In the past year, CBD gummies, oils, and lotions have joined its counterparts, delta-8 THC or “delta 8,” on the shelves of convenience stores and pharmacies. There is a chemical found in hemp called delta-8 THC, which is quite similar to delta-9 THC. The high experienced by cannabis consumers is the result of the presence of delta-9 THC.

You can ingest or vape delta-8 THC just like regular marijuana. But it’s hardly ever used in a cigarette. Users attest to its calming and pain-relieving effects, as well as its lack of the powerful highs that can lead to paranoia and anxiety.

Still, there is a lack of studies including this chemical. To better understand who is taking delta-8 THC, why, and what impacts it has, we as public-health researchers decided to conduct the first study of its kind.

DELTA-8 THC AND THE BRAIN

The majority of our subjects ingested delta-8 THC concentrations in the form of edibles, tinctures, or vaporized cannabis, all of which are potential safer routes of administration than smoking. About half of respondents indicated they used delta-8 THC to treat a health or medical issue, and about a third stated they used it exclusively to treat a health condition and never for recreational purposes. Many patients used delta-9 THC for the treatment of anxiety, panic attacks, chronic pain, depression, bipolar disorder, and stress.

Consistent with our hypotheses, individuals rated the effects of delta-8 THC as being milder than those of THC.

What’s really interesting, though, is how differently the two groups’ experiences are characterized.

It indicates that the relaxing and pain-relieving effects of delta-8 THC are comparable to those of THC. In addition to causing slightly less euphoria than other drugs, it also appears to cause fewer cognitive distortions such impaired time perception, memory loss, and trouble focusing. Negative emotions, such as worry and paranoia, were also significantly rarer among the participants. Delta-8 THC was noted by several participants for allowing them to remain productive despite its use, while THC products were more commonly used for recreational purposes because to their more profound psychoactive effects.

Most people who tried delta-8 THC saw significant improvements in their symptoms, allowing them to reduce or eliminate their use of pharmaceutical medicines and other THC products. Regarding negative effects, addictiveness, withdrawal symptoms, effectiveness, safety, availability, and cost, they ranked delta-8 THC higher than prescription medications.

Participants, however, were not optimistic that their primary care physician would be able to properly include medicinal cannabis into their treatment plan. Many patients were using delta-8 THC as a cover-up for their actual use of prescription medicines.

There is still a chasm between those who use cannabis for self-medication and the conventional health care system, as evidenced by these trends, thus more study and more education for health care providers on cannabis and its derivatives is necessary.

The Future Of DELTA-8 THC: What does it hold?

The results we’ve gotten so far are simply the beginning. We anticipate that they will pave the way for more advanced studies to be conducted, such as randomized, controlled trials with blinded participants to determine its efficacy in treating certain illnesses. In addition, it is still unclear whether the positive and negative effects experienced by our individuals were the result of pollutants or the placebo effect.

However, other states have outright outlawed delta-8 THC sales despite the fact that delta-8 THC products may deliver many of the same sensory and medicinal benefits with fewer risks and fewer bad effects. It seems a little contradictory, given that many of those same states allow for the selling of cannabis and other hemp products for recreational purposes.

When high-demand chemicals like delta-8 THC are made illegal, the black market they inspire raises new safety problems because of the lack of any regulatory or enforcement framework.

There is still a wide variety of cannabis laws. We believe authorities should support for additional investigation of this viable option as cannabis becomes increasingly available to Americans for both medical and recreational uses.

Why do people keep using it?

Consumers who tried both delta-9-THC and delta-8 said that the latter left them feeling more relaxed and happy, while the former left them feeling less paranoid and agitated. Relaxation, exhilaration, and pain alleviation were the most often reported effects of delta-8. Concentration issues, memory loss, and a skewed perception of time were reported, however not to the same degree as with traditional marijuana use.

Participants “thought that it was less severe” when asked to compare delta-8 to delta-9, according to the survey’s lead investigator, Jessica Kruger, a clinical assistant professor of health behavior’s at the University at Buffalo. They said things like, “I can take delta-8 and still get stuff done, but when I take delta-9, I have couch lock and don’t feel like doing anything.”

As both Drs. Kruger and Klumpers have pointed out, it’s quite improbable that delta-8 has any distinct impacts from delta-9. Instead, it’s likely that there’s less of the drug in the CB1 receptors, so users won’t experience as many of the unpleasant side effects of hyperdosing.

Does it pose a threat?

The absence of regulation of delta-8 in the United States is a major cause for concern, according to several public health professionals. In several tests, including one conducted by the US Cannabis Council, pollutants in delta-8 products were discovered. All 27 delta-8 items examined by researchers at the University of Rochester failed to contain the advertised level of delta-8, according to a study published in December. In addition, additional cannabinoids including delta-9-THC and heavy metals like lead and mercury were present in all 27 samples, suggesting that they were produced as unintended byproducts during the manufacturing process.

Although Dr. Vrana does not believe that delta-8 is inherently more harmful than delta-9, he is understandably terrified by its production and distribution conditions. There are many potential negative outcomes due of its artificial nature and the lack of oversight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a health caution about delta-8 that month because of these fears. After receiving 104 complaints of adverse effects from delta-8 use, the F.D.A. issued a similar warning in May. These adverse events included hallucinations, vomiting, tremor, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness.

Similarly, between January 2021 and February 2022, national poison control center’s received almost 2,000 complaints related to delta-8. Forty-one percent of these calls concerned children who had mistakenly ingested goods containing delta-8. The patient in one of the cases died.

Poisonings like this might result from ingesting foreign substances or high amounts of delta-8 or unlabeled delta-9. High doses of THC can result in persistent nausea and vomiting, psychosis, and addiction.

Due to the lack of federal oversight, 14 states have passed legislation prohibiting the sale or possession of delta-8 or all unregulated forms of THC (delta-10 also exists). Surprisingly, this includes numerous places like Colorado and New York where recreational marijuana use is allowed.

Dr. Leas claims that recreational marijuana is safer than delta-8 because of the strict rules governing its sale. According to him, quality assurance testing in the manufacturing sector is crucial to ensuring public health.

Theoretically, consumers should be safeguarded by the licensing of distributors, existing age limits, and labelling standards regarding potency and suggested dose, as well as confirmation procedures for those labels. For delta-8-THC, none of those safeguards apply.