That synthesis, Garrett Graff, a lawyer and managing partner at cannabis-focused Hoban Law Group, creates a “complicated, legal mine field.” Graff also says that the intent around a product-is it meant to get a user high or ease pain, also presents an “unresolved, ambiguous portion of the law.” Delta-8 products are made synthetically from CBD that had been extracted from hemp and put through an isolation and distillation process. The second issue is that Delta-8 is included in the DEA’s list of controlled substances along with Delta-9.Īnd the third issue, which might create the greatest argument against hemp-derived Delta-8, is that the compound doesn’t appear in hemp with enough volume to extract and use. However, there are three issues that create ambiguity.įirst, members of Congress passed the bill with the idea that hemp products were benign and non-intoxicating, Delta-8 is intoxicating. At first pass, this seems like Delta-8, so long as it’s derived from hemp, is 100% legal under the bill. The 2018 Farm Bill explicitly legalizes all hemp-derived cannabinoids, extracts and derivatives with no qualifications. “Regulations are likely to come down-there are too many gas stations selling it,” says Manning.Īmerica's Most Blunted: Most Delta-8 flower products are hemp nugs that have been either dipped in Delta-8 oil or sprayed with a Delta-8 isolate. Manning believes his company is compliant but says there are bad actors flaunting the rules. “I told them: ‘It’s going to smell like the real thing, it’s going to look like the real thing, but we won’t push the THC limits,” he says. Now Delta-8 makes up 80% of his sales and he makes more than $200,000 a month.īefore opening his storefront in downtown Chattanooga, Manning invited the local police to come by and test his hemp so they could see how he’s abiding by the state’s laws. Last year, Delta-8 was 20% of his sales and he brought in about $60,000 a month. Josh Manning, who runs Snap Dragon Hemp, a hemp grower and processor licensed by the state of Tennessee, says Delta-8 has been a game-changer for his Chattanooga-based business. A package will break open in transit and FedEx or UPS will turn over what looks like weed to the local cops. “These products might be legal right now, but we believe they go against the spirit of the law.”ĭespite following the exact language of the Farm Bill, Barrios says about $10,000 to $50,000 worth of product gets turned over to law enforcement each month. “We’re alarmed by the rise of products marketing themselves as hemp and as intoxicating,” says Miller. He realizes that companies selling Delta-8 online and through convenience stores are adhering to the Farm Bill as written, but he views it as a loophole. Hemp Authority, says the trade groups will be speaking with the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration about the differences between CBD and Delta-8. But many in hemp draw the line when it comes to psychoactive effects. Hemp is used to make everything from clothing to food to CBD. Marijuana and hemp are the same plant, but hemp is defined as a marijuana plant with less than. The hemp industry, in general, prides itself as its own distinct industry, separate from legal cannabis. How High: Delta-8 THC gives users a mellower high than Delta-9 THC, the main compound in marijuana. The smoke shop is not a licensed dispensary, but the owner, Paul An, says the Farm Bill made all the products on his shelves legal. On a Saturday night inside Noble’s Smoke Shop down the shore in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, a man buys a package of Delta-8 edibles for his girlfriend and a moment later, a woman in her twenties grabs two pre-rolled hemp joints that have been dipped in Delta-8 oil and dusted with kief. The Delta-8 THC market might not be as hot as crypto, but there are signs that Delta-8 could take a bite out of other trends like CBD or nicotine vaping. “I see hemp and bitcoin side to side right now.” Despite Florida having a large, regulated medical marijuana market, Barrios, is all in on hemp.

He sells his products in 38 states and is headquartered in Davie, Florida, where his business is permitted under the state’s hemp and food production laws. have jump 200% every month for the last year and he says he’ll hit $10 million in sales by 2022. Barrios might be losing sleep, but he’s making money.

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