Drug Dealing Drug Warriors: A Hypocrisy Lesson

This Loco Ocho Diary entry is brought to you by Better Than Nine Purple Gelato Delta 8 Vape. A lot of it.

Which Drug Warriors are Trying to Ban Delta 8 THC?

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill’s language clearly states that Delta 8 is federally legal. Legalizing Delta 8 has been one of the best things that came from the Hemp provision of the Farm Bill. It offers everyone in the country an opportunity to utilize some of the more powerful medical benefits of hemp, even if you live in a state with no medical cannabis program. The delta 8 isomer delivers similar effects as delta 9, without many of the negatives. The Farm Bill legalizing hemp extracts like delta 8 is a good, however, there is a small, but vocal, group that is trying their best to ban it.

Who is behind the push to ban Delta 8?

If you said the DEA or law enforcement, you’re wrong.

The group that is fighting hardest, and succeeding in some states, to ban Delta 8 is the legal cannabis Industry.

At face value, this seems ironic and contradictory, but when you follow the money, it makes more sense.

Hemp and cannabis were illegal at the Federal level up until the last decade. Classifying hemp as a schedule 1 drug has been one of the more baffling policies of the U.S. Government. Having hemp in the same category as heroin, crack, and PCP did not make sense to anyone who knew anything about drug pharmacology. It turns out that these policies weren’t made using scientific or medical data, but instead, the policies have been pushed by industries that profit from the drug war. These industries include the pharmaceutical and prison industries. Big pharma has more power and influence between the two.

The medical benefits of hemp and cannabis have been documented for 1000s of years. Big pharma knows that hemp extracts can replace several of their biggest money making drugs. Competition is bad for business, so Big RX has waged a well-financed, 50 year effort to keep hemp illegal. They did this quietly for decades, however, they had to be more visibly vocal since states started legalizing medical cannabis.

The talking points that Big Pharma used when giving reasons as to why hemp and cannabis needed to remain illegal were lazy. They always talked about the importance of a safe, tested, and regulated product and industry, that only they could do. Medical cannabis advocates were quick to fire back by agreeing that products need to be made a in a safe, regulated environment, but that more companies are able to accomplish this other the the big drug companies. After decades of lobbying and advocacy, hemp has become Federally legal.

The government federally legalizing hemp brings us back to delta 8 and the recent efforts from cannabis companies to ban it.

Delta 8 has been the hottest thing in the hemp industry for about a year. As its popularity and demand grew, it made an enemy in the industry that created it. Since the beginning of 2021, licensed cannabis companies have been lobbying their state governments to ban delta 8…not sold by them.

Can you guess what their reason is?

Yep. They are trying to protect the public from unsafe, untested, unregulated products, just like their counterparts in Big Pharma.

I completely agree that companies should not sell untested and unsafe products. I believe for the hemp industry, as well as any company that is selling products made for human consumption. Product safety should be the first consideration of any product. However, the argument that they alone are the only ones capable of producing a safe and tested product is as laughable an argument as any when made by a monopoly protecting its monopoly. The irony here is that many of these cannabis companies that are trying to restrict access to delta 8 are the same people that were fighting for people’s access to medical cannabis 10 years ago. And let’s be clear, they aren’t trying to ban delta 8 from existence, they are trying to ban it from hemp companies.

It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that I don’t understand their problem with hemp companies selling delta 8. Hemp companies, for the most part, face fewer regulations and lower taxes than cannabis companies. Consequently, they can sell delta 8 products cheaper and to a broader customer base than a licensed cannabis company can thus creating more competition.

As I wrap this article up, I wanted to bring up something else that I find telling about the cannabis companies pushing so hard to ban delta 8. Cannabis companies, both medical and recreational, can sell EVERYTHING cannabis and hemp. They can sell psychoactive flowers, edibles, live resins, dabs, and even 98% Delta 9 THC diamonds. It doesn’t make sense that cannabis companies even care that anyone is selling delta 8, unless of course, they too realize that it’s Better Than Nine! 😉

 

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