The Great Delta-8 Debate

Where can you find Delta-8?

You’ve stopped at the gas station to fill up. Head inside to get a snack and what do you see? “Legal Weed” “THC” “Magic Mushrooms” “CBD” signs plastered at checkout.

It’s cheap. Legal. And you don’t even have to go to the dispensary! Oh, but if you look a little closer…this THC weed vape is actually Delta-8.

To refresh – Delta-9 is THC. Delta-8….isn’t.

Legal cannabis has been on the rise for the past 8 years. Through this time, compounds like Delta-8 and other versions of THC (both synthetic and organic) have been introduced to and expanded into the market. The question at hand is… what is the difference and is it safe?
 
Let’s first establish that Delta-9 THC is found and sold in Recreational and Medical Cannabis Dispensaries and has proven to have psychoactive properties. Delta-8 THC is NOT sold in Cannabis Dispensaries and has no comparable proven psychoactive effects.

How and Why can Delta-8 THC be sold differently than Delta-9?

Delta-8 THC can be derived from the CBD found in Hemp, which is a member of the cannabis family most known for its industrial uses (paper, rope, clothing, textiles, etc.).  
It had been used by cultures for millennia until 1937, when the “Marihuana Tax Act” criminalized cannabis and hemp in the United States.

Eventually, The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 removed Hemp as a Schedule 1 drug making it an agricultural commodity again, and the following year 46 states made hemp cultivation legal under federal law. The wording of The Farm Bill of 2018 specifies that, for a cannabis product to be legal, it must be derived from hemp and not contain more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC. Because of this, Delta-8 THC currently maintains the same federal legal status as CBD.

How is CBD made into Delta-8 THC?

It’s good to note the chemical structures of most cannabinoids are relatively similar at a molecular level. After Hemp is produced, it is legally sold to a 3rd party lab that will extract and concentrate CBD into Delta-8 THC. These third parties hardly have any regulations to follow when it comes to these extractions.

It’s an involved process where the CBD is isolated from the Hemp plant, solvents and acids are introduced to cause a chemical reaction, and that transforms the CBD chemical structure into Delta-8 THC.

This chemical manipulation and resale process happens after the FDA regulations stop (scary) which is why these products are often found in gas stations, tobacco, and glass shops. They aren’t regulated, unfortunately.

So, what is the difference?

Delta-8 THC is a near-synthetically produced compound and is always concentrated down to a distillate. The distillate is then sold as tinctures, carts, and concentrates or it can be sprayed onto hemp buds and sold as Delta-8 THC flower or joints (commonly branded as Delta-8 THC enriched or infused).

In short, Delta-8 THC is in the same family as Delta-9 THC, but as far as the differences go, Delta-9 THC has been proven to be a more potent psychoactive, with safer regulation practices, and has a vastly larger collection of available research on physical and mental effects.

Be safe!

The next time you see a “THC/weed” product in a gas station or smoke shop, look a little closer. The climate of Delta 8 and hemp derived regulations are a grey area, so it’s best to get your cannabis from a trusted source, or a legal dispensary.