Even as the edifice of
cannabis prohibition crumbles state by state, the federal illegality of the plant and its principal psychotropic component THC continues to drive a quest for loopholes in the relevant statutes. Hence the recent focus on Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol — a psychoactive but less potent cannabinoid than the more common and notorious Delta-9 THC.
Is there any truth to the claim that the 2018 Farm Bill inadvertently legalized Delta-8 THC, as some entrepreneurs maintain? That certainly wasn’t the spirit or intent of the Farm Bill, which did not seek to legalize psychoactive
cannabis compounds.
The Farm Bill removed hemp – defined as
cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC – from the purview of the Controlled Substances Act. But the Farm Bill never actually mentions Delta-8 THC. And there’s considerable disagreement among hemp advocates regarding the legal status of this compound and what it means for the cannabis industry as a whole.