\n
In the mid-1970s, the Dutch government initiated a permissive policy toward cannabis coffeeshops in Amsterdam and other cities, where locals and foreigners could purchase hash, weed, and \u201cspace cakes\u201d (THC<\/span>-rich edibles) for onsite consumption in a relaxed setting without fear of arrest. Even though recreational cannabis was \u2013 and still is \u2013 technically illegal in the Netherlands, the authorities tolerated the proliferation of cannabis coffee shops as an effective harm reduction strategy (better cannabis than injecting hard drugs).<\/p>\nBut when I visited Amsterdam in the summer of 2010 while writing Smoke Signals<\/em>, the city was beginning to lose its luster as a magnet for international cannabis tourism. A rightwing coalition had recently gained a majority in the Dutch capital, and meddlesome new restrictions, including a ban on tobacco smoking, were being imposed on cannabis coffeeshops throughout the city.<\/p>\nThis was a bummer for those who prefer to roll some tobacco with their joints, as is common in Europe. It meant that the famous Dutch coffee shops would be less hospitable to many European cannabis consumers \u2013 and businesses would suffer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you expect that the authorities will also ban cannabis smoking in the coffee shops?<\/em>\u201d I asked\u00a0Michael Veling, the gregarious proprietor of the 420 Cafe near Amsterdam\u2019s Red Light district.<\/p>\n\u201cThey can\u2019t outlaw cannabis smoking<\/em>,\u201d Veling assured me, \u201cbecause it\u2019s already illegal.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nEnter Delta-8 THC<\/span><\/h2>\nMore than a decade later, I\u2019m reminded of that conversation as for-profit purveyors of Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, a THC<\/span> isomer chemically synthesized from hemp-derived CBD<\/span>, fret over anticipated federal machinations to put the kibosh on the latest cannabinoid craze.<\/p>\nGummies, tinctures, prerolls, and vape carts spiked with Delta-8 THC<\/span> have become wildly popular, especially in states that have yet to legalize whole plant cannabis for medical or adult use. Delta-8 THC<\/span> is a somewhat milder intoxicant than Delta-9 THC<\/span>, the medicinal compound known for causing the high that cannabis is famous for.<\/p>\nPsst! The U.S.<\/span> government can\u2019t ban Delta-8 THC<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\nWhy?<\/p>\n
Because the Feds can\u2019t outlaw something that\u2019s already illegal.<\/em><\/p>\nThe DEA<\/span> can merely reiterate \u2013 as it did in its August 2020 interim final rule on implementation of the Farm Bill \u2013 that \u201cAll synthetically derived tetrahydrocannabinols remain schedule I controlled substances.\u201d And that includes synthetically derived Delta-8 THC<\/span>.<\/p>\nSynthetics &<\/span> Semantics<\/h2>\nBut Delta-8 boosters claim that Delta-8 is federally lawful by virtue of an alleged loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp (cannabis with no more than 0.3 percent THC<\/span>). The Farm Bill, however, never specifically mentions Delta-8 THC<\/span>, an omission that has been loosely interpreted and exploited by some segments of the hemp industry as giving a green light for manufacturing and marketing Delta-8 THC<\/span> products that offer a (supposedly) legal high.<\/p>\nBut Delta-8 THC<\/span> in its natural form is present only in minuscule amounts in the cannabis plant. What\u2019s flooding the unregulated market is synthetic Delta-8 that doesn\u2019t actually come from the plant; instead it\u2019s synthesized from CBD<\/span> that has been extracted and isolated from hemp biomass. Converting CBD<\/span> isolate into Delta-8 THC<\/span> is not a natural process. It typically entails the use of toxic solvents, which raises quality and safety concerns.<\/p>\n\nThe Feds can\u2019t outlaw something that\u2019s already illegal.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Regulators in Colorado, a pro-cannabis state, banned Delta-8 products from licensed cannabis dispensaries, dietary supplements, and cosmetics after the Colorado Health Department issued a notice in May 2021 declaring that \u201cchemically modifying or converting any naturally occurring cannabinoids from industry hemp is noncompliant with the statutory definition of \u2018industrial hemp product.\u2019\u201d Vermont\u2019s hemp rules also explicitly prohibit the \u201cuse of synthetic cannabinoids in the production of any hemp-infused product.