesn't raise the age to buy tobacco products to 21, something advocates say that would make the biggest difference.

"If we can delay people ever using until they're 21, the likelihood of addiction is very, very low," Virginia Johnson at Poe Center for Health Education said. "That's one of the reasons we have laws around being 21."

NC would create vape registry, force other products off store shelves under new bill

North Carolina is one of the last states to still allow 18-year-olds to buy tobacco products.

WRAL Investigates asked state Sen. Paul Lowe, a Democrat who represents Forsyth County and supported the vaping bill, why lawmakers just don't change the age to match the federal law.

"I think that's a good question. I don't know if I have an answer for, but I think that's a good question," he said.

WRAL’s Documentary "Gen V: Teen Vaping in North Carolina" will examine the law and why advocates say it missed the mark. Watch it on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. anywhere you stream WRAL. You can also watch it on demand on wraldoc.com.