New Jersey Senate Law and Public Safety Committee advanced a bipartisan measure aiming to regulate the controversial delta-8 products that are widely sold across the state. The bill, S3944, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz (D) and Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R) was first introduced in January.
“Delta-8 THC is an unregulated, psychoactive hemp-derived product that is being sold at gas stations, pharmacies, and bodegas across New Jersey,” Senator O’Scanlon said as reported Senate NJ. “It’s the bathtub gin of the cannabis space and it’s being sold to kids without any of the restrictions or product safety regulations required under New Jersey’s recreational adult-use cannabis law. Our bill addresses these concerns by subjecting Delta-8 THC to the same regulatory framework as other cannabis products in New Jersey.”
Delta-8 THC is a chemical component of the cannabis plant. Although delta-8 THC occurs naturally in very small concentrations, it can produce a mild psychoactive effect in some people similar to delta-9 THC. The new industrial methodologies allow for delta-8 THC to be converted from CBD derived from hemp. With the 2018 Farm Bill hemp (marijuana with only .3% delta 9 THC) became legal, which created a perfect gray area for those wanting to create “legal THC.”
The measure aims to clarify that modified, converted and synthetically derived intoxicating THC isomers, like delta-8 THC, represents THC under the state’s controlled and dangerous substance schedules. It further alters the definition of hemp and hemp products making sure that hemp and hemp products can’t contain more than .3 concentration of delta-THC by weight.