As Kentucky debates medical marijuana McConnell's hemp push already lets

While politicians debate whether to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky, a lesser-known product that gets people similarly high is flourishing in the state. And it’s already legal. Delta-8 THC — a chemical almost identical to the delta-9 THC in marijuana that drives the mental high people get — is being sold in edibles and vapes in shops across the commonwealth with minimal regulation. It can be sold to anyone, theoretically even children, at the seller’s discretion. A huge reason for the relative absence of regulation: This niche market emerged unexpectedly and lacks federal oversight, leaving officials in states like Kentucky to decide what to do. In the meantime, delta-8’s popularity has grown in Kentucky.”By all accounts that I’ve received, that part of the industry is exploding,” said Katie Moyer, president of the Kentucky Hemp Association. The delta-8 business bloomed from an unforeseen loophole thanks to a law federally legalizing hemp, a cannabis plant with very little delta-9 THC, that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell helped pass in 2018. He went to bat for hemp in hopes that it could be a cash crop for Kentucky farmers. Fact check: Does Kentucky really grow more marijuana than any other state? Delta-8 can be indirectly derived from hemp, and the way the 2018 law was written opened the door for businesses to make and sell it. But the lack of regulation contributed to safety and other concerns, and people in the industry as well as government officials want more rules. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear stepped in to help fill that void in November. In an executive order issued at the same time as a separate order on medical marijuana, he specified delta-8 products must meet certain rules, including packaging and labeling requirements that apply to other hemp-derived materials.“To the extent that we learn of an issue, a bad health outcome, you can track the product back to exactly who has made it and further investigate,” he told The Courier Journal.”We think it’s important it’s regulated like a hemp product,” Beshear said of his administration. “But with that said, we’ll watch and learn. And if we see challenges out there, we want to be flexible enough to adapt to them.”Eric Wang, CEO of Ecofibre — a hemp company with operations in Georgetown — said he thinks strong regulations are needed, at minimum. Wang said intoxicating products weren’t what hemp businesses pitched to lawmakers who helped get the crop fully legalized.”It’s absolutely not what we had committed to as an industry,” he said. Anecdotal data indicate delta-8 causes a less intense high than marijuana and shows some people use it like they would medical marijuana, to assuage issues like pain, anxiety and insomnia. Others take it for fun. And some do both. Some industry insiders say delta-8’s popularity in places like Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee is due to the fact that medical and recreational marijuana can’t legally be sold there.

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