Cannabis chemical delta8 gaining fans, scrutiny

NEW YORK — A chemical cousin of pot’s main intoxicating ingredient has rocketed to popularity over the last year, and the cannabis industry and state governments are scrambling to reckon with it amid debate over whether it’s legal.

The chemical, called delta8 THC, is billed as producing a milder high than the better known delta9 THC, and delta8 is often marketed as being legal even where marijuana is not. That argument stems from the fact that most delta8 is synthesized from CBD, a popular nonintoxicating chemical that’s prevalent in hemp, a form of cannabis that Congress legalized in 2018.

Delta8’s rise is “a phenomenon that has taken the industry quite by storm,” says John Kagia of cannabis industry analysis firm New Frontier Data, and it offers “fascinating insight into some of the growth and growing pains.”

There are no hardandfast statistics on sales of delta8, which is available in vapes, gummies and other forms. It has been the fastestgrowing segment of the market for hemp chemicals for roughly the last year, after wholesale CBD prices plummeted amid oversupply and other issues, says Ian Laird of data analytics company Hemp Benchmarks.

After a few years in the CBD business, William Goodall and partner Katiana Kay began selling delta8 products through their online shop Bay Smokes in December. It quickly became a main source of revenue.

Goodall said that after talking to lawyers and suppliers’ chemists, he’s confident Bay Smokes products are safe and federally legal (other attorneys differ on how risky it is to sell delta8). But the Miamibased company has had to filter out customers from a growing list of states that are prohibiting delta8.

Still, he’s sticking with it, figuring that legal markets for it will endure at least in states where marijuana is permitted.

But some other hemp businesses are steering clear.

“The easy money is tempting, but that’s not an avenue we wanted to go down,” says Gair Laucius, the chief scientific officer of Southbridge, Mass.based CBD producer High Purity Natural Products. “There were too many unknowns.”

The 2018 federal law that OK’d hemp products said they couldn’t be more than 0.3% delta9, but it said nothing about delta8.