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several state legislatures have passed measures that define tetrahydrocannabinol as Delta-9 THC<\/span> plus any of its natural or synthetic isomers. The consensus among most state lawmakers is that all these isomers, including Delta-8 THC<\/span>, count as THC<\/span> \u2013 and cumulatively they can\u2019t exceed 0.3 percent by dry weight to qualify as hemp. Undaunted, Delta-8 promoters continue to cling to the dubious notion that Delta-8 is legal because it\u2019s \u201cderived\u201d from federally legal hemp, even though there\u2019s little to no Delta-8 THC<\/span> in the hemp plant. What they actually mean by \u201cderived from federally legal hemp\u201d is that the process of making Delta-8 THC<\/span> starts with the CBD<\/span> in hemp biomass before it\u2019s extracted, isolated, and chemically transformed into Delta-8 THC<\/span>.<\/p>\nChristopher Hudalla of ProVerde Laboratories, an analytical testing company with offices in Massachusetts and Maine, debunks the idea that Delta-8 THC<\/span> is legal because it\u2019s \u201chemp-derived.\u201d Just because the starting material may be legal, that \u201cdoes not make the resulting product legal or safe,\u201d says Hudalla, who notes that one can synthesize methamphetamine from legal, over-the-counter cold medicine, but this doesn\u2019t mean that meth is legal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Safety concerns<\/h2>\n Delta-8 safety issues run the gamut from inaccurate labeling and high THC<\/span> content to noxious solvent residues and reaction byproducts. Two thirds of Delta-8 THC<\/span> products rcently surveyed by Leafreport did not contain the advertised amount of Delta-8, and more than half of these cannabinoid consumables contained more than the legally allowable amount of Delta-9 THC<\/span>. \u201cOverall, our investigation confirmed that Delta-8 products are mostly offered by inexperienced companies looking to make a quick buck,\u201d Leafreport concluded.<\/p>\n\nConverting CBD<\/span> isolate into Delta-8 THC<\/span> is not a natural process. It entails the use of toxic solvents, which raises quality and safety concerns.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\nIn addition to Delta-9 THC<\/span> and Delta-8 THC<\/span>, several unidentified compounds have turned up in Delta-8 products, along with chemical reaction leftovers and novel synthetic cannabinoids, which aren\u2019t found naturally in cannabis. But they are prevalent in the unregulated Delta-8 market. Little is known about the impact of these impurities on human health.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s all bathtub gin,\u201d Hudalla told journalist Molly Longman. His lab has found up to 30 unknown components in a single Delta-8 product. These sketchy compounds are byproducts of converting hemp-derived CBD<\/span> into Delta-8 THC<\/span>. \u201cConsumers are being used as guinea pigs,\u201d says Hudalla. \u201cTo me that\u2019s horrific.\u201d<\/p>\nNeuroscientist Greg Gerdeman is also troubled by the lack of regulatory oversight of Delta-8 products. He maintains that it\u2019s misleading to describe Delta-8-THC<\/span> intoxication as merely a milder version of Delta-9-THC<\/span>. Some people get anxious and paranoid if they consume too much Delta-8 THC<\/span>, which \u201ccan make you really high, it\u2019s just a matter of dosage,\u201d says Gerdeman, who is president of NASHCX<\/span>, a Nashville-based commodities exchange for hemp and its derivatives.<\/p>\nAmong hemp industry proponents, there\u2019s considerable disagreement about Delta-8 and what it means for the future of CBD<\/span> commerce. Some are concerned that the spread of Delta-8 intoxicants could jeopardize political support for the fledgling hemp industry and undermine chances in Congress to overrule the FDA<\/span> and greenlight CBD<\/span> as a food additive and health supplement. The U.S.<\/span> Hemp Authority refuses to certify Delta-8 THC<\/span> or other synthetic products \u201cderived\u201d from hemp, while pretzel logician attorneys at the Hemp Industries Association (HIA<\/span>) argue that Delta-8 is federally legal because the DEA<\/span> hasn\u2019t said it\u2019s illegal. The HIA<\/span> maintains that Delta-8 products should be regulated, not banned.