As the cannabis industry continues to expand across the nation and globe, multiple new THC analogs are hot on the menu from extract labs with an overwhelming supply of CBD that simply isn't selling. One of these lab conversions is known as Delta-8 THC, and it has hit the nation hard with so many different hemp companies finding a way to stay afloat by commercializing this new type of THC. 

This is an excellent thing for patients that become used to CBD, and is also useful for states that don't allow THC or recreational use - or is it? When the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Farm Bill, a new industry was born. CNN's Sanjay Gupta displayed the tiny icons of cannabis in the Weed Series that was presented to the public nearly a decade ago, and that same industry touted its ability to medicate people without getting them high. 

I won't pretend to dance around this subject with which many love to do the waltz. Instead, let's tackle the facts. 

What many need to understand about laws is that sidestepping legislative intent always catches up to those doing it. By no means did the U.S. Congress create a bill for farmers so people in labs could convert cannabinoids under a loophole to market powerful quasi-cannabis items to people in states that have yet to legalize them. Nor was it their intent to allow the provision of cannabinoids to people in legal states to attempt to be competitive with the real deal - Delta-9 THC from the plant.

Jump ahead to 2022, and now consumers are exposed to modern, trendy marketing for products that are beyond misleading. Sure, it's a great thing to see the hemp industry stay alive during a harsh economic time, but is it that great of an item if the hemp-derived cannabinoids within them were lab created? Is it great that these products are put on shelves for consumers far faster than researchers could possibly study both efficacy and safety? 

There are concerns far beyond the marketing to vulnerable consumers when it comes to semi-synthetic or completely synthetic creations made in labs to vie with the THC-focused cannabis market. Let's sidestep the hypocrisy in the “Happy Hempy Weekend” crowd that once walked around being better than the THC folks due to their non-inebriating substances. That's now history. Hemp and CBD are known to make some of the most toxic and harmful new cannabinoids on the market. 

THC is no longer a threat to kids like the NIDA studies have made the cannabis plant out to be because it hasn't killed them. But CBD and all these new delta products are - especially Delta-8, which took the life of young Tanner Clements. Remember that name. The cannabis crowd with the gooey sticky nugs can still claim that their products are safe for kids, but the hemp cannabinoid conversion crowd can not. 

Dorothy Annette Clements, a 30-year-old mother in mourning, was indicted by the Grand Jury in Virginia on Oct. 17, 2022, on charges of felony murder and felony child neglect over the death of her son in May of this year after she went to the CBD store and bought the newest fad - Delta-8. Her crime was leaving only one container unattended. Her son ate the contents of a low-milligram item and died of Delta-8 toxicity, despite widespread media reports he ingested a “large amount.” She had bought only one container. 

To properly research this topic, one has to dig super deep and start with a simple Google search for Delta-8 flower. "Buy Delta-8 Flower Online" came up with many pages of entities selling something that does not exist. There is no such thing as Delta-8 flower, and there is no such thing as a cannabis cultivar that produces Delta-8 at any significant amount. 

As an avid participant in the realm of cannabinoid research, it's been an honor to sit on the Organizational Committee of over two dozen Symposiums over the last two years. It's essential in researching this to ask at all international symposiums if anyone has ever had Delta-8 THC show up in a lab coming from the actual plant. The answer is always the same: "NO." 

Is calling Delta-8 Flower an act of Consumer Fraud when it's CBD Flower sprayed with a lab-created cannabinoid? That's for the U.S. Department of Justice and the DEA to figure out, not necessarily us. But this question is on the tip of the tongues of trial lawyers around the nation, poised and ready to sue after the death of the four-year-old boy became very public. Product liability insurance is becoming harder to gain as Delta-8 is not CBD. When it comes down to it, the Delta-8 scenario is like any underground market-turned mainstream - a lot of junk needs to get filtered out. 

The facts are basic. There's no such thing as a Delta-8 plant. Delta-8 THC is inherently safe, but only if it's made correctly and tested by trusted sources to prove any harsh chemicals used are no longer in the CBD conversion. Because of the need to use harsh chemicals, it's beyond critical for all Delta-8 THC products to undergo scrutiny, whether their creator likes it or not. Consumers should steer clear of the products if a company doesn't offer these tests or if they don't verify them.

There have been overwhelming reports of Delta-9 and CBD being found in the Delta-8 products that are out there. In 2021, CBD Oracle commissioned FESA Labs to analyze a total of 51 different Delta-8 THC products for cannabinoid levels after an investigation from the U.S. Cannabis Council concluded that the unregulated sale of Delta-8 was posing a consumer risk. The lab looked at impurities, including heavy metals, solvents, mycotoxins, pesticides, microbial contamination, and vitamin E acetate. 

The results from FESA Labs showed inconsistencies across the board, with illegal Delta-9 THC levels as high as 7700 percent over the limit. Rarely were there impurity tests done, and age verification was performed by only 14 percent of the 51 product entities. The entities had altered 10 percent of the lab reports reviewed, and only 55 percent of the companies had warning labels. 

So, where are all the Delta-8 nugs? Where's the Delta-8 flower being advertised across the internet to consumers, who are unaware that the plant doesn't exist? 

Cannabis consumers need to have their awareness heightened. That's what they're looking for, and actual true-blue Delta-9 THC nugs do this. Understandably, prohibition has dampened the ability of people that want to get high. A horrid economy has threatened the existence of the Hemp Industry as a whole, making it very understandable why consumers are buying the products, and why the entities produce them at all even when the FDA, DEA, and other entities consider them a gray area. 

The bottom line is straightforward: consumers have been led astray by entities who wanted to profit from something that doesn't exist. It's a slap in the face to every legacy grower out there, to all POW420s who've done time for the real deal, and for the consumer that thinks they're genuinely getting THC when they're not. It's a horrible injustice to the entire cannabis industry to continue down this path, derailing the value of THC while also putting people in jeopardy. 

Anyone with an argument for the safety and efficacy of the current Delta-8 market but not their specific product should be visiting the grave of four-year-old Tanner Clements, as he won't attend kindergarten next year. Sure, we can blame his mother, but she didn't patent the conversion of CBD to Delta-8 THC; Professor Raphael Mechoulam did. The Godfather of Cannabis Research also has an intention with what he does. Most certainly, the guru behind the Endocannabinoid System never intended for an industry to use his patented process to get people stoned out of desperation for their business to stay afloat. 

There's no such thing as a Delta-8 nug. Pass that information along to your friends and let them know that searching for the hottest new THC doesn't include digging through lab creations; it's all about the beautiful cannabis plant and the substantial fat nugs it creates! 

Smoke up and toke up, but be careful with anything that doesn't come from nature.

From the FDA:

"Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as Delta-8 THC, is a psychoactive substance found in the Cannabis sativa plant, of which marijuana and hemp are two varieties. Delta-8 THC is one of over 100 cannabinoids produced naturally by the cannabis plant but is not found in significant amounts in the cannabis plant. As a result, concentrated amounts of Delta-8 THC are typically manufactured from hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD)."