Delta-8 Products Targeted by CT AG for Safety Concerns

Seth Goldberg
Seth A. Goldberg

I have previously written about lawsuits filed against manufacturers and sellers of hemp-synthesized intoxicants (HSI), such as Delta-8 THC, by the Attorneys General of California and Nebraska, as well as warning letters issued by the FDA, to stop the marketing and sale of HSIs.  Add to those, recent enforcement actions by the Attorney General of Connecticut against seven HSI manufacturers/sellers, which claim they have violated the CT’s unfair competition laws by marketing and selling unregulated cannabis products. 

The key point of all of the above actions is the unregulated nature of HSIs, which creates public safety concerns.  As the CT AG explained:  “Cannabis is legal for adults in Connecticut, but it’s not a free-for-all—retailers must be licensed and legal cannabis products must comply with strict safety standards. . . None of these products have been subject to Connecticut’s rigorous testing standards or contain appropriate warnings. Some are sold in dangerous and misleading packaging designed to appeal to children. These products are designed to deceive consumers into believing they are safe, tested, and regulated—that is false. ” 

HSIs can be just as intoxicating, if not more so, than cannabis products regulated under a state’s medical or adult-use cannabis laws and regulations.  However, in many states HSIs are not regulated and thus may not have undergone safety testing or be accurately labeled, posing health and safety risks to consumers.   While, as I have previously written, the cannabis and hemp industries may debate whether the 2018 Farm Bill legalized HSIs, there should not be any real debate about the need for product safety or the right of states to protect their citizen consumers.  

Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs

Dylan Anderson and Seth Goldberg authored the Law360 article “Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs.”

They write, “The next time you find yourself at a gas station loading up for a road trip on your snack or energy drink of choice, you may notice a surprising offering at the counter: products made from cannabis that have an intoxicating effect, but that are not governed under a state’s recreational or medical marijuana laws and regulations.” Read the full article.

Did Congress Intend to Legalize Intoxicating Hemp Products in the 2018 Farm Bill?

Seth Goldberg
Seth A. Goldberg

The 2018 Farm Bill legalized “Hemp,” defining it as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”  The .3% delta-9 THC threshold  distinguishes hemp from marijuana, which remains a federally unlawful Schedule I controlled substance, based on the psychoactive effect of delta-9 THC.

Today, consumers can walk into convenience stores, gas stations, and the like, or shop online, and purchase an array of cannabis products that have the same psychoactive effects as delta-9 THC in federally unlawful Marijuana, i.e., delta-9 THC at greater than .3% on a dry weight basis, but, because they were manufactured using “derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers” found in Hemp, their manufacturers claim they are legal.   These products, which contain delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, and other chemical compounds, are the result of chemical processes that convert the Hemp “derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers” into compounds that are the functional equivalent of the delta-9 THC in federally unlawful Marijuana.

Manufacturers of delta-8 products believe the 2018 Farm Bill does not prohibit the conversion of the “derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers” in Hemp into an intoxicating compound, which begs the question: did Congress really intend to legalize intoxicating compounds created from Hemp “derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers”  that are functionally equivalent to the delta-9 THC in federally unlawful Marijuana?  It would seem that the .3% delta-9 THC distinction between Hemp and Marijuana is about psychoactive effect, not about a particular chemical.

Adult Use Cannabis – the United States Virgin Islands passes adult use cannabis legislation!

In case you might have missed it with your year end festivities, the U.S. Virgin Islands became the latest U.S. region to legalize adult-use cannabis. Once regulations are finalized, the rules will allow residents and visitors to purchase medical and/or recreational cannabis products from licensed dispensaries. The bill was signed by Governor Bryant and is now effective.

The legislation also includes provisions proposed by Senators Sarauw and Bolques and automatically expunges cannabis possession charges in the territory.

Medical cannabis was previously approved in 2019 but the legislature continues to work on the applicable rules and regulations for the program.

It is estimated by Commissioner Richard Evangelista that it will likely be another 18-24 months before the government can finalize the applicable regulations for medical and adult use.

Sarauw said that even now, with adult-use reforms now heading to the governor’s desk, “we have done absolutely nothing to move cannabis forward.”

At the moment, current rules decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Key Take Away – the USVI has now officially approved adult use cannabis which will likely spark (sorry, could not resist) multiple businesses and business lines to look to establish operations in the Territory. Grow, manufacture, dispensing and businesses supporting these operations are sure to continue their thought processes as to how to engage and become licensed pending final rules to be issued by the Department of Licenses and Consumer Affairs.

Duane Morris has an active Cannabis Team to help organizations and individuals plan, respond to, and execute on your cannabis and hemp initiatives. We would be happy to discuss your proposed project and how these new rules  might apply to you. For more information or if you have any questions about this post, please contact Brad A. Molotsky, or Tracy Gallegos, Seth Goldberg, or Paul Josephson who co-head the Cannabis Group  or the attorney in the firm with whom you in regular contact .


Too High? THC Test Results Under Fire

Seth Goldberg
Seth A. Goldberg

Asked how the state verifies test results on THC levels in Arkansas’ legal cannabis system, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and Medical Marijuana Commission point to the Arkansas Department of Health.

But the Health Department points back at the commission and the ABC.

The state has no apparent procedure to confirm the test results, which play into the pricing of medical marijuana. That revelation comes as testing faces harsh scrutiny in Arkansas and beyond, as lawsuits question the integrity of testing companies that draw their revenue from marijuana cultivators. The growers know that their products rise in value with higher percentages of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. […]

Attorney Seth Goldberg, who works in the Philadelphia office of the law firm Duane Morris, said in an email that each state that has legalized cannabis has set rules on packaging, labeling and testing. “So this is really a state-by-state and case-by-case issue that is highly dependent on the applicable state regulations and regulatory compliance,” he said.

To read the full text of this article, please visit the Arkansas Business website (registration required).

Partner Seth Goldberg Quoted in Washington Post Article

Seth Goldberg was quoted in an article in The Washington Post, “Can I Fly with Edibles?

It is illegal to fly with edibles even if you’re in a state where cannabis is legal and the edibles were manufactured and sold in accordance with state law, says Seth A. Goldberg, a partner at Duane Morris and a team lead of its cannabis industry group. […]

However, that is not their primary concern when you’re going through security. TSA screening procedures are focused on threats to aviation safety, trying to spot things in your bag that could be a potential threat to flights, not finding your edibles. The agency website even says “ … TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs.”

“THC gummies are not really a threat that the TSA is concerned with,” Goldberg says.

To read the full text of the article, please visit The Washington Post.

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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