By misrepresenting gray/black market THC products like gummies and beverages as legitimate foods, the “hemp THC” industry is devastating the true hemp food segment.
Hempseed food has long been most of hemp in Canada, with hempseed foods on tens of thousands of store shelves, sold to millions of consumers. The only ingestible hemp that is 100% legal globally, it is her first big success story in the modern era although the billion-dollar segment is only 35 years old. Profit margins are so high one hempseed food company sold for an unusually high multiple… twice.
It’s such an important segment for hemp that the USDA has been tracking prices and advertisements for it weekly for years [PDF]. One study found investments in hemp foods have 3-times more climate change mitigation than hempcrete, and 11-times more than EVs. Hempseed foods also stand at the intersection of plant-based foods and hemp popularization, and have the potential to be even more mainstream.
When the hemp food market was undermined by DEA litigation in the years 2001-4, hemp in Canada took a huge hit; it was an existential crisis that took until 2011 to recover from. A crucial segment for true hemp yet the acres are falling while sales of “hemp THC” is skyrocketing. “Excess U.S. biomass from 2019” just doesn’t ring true.
The proliferation of “hemp THC” products is because it’s far cheaper to synthesize various types of THC from hemp CBD, which is now sourced mostly from foreign farms of unknown provenance or soil quality, than it is to grow it next door. American farmers don’t benefit and researchers have yet to see even one clean chromatogram of any of the thousands of dirty “hemp THC” products they tested.
The purported legality is more aspirational than practical as Congressional intent was never to legalize >0.3% THC in an 800-page must-pass Farm Bill that violates the U.N. Treaties on Drugs, thus the Controlled Substances Act.
We need to fix bad laws, not find toxic workarounds to boost profits for foreign farmers.
I never once thought people would actually want to buy THC synthesized using strong acids on CBD isolate made from hemp grown in China; that the new “billion-dollar U.S. hemp industry” would be these bizarre and dirty forms of THC. Not even in the old Paraquat days did people want it, although we knew it could be done (H/T to HT). “Bob down the street” grows it in his basement, why isomerize ditchweed from crappy soils grown God-knows-where by God-knows-whom using God-knows-what?
But no one has the appetite to re-criminalize THC federally at this point, regardless of how much of a danger to public health these ultra-processed synthetics might be. Nevertheless, the states are doing it one-by-one.
To be fair, the associations and lawyers helping normalize the production of dirty-but-cheap synthetic THC from hemp CBD always said they were “all about the farmer,” they just never said which nation’s farmers they wanted to help. I always assumed one underlying benefit of promoting hemp products the last 30 years, so obvious it didn’t need to be stated, is that U.S. farmers would be our partner in this journey! Looks like lucre shivved altruism in a back alley again.
The impact of these stony Altnoids like delta-8 THC ostensibly made from hemp is that USDA refuses to support hemp grain for human food with a 10-foot pole. Despite being hemp’s most important segment in terms of success by far, USDA won’t address or support grain for food. Fiber projects get tens of millions of dollars, yes; but grain, nothing. And in Canada, acres started dropping in 2019 as well.
With “hemp THC” gummies sold in gas stations to teens scaring away USDA/NIFA grants, the legitimate hempseed food segment needs a little help from Congress. That includes:
- “THC-free” labeling for compliant GRAS hemp foods much like we have for “fat-free” (<0.5g) and “alcohol-free” (<0.5%).
- “Hempnut” as the legal descriptive name for what we now call “shelled hempseed” or “hulled hempseed,” thereby increasing food industry legitimacy and reducing confusion. “Hearts” is not a recognized term for an achene or seed, but botanically the seed is a “nut.” Plus it saves label real estate, 7 letters worth.
- When so doing, a Standard of Identity will be defined and classes or grades will be set.
- Federal institutional buying of primary and secondary hemp foods would be an enormous help to the industry, using it to feed soldiers and prisoners high-protein foods. High in omega-3, not THC.
In this review of FDA Adverse Event cases mentioning the Altnoids CBD, delta-8, and other “Emerging Cannabinoids,” 73% were for foods such as gummies and beverages. Only 14% was for vapes. Adverse Events reported for CBD were only 38% for foods, ironically likely due to residual or undisclosed “hemp THC” content as well.
The most common event for delta-8 THC was:
Anxiety, dizziness, vomiting (19.1%)
Tremor (16.6%)
Hallucination (15.0%)
Increased heart rate (13.1%)
Dyspnea, feeling abnormal (12.8%)
Nausea (11.6%)
Confusional state, loss of consciousness (10.0%)
Panic attack (9.7%)
Euphoric mood (8.1%)
Speech disorder (7.8%)
Paranoia (7.5%)
Overdose, palpitations, psychotic disorder (7.2%)
Dry mouth (6.6%)
Gait disturbance (5.9%)
Seizure (5.0%)
Fatigue (4.7%)
Hypoesthesia (4.4%)
Chest pain, lethargy, tachycardia, vertigo (4.1%)
Sounds like too much THC for a noob, to me.
Here is the study:
The Food and Drug Administration’s Safety Surveillance of Adverse Event Cases Involving Cannabinoid Hemp Products, 2019–2023
Objective. To characterize adverse event (AE) cases received by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly involving cannabinoid hemp products (CHPs).
Methods. We searched the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Adverse Event Reporting System for cases reported directly to the FDA from 2019–2023 involving CHPs, which are defined as products containing 1 or more of the following: cannabidiol, delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, and emerging cannabinoids (i.e., other intoxicating cannabinoids often synthesized from hemp-derived cannabidiol). We abstracted and summarized information on reporting trends, consumer demographics, reporter information, product information, and AEs.
Results. We identified 610 AE cases reportedly involving CHPs containing 1 or more of the following: delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (n5355), cannabidiol (n5253), and emerging cannabinoids (n536). Multiple trends and safety issues were identified, including an annual increase in the number of cases involving intoxicating cannabinoids since 2021, potential quality issues, and the occurrence of fatalities and pediatric exposures.
Conclusions. Our findings emphasize the importance of monitoring AE cases received by the FDA involving CHPs as part of a comprehensive surveillance strategy to identify trends and safety issues with these products.”
Am J Public Health. 2024;114(S8):S664–S672.
Read the study at: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307712