THE NEXT BIG THING
The legal status of delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC), a somewhat psychoactive compound derived from hemp, is one of the murkiest topics High Times has covered. At the federal level, it is legal to be sold and marketed across the nation, but it’s unclear how long that will last.
So far, at least 11 states have banned the compound: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Rhode Island and Utah. Delta-8-THC regulations are also beginning to appear elsewhere, differing from state to state. Oregon, for instance, authorizes hemp-derived delta-8-THC in intrastate transfers if the product falls under that state’s Department of Agriculture laws and rules.
Cannabis and its derivatives are illegal at the federal level, so long as it remains listed under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. But hemp-derived compounds are now regulated entirely differently, thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill. That bill legalized hemp at the federal level in the United States, and, under some interpretations, it also legalized delta-8-THC by omitting the compound from its language. The legislation explicitly bans the isomer delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, but fails to mention delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta-10-tetrahydrocannabinol or any other chemical analogues of tetrahydrocannabinol.
As many researchers have pointed out, delta-8-THC shares some, but not all, of the psychoactive properties of delta-9-THC. Most people who consume it report they feel an effect, but one that
