While there was a hemp bill introduced in Congress every session since 2005, only because of CBD was hemp finally legalized federally in 2018. But since then, FDA’s recalcitrance at regulating CBD has crashed the industry and hurt patients. The unintended consequence of it was the emergence of new psychoactive THC products originally made from the over-supply of CBD biomass and sold as federally-legal hemp.
Synthesizing delta-6, delta-7, delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, THCO, hexahydrocannabiphorol and other Neocannabinoids by subjecting CBD ostensibly from hemp to harsh chemicals and metals then calling it “legal industrial hemp” is quite the stretch.
It is as much hemp as a synthetic digoxin pill is a foxglove plant, and now usually made from cheap foreign CBD. Also ironic when you remember the old “CBD is Chinese industrial waste” canard, because that’s closer to the situation today since that nation produces a lot of cheap CBD.
The products are typically put in vape pens or gummies, or sprayed on hemp buds for smoking.
The situation illustrates the utter futility and inanity of marijuana prohibition. Some sit in prison for years for selling a far cleaner and safer version of the same THC gas stations openly sell today. And although we knew about isomerization back then, not even in the darkest days of Reagan’s war on pot did we consider it.
States extract millions in fees and taxes from highly regulated marijuana businesses peddling the identical molecules only to adults that many C-stores openly sell to anyone. This reveals the “marijuana is a dangerous drug” lie the entire regulated marijuana and judicial systems are predicated upon. The federally-illegal Cannabis dealers (state-regulated dispensaries) are complaining about unfair competition from federally-legal Cannabis dealers’ hemp THC.
And since any amount of these untested and unregulated compounds can be sold over the counter to teens in vape pens and gummies, it constitutes a huge unregulated drug trial yet the sky hasn’t fallen. Yet.
Like we saw with CBD in 2018, hemp THC could be the sharp point of the Cannabis legalization spear. “Hempnoids” could just be the thing that finally gets marijuana descheduled, and pot company industry operators couldn’t be angrier about it. They have to spend millions in hard costs, fees and compliance just to open and are highly restricted when they do.
But the “cowboy chemistry” using strong chemicals or metals on cheap CBD isolate or crude creates bizarre products such as cannabinol-O-acetate, cyclohexyl-cannabidiol, d7-tetrahydrocannabinol, d8-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol, d10-tetrahydrocannabinol, d11-tetrahydrocannabinol, d3-tetrahydrocannabinol, d4(8)-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol, d6a10a-tetrahydrocannabinol, d8-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol, exohydrocannabinol, hexahdrocannabinol acetate, hexahdrocannabinol, hexahydrocannabiphorol, hydrated cannabidiol, pentahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabidiol, tetrahydrocannabiphorol, tetrahydrocannabinol-O-acetate, and trans-d8-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol. None have been studied well, the process is dirty, and producers and the process are unregulated.
One study states “Δ8-THC production requires the use of flammable reaction solvents (e.g., benzene), highly corrosive acidic reagents such as boron trifluoride, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, and heat to drive the cyclization reaction to completion. Typically, under most reaction conditions, CBD is converted to Δ8-THC, as well as several other non-natural isomers of THC, which could include Δ7-tetrahydrocannabinol VI, Δ10-tetrahydrocannabinol VII, and Δ11-tetrahydrocannabinol VIII, also known as exo-THC, in addition to Δ9-THC. These isomers represent five of the seven possible double-bond isomers of the THC tricyclic ring structure. In addition, there are two iso-THC isomers that possess a different tricyclic ring structure, namely Δ8-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol IX and Δ4(8)-iso-tetrahydrocannabinol X.”
If patient care is truly important in this industry as everyone says it is, then this cannot be ignored in the name of mere sales and profits. The Precautionary Principle demands it gets settled quickly, and would have been already years ago if they cared about people as much as profits.
With U.S. hemp acres down 95% while IHD sales are in the dozens of millions monthly means American farmers see zero benefit, and are actually put at a disadvantage since they can’t begin to compete with cheap starting material from abroad so it is harder to get investors and sales. As well, banks and government officials will now turn a jaundiced eye towards anything hemp, assuming we just want to get teens high.
And for hempseed foods, “hemp THC gummies” are an existential crisis threatening credibility, consumer reaction, and sustainability of what has long been hemp’s largest segment. Compliant foods will now need “THC-free” labeling, a concession from Congress much like we see for “alcohol-free” and “fat-free.”
