93% Of Smokable Hemp Exceeds Legal THC Limit, Government-Funded Study Finds

A recent study funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) analyzing 53 commercially available smokable hemp products found a staggering 93% contained THC levels surpassing the federally permissible 0.3%, categorizing them as illegal under federal law.

The research tested smokable hemp products from five commercial manufacturers, analyzing for cannabinoids including delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC, THC-A, and total delta-9 THC. The results, obtained by employing liquid chromatography and photodiode array detection, revealed that an overwhelming majority of these products exceeded the legal THC limit.

2018 Farm Bill’s THC Demarcation Line Under Scrutiny

The 2018 Farm Bill’s 0.3% THC threshold, setting hemp apart from marijuana based on THC content, aimed at fostering a legal hemp industry. Yet, this study’s findings challenge the efficacy of that threshold, with a significant majority of tested products mislabeled regarding their THC content. This discrepancy not only misleads consumers but also complicates law enforcement’s efforts to distinguish legal hemp from illegal marijuana.

“Now, with a quantitative limit [on delta-9 THC], method accuracy is of paramount importance since legal actions are based on the resulting measurements,” the study emphasizes, highlighting the importance of precise THC measurements.

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Mislabeled Hemp-Derived Products, Increasingly Accessible

The research on smokable hemp products, funded by a grant from the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice announced in 2020, emerges against a backdrop of increasing scrutiny over CBD products sold online. A report by CBD Oracle highlighted similar concerns regarding hemp edibles, revealing that “hemp gummies” sold on major e-commerce platforms like Amazon AMZN, Walmart WMT and eBay EBAY contain unsafe levels of delta-8 THC. 

These alarming discoveries underscore a broader issue of mislabeled and potentially hazardous CBD products reaching consumers in the rapidly expanding hemp market.

Other Federally Funded Research On Cannabis

Meanwhile, the government’s investment in cannabis-related research extends beyond hemp product analysis. For instance, federal researchers have recently developed new techniques to differentiate between marijuana and hemp samples more accurately. Furthermore, another federally funded effort has perfected a method for detecting THC levels in blood, enhancing the reliability of impairment assessments in legal and medical contexts.

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