MJBizMag February 2022 - 14

HEMP NOTEBOOK Kristen Nichols
A Chance to Rewrite the Rules
Delta-8 THC offers marijuana operators an opportunity to tackle
red tape and overtaxation
D
elta-8 THC dropped on the
cannabis industry like a
nuclear weapon.
The establishment didn't
take kindly to new competition:
Regulated marijuana companies and
politicians flipped out, and the labcreated
cannabinoid left both sides
frozen like two superpowers in the
Cold War.
Where was D-8 coming from? And
why were these upstart cannabis
formulators allowed to bypass the
rules, produce and sell intoxicants
(and make big money!) without
following established procedures?
Procedures, of course, that include
undesirable steps such as:
* Waiting months or years
for final regulations to be
published.
* Acquiring a license, which
usually requires lawyers, consultants
and hefty fees.
* Complying with exhaustive
testing and sampling rules-
never
mind that people have been
safely growing and using
untested cannabis for centuries.
* Paying steep taxes at every
step.
* Watching state lawmakers raid
those cannabis tax funds to pay
for roads, schools and pet projects
they ought to be asking
all taxpayers to fund instead of
fleecing marijuana companies.
* Urging the same government
bureaucrats who tax and regulate
the stuffing out of THC to
make it harder for other companies
to join the market.
14 February 2022 | MJBizMagazine
THE D-8 OPPORTUNITY
Just like a nuclear standoff,
everyone loses in the delta-8 THC
standoff.
As this issue of MJBizMagazine
looks at lab-created cannabinoids,
I suggest that marijuana operators
see the delta-8 THC trend as an
opportunity to ask tough questions
about the extensive testing and red
tape imposed on cannabis.
Most would agree that
intoxicating products ought to
be regulated, but how? When do
regulations go too far?
In opposing D-8, established
cannabis operators joined the
government regulators who are all
too happy to ban treatments that
don't come through the established
pharmaceutical pipeline.
THC and CBD players fired off
alarming news releases siding with
government regulators to keep
these products off store shelves
without further research (ignoring
the fact that regulators neither
suggested nor offered to pay for
such research).
It's a game that leaves cannabis
entrepreneurs at all THC levels
fighting each other instead of pushing
back at how cannabis
is overregulated.
" As we examine whether
lab-created cannabinoids are a
threat or an opportunity, let's
agree that the trend offers all
cannabis entrepreneurs the
opportunity to ask questions
about why marijuana is so
often treated like
another 'sin tax.' "
So, let's push back. As we examine
whether lab-created cannabinoids
are a threat or an opportunity,
let's agree that the trend offers
all cannabis entrepreneurs the
opportunity to ask questions about
why marijuana is so often treated
like another " sin tax. "
I don't know whether the delta-8
THC trend will fizzle. I don't know
which minor cannabinoids or synthetically
converted analogs are
coming next.
But I'm sure delta-8 THC will
make all cannabis entrepreneurs
reconsider the status quo.
Rather than ask why lab-created
cannabinoids don't have more rules,
ask why other extracts from the
plant have so many.
Kristen Nichols covers
hemp for MJBizMagazine.
She can be reached
at kristen.nichols@
hempindustrydaily.com.
MJBizMag February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag February 2022
