WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Delta-8 THC products are becoming widely popular. It is a hemp-derived cousin of Delta-9-THC, mostly known as cannabis. The active ingredient in the cannabis plant provides the “high” people feel after using it.
Masha Belinson is with ACS Laboratory. It provides cannabis and hemp/CBD laboratory testing services in Florida and around the country.
“Delta-8 is made from CBD. So you take CBD isolate and then through a chemical conversion, I am not gonna go into it. It's a lot of chemistry, but you get Delta-8,” said Belinson.
The 2018 farm bill legalized hemp and its products as long as they have less than .3 % of Delta-9 THC. The same goes in Florida state law when senate bill 1020 passed.
It requires that a certificate of analysis is conducted by an independent testing laboratory. They must verify the acceptable THC concentration levels and that it does not have contaminants unsafe for human consumption.
“Don’t buy a product at a gas station because it could be counterfeit," said Belinson. We work with like 25 law enforcement agencies in Florida and then a big national one. We get calls all the time like we have your lab result here can you verify if it’s real."
Hannah Reed, who has a medicinal card, rarely consumes Delta-8. But the one time she did she said she had a bad experience.
“Got one, not from here, but from a regular vape store and it said that it was like green crack flavor and it tasted like earth in like a chemical," she said. I’ve never coughed so hard in my life and it wasn’t even hard like in hell it was just a small one and I just almost felt like I was coughing up blood. That's how much it hurts.”
The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning that some Delta-8 THC products can have serious health risks: vomiting, hallucinations and other issues.
“I would say, do your research online and look at reputable makers,” said Belinson.
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