It’s hard to be surprised when you’ve been writing and talking about government decisions about the cannabis industry over the past decade. But I’ll admit that my eyebrows raised when I read a recent letter from the solicitor general of South Carolina stating that, as a general rule, hemp beverages containing less than .3% delta-9
Novel Cannabinoids
Mississippi Attorney General Deems Hemp Beverages Impermissible in Controversial Opinion, Highlighting Ongoing Tension Between the Marijuana and Hemp Industries
I guess if you do this job long enough, you’ll see just about everything. This time, it’s the attorney general of Mississippi wading into the legality of beverages containing hemp. And it’s a doozy.
The late, very great artist (and I stress the word artist) Merle Haggard used to sing “I Think I’ll Just Stay…
Arizona Attorney General Deems Delta-8 and Delta-10 Controlled Substances in Controversial Opinion
Novel psychiatric cannabinoids legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill remain under attack by state regulators. Most recently, the Arizona attorney general opined that “Arizona law does not permit the sale of delta-8 and other hemp-synthesized intoxicants [including delta-10] by entities that have not been licensed by Health Services.”
The determination was based on Arizona law…
Delta-Nope: Florida Poised to Ban Delta-8 and Delta-10 Products
Earlier this week, the Florida legislature passed a bill (SB 1698) that will limit the amount of THC in hemp-derived products and threatens to upend the novel cannabinoid industry in the state.
For the past few years, Florida defined hemp extract as “a substance or compound intended for ingestion, containing more than trace…
Delta Great? Tennessee Legislature Passes Industry-Friendly Bill to Regulate Psychoactive, Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids
While it appears likely that Tennessee will be the last Deep South state to legalize medical cannabis (as we wrote about here), it has always been a favorable state for the hemp industry. The Tennessee Legislature just came through for hemp operators again by passing an industry-friendly bill, SB0378/HB403, to regulate the production…
Real or Not Real? The Difference Between Legal Delta-8/Delta-10 THC and Illegal Delta-8/Delta-10 THCO
Last week, we wrote about the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) February 13, 2023 response letter stating that delta-8 THCO and delta-9 THCO – two forms of THC acetate ester (THCO) – are illegal controlled substances under federal law. The DEA’s decision centered on THCO’s “synthetic” nature. The DEA explained that “[d]elta-9 THCO and delta-8 THCO…
Delta-8: What Is and What Should Never Be
The United States Supreme Court once famously wrote that “[l]iberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.” There is perhaps no area of the law where doubt rules more than the cannabis industry, and perhaps no corner of that industry more shrouded in doubt than Delta-8 THC.
When you operate in the cannabis industry…
Navigating the Cannabis Fog: Litigation Ensues Over Legality of Delta-8 and Delta-10
The stratospheric rise of products containing ∆8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-8 THC) and ∆10-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-10 THC), both of which can cause psychoactive effects similar to ∆9-THC (the substance codified as “marihuana” by the federal Controlled Substances Act), have raised questions regarding these products’ legality under federal and state law. Recent litigation developments have indicated a possible trend toward…