<\/p>\nBait &<\/span> switch in Kentucky<\/h2>\nKentucky officials were blindsided by the proliferation of Delta-8 THC<\/span> products in the Bluegrass State, where hemp has emerged as an important cash crop. \u201cWhen hemp advocates first approached policymakers about legalizing hemp, they assured everyone that hemp was different than marijuana and that it was not an intoxicating substance,\u201d said Sean Southard, a spokesman for Kentucky\u2019s agriculture department. In a statement provided to Kentucky Today, Southard explained:<\/p>\n\u201cRelying upon those assurances, the Kentucky General Assembly and the United States Congress passed laws legalizing hemp by creating a definition to separate it from psychoactive forms of cannabis that puts users in an altered state. Now some want to argue that lawmakers accidentally legalized an intoxicating synthetic substance called Delta-8 THC<\/span>. This position is outside the mainstream, so much so that even Colorado \u2013 a state known for legalizing recreational marijuana \u2013 has banned Delta-8 THC<\/span> products.<\/p>\n\u201cContrary to claims that Delta-8 THC<\/span> is \u2018natural,\u2019 the truth is that there is no consumer product in existence that contains 100 percent naturally-derived Delta-8 THC<\/span>. Delta-8 THC<\/span> products do not contain compounds naturally extracted from the hemp plant. They contain synthetic Delta-8 THC<\/span> compounds created in a lab. According to news reports, Delta-8 THC<\/span> products can and are being made with battery acid and pool chemicals, are making people sick and have traces of harmful chemicals and metals. That\u2019s why poison control centers in Virginia, Michigan, and West Virginia have issued bulletins warning about the toxicity of these products.\u201d<\/p>\nKentucky hemp operators were told they risked losing their business license if they flouted the law by distributing federally illegal Delta-8 products. They were warned that they could face criminal charges if they got involved in synthesizing a hemp-derived compound into an intoxicant. What happened next was predictable. On June 15, Kentucky State Police raided two hemp CBD<\/span> retail storefronts and seized cash and Delta-8 products; store employees were charged with marijuana trafficking. This was the first of a series of police raids targeting Delta-8 stores around the Bluegrass State.<\/p>\nThe Kentucky Hemp Association (KYHA<\/span>) has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prohibit state law enforcement agencies from busting more Delta-8 outlets. According to the KYHA<\/span>, Delta-8 THC<\/span> products are legal under state laws that regulate hemp production. Inaction from the courts, the lawsuit argued, could have a \u201cpotential billion-dollar impact to Kentucky\u2019s economy, hemp growers, producers, and retail store owners.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A lifeline for hemp farmers?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
If nothing else, the popularity of Delta-8 consumables shows that there\u2019s a significant market for \u2018THC<\/span>-lite\u2019 type options \u2013 a noteworthy consumer preference that has largely been ignored by licensed cannabis companies fixated on high THC<\/span> content. Delta-8 THC<\/span> (two-thirds as potent as Delta-9) is said to comprise the fastest growing segment of the US<\/span> hemp industry. It has proven to be a lifeline, however precarious, for hemp growers and CBD<\/span> processors whose high hopes for lucrative earnings didn\u2019t pan out after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill.<\/p>\nCannabidiol is a powerful molecule. It catalyzed a change in federal law and a revival of the US<\/span> hemp industry. Cultivating legal hemp for CBD<\/span> extraction was hyped as a boon for America\u2019s struggling farmers, a cash crop that could fetch several hundred dollars more per acre compared to corn and soybeans. A huge market for CBD<\/span> products seemed to beckon.<\/p>\nCBD<\/span>\u2019s meteoric rise as a global health supplement fostered exuberant fantasies reminiscent of the \u201cTulip Mania\u201d outbreak that gripped 15th century Holland. Much like the Tulip craze of yore, the CBD<\/span> saga is a stark reminder of the painful reckoning that follows unrealistic and unsustainable overvaluation of a commodity\u2019s market potential. Seduced by the prospect of Colossal Big Dollars, newly minted US<\/span> hemp farmers produced a glut of cheap biomass, which was processed into CBD<\/span> isolate at an industrial scale. Overproduction and other miscues caused the price of CBD<\/span> to plummet, which set the stage for the rise of Delta-8 and other synthetic THC<\/span> analogues (such as Delta-10 THC<\/span> and THC<\/span>-O, a more potent intoxicant than Delta-9 THC<\/span>) that are driving brisk sales in smoke shops, gas stations, and online retail CBD<\/span> storefronts.