Federally-legal Hemp Dispensary
But anyway, no one cares about any of that and it’s all about the Benjamins, so here you go:
A “hemp dispensary” can operate freely anywhere in most states. If your state denies you a consumption lounge, dispensary, or delivery license for your “cannabis” or “marijuana” business, consider hemp.
With hemp-derived THC, every state can be a “legal state” and every gas station can be a “legal dispensary:”
Pros: no 280e IRS exclusion, 2/3 cheaper to produce, requires no grow just CBD isolate or crude, “legal” if not legal, no civil RICO or unfair licensing schemes due to Schedule 1
Cons: process creates untested compounds, tort legal exposure, changing regulations, unregulated foreign supply feedstock possibly impacted by tariffs, creates existential crisis for the huge hemp food segment, loophole expected to be closed
As with marijuana, many states have done what the federal refuses and regulated “hemp THC” products. But the next Farm Bill is expected to end it. It’s an easy fix, specify Total THC instead of the current delta-9 THC.
The hemp business is a Dunning-Kruger enclave of dreamers and hustlers cosplaying as serious businesspeople. There’s also a bad side. Producing pure delta-8 without all the bizarre “Frankenoid” byproducts is possible, it just takes the will to do the Right Thing. Process matters.
Laboratories say they have found many undesirable byproducts in the intoxicating hemp products. “We typically see somewhere between seven and 30 different chemical compounds that do not exist in nature,” Chris Hudalla, president and chief scientific officer of ProVerde Laboratories in Massachusetts. “These are novel chemical compounds that are made accidentally during the process of synthesis.” And all those contaminants also get acetylated during acetate production, making even more Frankenoids.
Dr. Hudalla said the long-term effects of consuming these synthetic compounds remain unknown. “If they cause cancer, we don’t know. If they cause birth defects, we don’t know. These have not been studied in rats or mice. We don’t have names for them,” he said. In addition to unknown contaminants in some products, many also contain up to 10 times more of the intoxicating compounds than what the package claims, Virginia Commonwealth University found.
With a little forethought they could have broken the CSA and Schedule 1, forcing the feds to DEschedule and turn that hassle over to the states and not even get the federal TTB to collect tax since it is USDA purview, unlike the MORE Act. They would have been acknowledged as a hero to the 92% of citizens opposed to pot laws, and that would have been reflected in sales. Engaging American instead of foreign farmers would have been the cherry on top, cementing their saintly status for all time.
Just another missed opportunity for hemp and after the dust settles, grain/fiber will never be the same.
But there’s a huge lesson to be learned from all this: either regulate marijuana like hemp or regulate hemp like marijuana. In the legal marijuana industry, fraud is open, rampant, and notorious. Everyone knows steps are undertaken to obtain fraudulent THC values. It’s a flagrant assault upon the health of the consumer/patient and the public, and regulators just don’t care.
Contrast that to the hemp industry: a law enforcement officer collects the sample by selecting just the top few inches of the dankest flowers in the field he can find, maintains a legal chain of custody to the lab, and the DEA-certified state-run lab (not a private one) does the testing. All that security protocol is just in case the sample might be only 0.01% THC over the limit. However, marijuana can be up to 30% THC, plus the higher CBD content in hemp makes it unsuitable for a “high.”
Yet this rigorous protocol exists for a miniscule 0.3% THC Cannabis market but not a massive 30% THC Cannabis market bigger than the NFL. That anything-goes marijuana protocol is designed to facilitate fraud. It’s even more insulting for consumers, as their taxes directly fund the regulatory program enabling this ongoing deception betraying the public trust it was paid to prevent. It’s a twisted reality and descheduling will be the chance to fix it.
FDA was started in part to stop popular and efficacious Cannabis medicines dispensed by pharmacists and made by some of today’s drug companies. It doesn’t do plants or multi-molecule meds. Heck, it can’t even figure out CBD after ten years of commerce. It’s a can of worms they’ll avoid as long as possible, perhaps with a new Office of Cannabis.
That will be how THC saves CBD, by forcing FDA to finally do the Right Thing with the plant.
If the federal is involved in production at all, it should be USDA. If the federal is involved in products from those plants, it should be FDA, which includes foods and botanicals as gray-market drug delivery systems (“Dietary Supplements”). Congress exempted alcohol and cigarettes from FDA regulation, it should do the same with Cannabis and leave it to the states to regulate as is the current case in 47 states (including CBD-only). And if you aren’t buying or selling interstate then the federal shouldn’t be involved at all, thanks to the Tenth Amendment.
We tell them we want to feed and clothe people so they legalize and then we end up making bathtub THC for vape pens to be sold to teens in southern states. Can we just get back to feeding and clothing people now?