Westword
Dear Stoner: What’s Delta-8? Can I really order it online and get high from it?
Mulkey
Dear Mulkey: Delta-8 THC is chemically different from Delta-9 THC, the version of THC with which we and the Drug Enforcement Administration are much more familiar. Delta-8 has intoxicating effects like Delta-9 and gives users a feeling similar to being stoned off regular ol’ weed. But because of the chemical difference, Delta-8 isn’t explicitly outlawed by the federal government, and a boom began once hemp extractors found out that CBD, common in certain hemp varieties, can be converted into Delta-8.
Cannabis chemistry has come a long way.
Jaqueline Collins
Delta-8 is consumed in concentrate and edible form, with vaping the most popular. However, we’ve also heard of hemp companies spraying CBD flower with Delta-8 extract, essentially making it like a normal nug. An important note: None of this stuff is part of a regulated market, and the vast majority isn’t laboratory-tested.
Lawyers and legal pundits agree that the Delta-8 market is more gray than in the clear, and even though companies selling it have been operating openly, there’s a general agreement that a DEA crackdown or federal show of force is coming at some point. So congratulations, America: We’ve let prohibition turn cannabis into Four Loko, constantly changing to evade the law.
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.
