Delta-8 THC is similar to its more commonly known psychoactive cousin, delta-9 THC, but a legal loophole has led to its broad use across the United States despite safety warnings from regulatory authorities.
“ an isomer, or chemical analog, of THC,” explained researchers Daniel Kruger and Jessica Kruger in a recent article for The Conversation.
Over 2020 and 2021, delta-8 THC products flooded the US market.
Sitting in a murky legal gray area, US federal authorities have been trying to regulate delta-8 THC for months but it is still available in most states.
The crux of these warnings, alongside the lack of general research on the drug, was that the unregulated delta-8 THC market could lead to harmful products filled with impurities.
Daniel Kruger, an author on the latest published delta-8 THC studies, says it is crucial to investigate the effects of these products since they are so widely used.
Across two newly published studies, Daniel Kruger and Jessica Kruger report on the largest survey into delta-8 THC consumption ever conducted.
Around half of the cohort said they used the drug to treat health conditions such as anxiety or pain.
“While it seems to cause slightly lower levels of euphoria, it also seems to produce fewer cognitive distortions such as an altered sense of time, short-term memory issues and difficulty concentrating,” Daniel Kruger and Jessica Kruger explain.
Another study from 1995 looked at the effects of delta-8 THC for treating chemotherapy side effects in eight pediatric patients.
Perhaps the biggest concern the researchers note right now is what effects criminalizing delta-8 THC would have on black market manufacturing.
“Criminalizing substances with high consumer demand like delta-8 THC can create a black market and produce even more concerns for consumer safety, as there’s no mechanism for the regulation and protection of consumers,” the research pair explain in The Conversation.