As NC Debates Medical Marijuana, People Get High On Hemp – It’s Legal (Kind Of)

CHAPEL HILL – As the North Carolina General Assembly debates the legalization of medical marijuana, hemp growers and retailers have already found a legal alternative: Delta-8 THC.

Otherwise known as “Weed’s Little Brother,” Delta-8 THC, or D-8, is the most popular cannabinoid on the market right now, particularly in states like North Carolina, where marijuana remains illegal.

“We started selling our first Delta-8 brand in November, and it exploded,” said Tanya Durand, owner of The Hemp Store on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, in an interview with WRAL TechWire. “The response has definitely been overwhelming. “

Not to be confused with the Delta COVID variant, Delta-8 is the less potent and lesser-known cousin of Delta-9 THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana.

Yes, it gets you high. “Chill”, “gentle” or “clear mind” are some of the words used to describe the effect. Some estimates place it at around 80% weaker than marijuana. Delta-8 does not produce the side effects of paranoia or anxiety.

Except unlike Delta-9, which comes from marijuana, Delta-8 is derived from hemp.

Here’s how Delta-8’s popularity divides the nascent North Carolina hemp industry

Hemp is part of the same cannabis family, shares a similar chemical structure, looks like marijuana to the untrained eye, and smells like a skunk – but contains less than 0.3 percent psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) .

Another big difference: Unlike the Delta-9, which is currently banned by federal law, the Delta-8 is legal, in theory.

Thanks to a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp and its derivatives, supporters argue that it is just another form of hemp and legal. It is currently available in most states, including North Carolina, where Delta-8 business is booming.

“These are our biggest sales this year, really,” said Durand.

Almost overnight, vape shops stock shelves with Delta-8 candies, tinctures, and concentrates, ranging in price from $ 3 for a single serving to $ 40 for a bag of 20 candies.

Still, hemp growers like Nicole Burnette, founder and CEO of the Charlotte-based Queen Hemp Company, are quick to point out that consuming Delta-8 products is not primarily a plan. On the contrary, Burnette said, consumers are turning to Delta-8 products for help with a range of ailments, from anxiety and depression to insomnia, nausea, pain and even. to night terrors.

“Some of our biggest clients are veterans,” she said.

“Synthetic THC”?

Critics argue, however, that it is “synthetic THC” and therefore illegal under the Controlled Substances Act.

“It’s a legal gray area,” said Rod Kight, an Asheville-based lawyer specializing in cannabis law. “Congress has not addressed it. I don’t know of any state legislator who has looked at it, and no court has addressed it.

He represents dozens of hemp companies in North Carolina and across the United States that are involved in the Delta-8 business.

He says the debate centers on how the cannabinoid is made. Because Delta-8 is found in trace amounts in cannabis and hemp plants, it must be made in the lab.

First, CBD, also known as cannabidiol and found abundantly in the plant, is extracted and refined into an isolate. Next, a CBD isolate is synthesized into Delta-8.

Medical marijuana debate leaves North Carolina hemp farmers, CBD owners, in a waiting game

This is just one of twelve different cannabinoids that can now be isolated from the hemp plant. There’s the popular CBD, which doesn’t get you high, and some lesser-known ones like CBG, CBN, CBD, or Delta 10, all with their own attributes.

“Because of this conversion, it poses an open question of law,” Kight said.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in a rule proposal last August, indirectly classified Delta-8 as a Schedule I controlled substance, which would make it illegal at the federal level. This rule is not yet final.

Anyway, some states are already starting to crack down. North Dakota recently took steps to ban the Delta-8 altogether, while others are considering measures to limit access.

In North Carolina, it remains to be seen how that plays out.

“I tell my clients, our interpretation is that it’s legal; but you have to know that this is an unsolved problem by law, so it’s risky, ”Kight said.

The surge in sales of Delta-8, meanwhile, comes as North Carolina considers legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

North Carolina is one of 13 states where marijuana is illegal.

Last month, a medical marijuana bill for North Carolina passed its first hurdle after a Senate committee approved bipartisan legislation. He was nominated by one of the most senior Republicans in the North Carolina legislature, Brunswick County Senator Bill Rabon, a cancer survivor.

Rabon has not answered or returned multiple calls to comment on the new bill or the status of Delta-8.

Senate Bill 711 still has to go through three committees before it reaches the Senate floor and is still expected to be considered by the House.

“With national interest in cannabis at an all time high, it remains to be seen what will happen with the Delta-8 THC law at the federal level,” said Paul Adams, director of industrial hemp at North Carolina Agriculture who heads the state pilot program. . “If these laws change, I expect the market for Delta-8 THC to grow or contract accordingly.”

Patience game

Most cannabis advocates say they are encouraged by the advances on the medical marijuana front, but there is still a long way to go.

In the meantime, Durand of The Hemp Store says she is working to reintroduce the hemp plant to the public.

“After using my first bottle of Charlotte’s Web [a popular CBD brand], my life has completely changed, ”said Durand, a mother of three who has struggled with postpartum depression and crippling migraines. “In three weeks, my migraine was gone; anxiety and depression followed.

Still, she would also like to see more regulation when it comes to Delta-8.

“I have noticed that a lot of brands, even very well-known ones, claim that their product is one thing; then we take it to the lab, and it’s completely different, ”she says. “It’s counterproductive; you are giving the whole industry a bad image.

A few blocks across Franklin Street is the Cannabliss Dispensary.

It opened in January after operating online for about a year.

Most of the time, a constant stream of shoppers can be seen lining up in masks to enter the 400-square-foot store to purchase its Delta-8 line of products, like ‘Not Ya Son’s Weed’ chocolate bars and other edible products.

“I tell our staff that we have a social responsibility to do this. We help people, ”said owner Sean Parekh, 26, who also suffers from depression. “I have changed my whole life. If I can use this business to make changes and show these medical potentials, I don’t care what lines I’m going to push. “

But he is also looking to the future.

“If it’s not obvious, I want to be in a privileged position to capture the market when medical marijuana becomes legal,” he said.