Cannabis advocate and former Democratic congressional candidate Barbara Gaskins has filed civil rights complaints with N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice over the state’s puzzling marijuana laws.

After Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers were criticized for repeatedly hitting a woman during a marijuana-related arrest in November, police say they are taking steps to modify how they use force and interact with the public. But they stopped short of accepting some recommendations to stop investigating the mere smell of marijuana.

The Charlotte City Council met in closed session this week to review the police body camera footage from a violent arrest in November after police said two people were smoking marijuana at a bus stop.

The recent violent arrest of two people smoking what might have been a legal version of cannabis illustrates the confusion over North Carolina’s marijuana laws. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, says it’s time for some clarity.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on Tuesday released over 30 videos of the arrest last month of two people who claimed they were smoking THC-A, a legal, hemp-derived product with intoxicating effects similar to cannabis. All charges were dropped.

Police in North Carolina recently arrested people for smoking legal hemp products that smell just like marijuana, which is still illegal there.

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that it will not prosecute two people who were arrested earlier this month at a southwest Charlotte bus stop. CMPD approached a man and a woman about allegedly smoking marijuana, which led to a violent confrontation that went viral after it was caught on video.

Some Charlotte City Council members aren't aware of the legal, mind-altering cannabis products being sold throughout the city. They look and smell just like illegal marijuana.

In North Carolina, marijuana is illegal. But smokable hemp products that get people high are sold throughout the state. Last week, a video went viral of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer punching a woman during an attempted arrest for smoking what police said was marijuana. Four other officers were restraining the woman at the time.

THC-A has become popular in Charlotte in the last year. When smoked, it produces the same psychoactive effects as marijuana. It's also legal.