<\/p>\nThe Delta-8 phenomenon took off as producers sought to transform the oversupply of CBD<\/span> into something profitable by turning it into a buzz-inducing analogue of THC<\/span>. Some CBD<\/span> brands were quick to jump on the \u2018hemp with a high\u2019 bandwagon \u2013 an ironic development given that CBD<\/span>\u2019s non-intoxicating properties had previously been leveraged to make the case that hemp, a versatile plant with thousands of industrial applications, isn\u2019t the same as marijuana, which people smoke to get high.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Bypassing the plant<\/h2>\n The enthusiastic embrace of synthetic Delta-8 THC<\/span> as the commercial salvation for hemp growers and CBD<\/span> retailers may be short lived, as several well-funded biotech companies are poised to unleash a deluge of CBD<\/span> isolate, grown from yeast or another substrate, which will avoid the laborious, time-consuming process of actually cultivating cannabis. No need to worry about bad weather or plants that go \u201chot\u201d (exceeding legal THC<\/span> limits) if your CBD<\/span> is fermenting in a factory.<\/p>\n\nHemp-derived CBD<\/span> isolate won\u2019t be able to compete economically with mass-produced, synthetic single-molecule CBD<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\nFrom a bottom-line business perspective, producing CBD<\/span> synthetically via yeast or another new-fangled patented laboratory technique has obvious advantages over plant-derived cannabidiol. If CBD<\/span>-isolate (the starter material for creating Delta-8 and other THC<\/span> analogues) is what you\u2019re after, then soon it will be cheaper and more efficient to purchase CBD<\/span> isolate created in a lab than to grow it in a hemp field and extract it from biomass. Lab-synthesized CBD<\/span> avoids the Farm Bill-imposed hassle of trying to squeeze a cannabis crop under the 0.3 percent THC<\/span> threshold, an absurd but legally required (and often futile) exercise, which is not optimal for a robust CBD<\/span> harvest.<\/p>\nSimply put, hemp-derived CBD<\/span> isolate won\u2019t be able to compete economically with mass-produced, synthetic, single-molecule CBD<\/span>. In the near future, the small shot of CBD<\/span> that\u2019s infused in gummies, vape carts, coffee, pet food, and countless other consumables will likely come from a lab, not a plant. Delta-8 THC<\/span> and other minor plant cannabinoids could also be conjured straight from a genetically modified yeast substrate, sidestepping the need for hemp biomass or plant-derived CBD<\/span> altogether. It\u2019s hard to see how any of this would be advantageous for hemp farmers.<\/p>\nBiotech and pharmaceutical companies are salivating over the expectation that \u201cbiopharming\u201d will be able to produce rare plant cannabinoids in much greater quantities than what\u2019s found in nature \u2013 and that soon these medically relevant compounds will be available on a scale required to conduct clinical trials and eventually to supply a huge consumer market. What\u2019s more, synthetically produced cannabinoids (aside from THC<\/span> and its intoxicating analogues) are not classified as narcotics by the DEA<\/span> or European officials and thus are \u201clikely safer from a regulatory standpoint\u201d than cannabis-derived compounds, according to Business Insider<\/em>, which cites investment analysts who predict that the market for biosynthetic cannabinoids, including CBD<\/span>, could skyrocket from around $10 billion in 2025 to $115 billion by 2040.<\/p>\nIf all this sounds far-fetched, consider the fact that biosynthesized vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) supplies more than 99 percent of the global market for vanilla flavorings \u2013 with less than one percent coming from farmed vanilla. What differentiates natural vanillin from synthetic vanillin is not what it is as much as how it\u2019s made \u2013 by a chemical reaction occurring within a vanilla plant or in a laboratory. The end result is the same compound. Meanwhile, vanilla farmers in Madagascar are becoming an endangered species.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n