In a building formerly owned by the pharmaceutical company Roche, in an industrial neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, a state where marijuana is still illegal, a former high school quarterback with a college degree in biochemistry is surveying his warehouse filled with millions of dollars’ worth of gummies and vaporizers. The products are packed with delta-9-tetrahydrocanninol (THC), the psychoactive compound in weed known for getting people stoned.
And while local police have raided vape shops selling these cannabis products, Justin Journay, the CEO and founder of 3Chi, insists that he is operating within the letter of federal law—despite the fact that the state’s Attorney General, Todd Rokita, believes companies like his are committing a felony.
That’s because 3Chi’s products are made from marijuana’s cannabis cousin, hemp. In 2018, the federal government legalized hemp and all its derivatives, isomers and extracts through the Agricultural Improvement Act, or what’s known as the Farm Bill. And since hemp and marijuana are different varietals of the same plant—cannabis sativa L.—they contain the same compounds and hemp can be used to make products of similar potencies, or even stronger, than those found in state-regulated marijuana dispensaries around the country.
Despite what the Farm Bill states, there is still plenty of debate about whether hemp-derived THC products are legal at the federal level. That’s because several things are true all at once: hemp-derived cannabinoids, including delta-9 THC, delta-8 THC (a less potent compound that is affectionately called “weed lite” or “decaf kush”) and others, are legal under the Farm Bill if those compounds are found naturally in the plant, meaning if a company takes a heap of hemp and extracts THC, that oil is legal if it contains 0.3% THC or less. In an opinion from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022, judges ruled that cannabinoids derived from hemp are legal under the Farm Bill, even if the substances have psychoactive properties.
Read the full story:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/04/19/the-cannabis-civil-war-hemp-vs-marijuana/
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