The Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and Campbell County leaders discussed the issue of synthetic THC products that are legally available with the upcoming legalization of medical marijuana sales in Kentucky.
According to Director of Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force Scott Hardcorn, a 2018 farm bill that defines hemp versus marijuana has created a loophole that allows places like gas stations all across NKY to sell intoxicating hemp products legally. Hardcorn said people are exploiting hemp to create synthetic products that can be found in things like vapes.
The discussion took place during a Campbell County Mayors meeting on April 23.
“With medical marijuana that’s coming up, I want everybody to start trying to wrap your head around what we’re going to be exposed to, and a lot of that starts with marijuana,” Hardcorn said.
Under the farm bill, the legislation defines the cannabis plant. If the level of Delta-9 THC is above .3%, it is marijuana. If it’s below, it is considered hemp. The 2018 farm bill, according to Farmers.gov, reclassified hemp and made it legal to grow industrial hemp.
“The main problem with this is the farm bill created a loophole with the definition of marijuana being point .3% or higher for marijuana, Delta-9 THC,” Hardcorn said. “There are all these other cannabinoids (chemical compounds) that are naturally occurring in hemp, and you can take those naturally occurring cannabinoids, and you can convert those into intoxicating hemp products, and that’s what we’re finding everywhere in all of these gas stations.”
Further, Hardcorn said Delta-8 was declared legal in the state under the farm bill.
In April 2021, Hardcorn said the Department of Agriculture sent a letter to hemp producers and law enforcement declaring Delta-8 THC an illegal synthetic drug. Then, in June of 2021, the Kentucky State Police began raiding retail stores using the letter as justification; however, the Kentucky Hemp Association argued that Delta-8 was federally legal because of the farm bill, and a hearing was held in Boone County in August of 2022.
Boone County Circuit Judge Richard Brueggemann declared that Delta-8 was a legal derivative of hemp and issued a permanent injunction against law enforcement. Hardcorn said this prevents them from charging retailers and producers for selling Delta-8.
“That is where we’re at now,” he said. “We’re seeing these things everywhere, and they can get you just as high as marijuana, and they’re being legally sold in all of the gas stations in all of your cities.”
Hardcorn said people are synthetically converting CBD, found in hemp, into Delta-8.
“What they’re selling in these gas stations, there’s nothing natural about it,” he said. “They’re using hemp, they’re exploiting it and they’re using it to produce this stuff. I mean, it’s a loophole.”
Hardcorn said the region has an issue with gas stations selling these products to those under the legal age. He specifically named a recent issue they had with a shop in Erlanger that was known to sell to Dixie Heights High School students.
During his conversations with the shop owner, Hardcorn said he asked them what substance was the most frequently asked for. The answer was THCa, which is legal under the farm bill because it is naturally occurring in hemp. However, Hardcorn said when heat is applied to THCa, a chemical conversion happens, creating Delta-9 THC.
“What we’re seeing in the hospitals is when you have naturally occurred cannabis that’s growing, it is a lot different than the synthetic stuff,” said Director Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Amanda Peters. “The (synthetic) stuff is sending people into psychosis to the point where they’re not always coming back, and they’re having major mental health issues for the rest of their lives.”
Some of them should be institutionalized, but we don’t have those systems. People go to the emergency department through our behavioral health system with psychosis for days. And the youth, it’s really affecting their brain development.”
Senator Shelley Funke Frommeyer said they made the issue an emergency during the session and passed legislation (House Bill 11) that should go into law in July. One aspect of the legislation regulates the sale of these products to people under 21. Funke Frommeyer said the other aspect articulates the types of products that may be sold and does get into THC limits and Delta-8.
“It wasn’t something that came across my radar until kind of towards the end, but the recognition is that it’s an enormous problem,” she said. “But we recognize there’s a real impaired driving aspect.”
This discussion was ahead of medical marijuana becoming legal in the commonwealth.
Beshear signed House Bill 829 on April 18, which moves the date when businesses can receive licensing for the sale of medical marijuana from Jan. 1, 2025, to July 2024.
Kentucky lawmakers passed the measure to legalize access to medical cannabis for people suffering from a defined list of debilitating illnesses in March of 2023, according to LINK nky partner WCPO. Since then, lawmakers also passed a regulatory follow-up on April 15 before Beshear signed HB-829.
