What is Delta-8 THC & Why Is It Legal?

Lately, Delta-8 THC has been all the craze as it has risen sharply in popularity within the past few years alone. The legal status and milder high are responsible for Delta-8s rise.

Delta-8, from a chemical standpoint, isn't very different from its more well-known cousin, Delta-9 THC (the strain responsible for getting high when smoking marijuana). Both do produce a euphoric feeling, except Delta-8's is milder. As a result, Delta-8 has earned the nicknames of "marijuana-lite" and "diet weed."

While it has become popular with both people who do and don't smoke marijuana, many people that do not enjoy the intensity of marijuana prefer Delta-8. In addition, some of the known side effects of smoking marijuana, like paranoia and anxiety, are not commonly found with Delta-8 consumption.

So if Delta-8 THC isn't much different than Delta-9 THC, how is it legal?

This question gets brought up quite a bit, and rightfully so. The legal status plays a large part in how popular Delta-8 has become. Since Delta-8 is extracted for the most part from hemp-derived CBD, a product legal to farm across the country, it finds a kind of legal "gray area" or "loophole."

The Agriculture Bill of 2018 legalized CBD production and consumption as long as it has THC (Delta-9) levels of no more than 0.3%. Since Delta-8 is not mentioned in the bill and only found in trace amounts and is not the outlawed chemical of Delta-9, it is therefore not federally banned, like Delta-9 THC is.

There isn't a tremendous amount of research done on the health benefits of Delta-8. Still, from what studies have shown, it does help with: calming nausea, boosting appetite, easing pain, boosting mental health, relieving anxiety, and even helping prevent vomiting during cancer treatments.

There are many ways to consume Delta-8 THC; you can vape it, smoke it like normal weed, and eat it in a wide variety of edibles. At Best Buds, we have a collection of Delta-8 THC gummies. We routinely hear from people who never liked the intensity of smoking traditional marijuana yet love the calmer and more mild high that comes with eating Delta-8 edibles.