Intoxicating Hemp Swindle

A new study from an industry advocacy group in California examines the content of dozens of unregulated intoxicating “hemp” products that are easily available in the Golden State despite being banned by state law. 

The study, entitled “The Great Hemp Hoax,” was released February 13th by the San Diego/Imperial Counties Joint Labor Management Cannabis Committee — made up of representatives of UFCW Local 135, and local companies March & Ash and Embarc. Its provocative kicker states: “Much of what’s sold as ‘hemp’ today isn’t hemp at all — it’s a mix of synthetic intoxicants and illicit THC masquerading as a legal, natural product.” 

The report’s lead author is Tiffany Devitt of Groundwork Holdings, Inc., the parent company of March & Ash and CannaCraft. For the study, Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs of San Diego tested 104 products marketed as “hemp” — mostly chewable gummies and vapes — that were purchased online from 68 brands. These include well-known names like Cookies, Cheech and Chong, Cali Extrax, Dome Wrecker, Torch, and Cake.

The study’s findings indicate that many so-called hemp products are infused with synthetic psychoactive cannabinoids, which can actually make users feel loopier than natural Delta-9 THC. What’s more, synthesized Delta-9 THC is present in many of these products, despite being prohibited in both California’s cannabis and hemp programs. And finally, these products, mostly vended through websites, are effectively dodging the taxman — raising no revenues for state or local governments. 

“Hemp“ Not Really Hemp

Speaking in a Feb. 12 online press conference, Devitt stated: “We’ve been watching the hemp industry emerge, and it’s exploded into a marketplace of highly intoxicating products. The real head-scratcher for us is that hemp is actually a really inefficient plant from which to make naturally psychoactive products.”  

Explains Devitt: “If I’m going to extract or source Delta-9 THC from hemp rather than [high-resin] cannabis, I’m going to need around 50 times more biomass, which means 50 times more acreage, 50 times more labor, 50 times more water, et cetera, et cetera, to make a small amount of THC distillate. And the picture for Delta-8 is even more out of whack because there’s less natural Delta-8 THC in hemp than there is Delta-9 . . .  If I’m using naturally extracted Delta-8 from hemp, it’s going to take about 19 pounds of biomass to make a 2-gram cartridge.” 

This pointed right away to industry corner-cutting. If the THC is not coming directly from the hemp plant, then where is it coming from? And what’s actually in psychoactive products labeled as “hemp”? The study found that these products are chock full of synthesized compounds that can be more potent  — and riskier — than the natural cannabinoids found in the plant.

The study defines “chemically synthesized cannabinoids” as compounds made through a chemical conversion process rather than being naturally extracted from the plant. These can include Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC, which are typically synthesized from CBD isolate that’s sourced from hemp. There’s also THCP, THCO, HHC, and others that can’t be made from CBD starter material — and thus are outside any legal definition of “hemp.” These illegal compounds are designed to mimic the effects of Delta-9 THC but are often chemically modified to amplify intoxicating effects. THCP, for example, is estimated to be over 30 times stronger than Delta-9 THC. 

The study arrived at a “THC Potency Equivalency Factor” (PEF) based on each compound’s relative CB1 (cannabinoid) receptor binding affinity compared to natural delta-9 THC. THCP was found to have a PEF of 30 — meaning it is 30 times more efficacious at getting you high than its natural cousin Delta-9 THC. “This can also mean amplified health risks,” says Devitt, who compares THCP and other “uber-strong” designer compounds identified in the study to the street drug Spice. Also known as K2, this is basically any herbaceous substance treated with synthetic molecules that overwhelm or trip-switch the CB1 receptor.

It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature 

Sloppy language in the 2018 US Farm Bill inadvertently opened this “Pandora’s box” of unregulated psychoactive designer compounds by legalizing cannabinoids other than Delta-9 THC that were derived from “hemp” as defined by federal law — that is, cannabis with under 0.3 percent THC. This was intended as a means of day-lighting CBD, the non-psychoactive (or perhaps very subtly psychoactive) cannabinoid with a plethora of purported curative properties. A glut of CBD flooded the market after the passage of the Farm Bill, and this set the stage for intoxicating hemp entrepreneurs, who took advantage of the CBD’s trickster-like ability to shape-shift — or be shape-shifted — into Delta-8 or Delta-9 THC via a chemical conversion process. 

For some perspective on the matter, Project CBD turned to Mark Scialdone, a molecular chemist with Saint Michael’s College in Vermont, who co-authored a 2023 paper for the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) entitled “The Dark Side of Cannabidiol.”  “Before the Farm Bill, extracted CBD was $5,000 per kilo; since the Farm Bill, it’s down to $200,” Scialdone explained. “The market crashed. There was an incentive to take a material nobody wants to buy and create a product from it that there’s a demand for. People want to get high.”

However, a major problem: intoxicating “hemp” products, poorly manufactured without meaningful oversight, often contain THC isomers not found in nature. The “Hemp Hoax” study identified these and other byproducts of the chemical conversion process, including corrosive solvents and heavy metals, which found their way into gummies and vape carts. As Scialdone pointed out, it’s technically difficult and prohibitively expensive to filter out residual toxins in adulterated products after CBD has been synthesized into THC — which may not bode well for public health given the booming market for “hemp” intoxicants.

Golden State officials have taken steps to rein in the Wild West of psychoactive “hemp” commerce. California’s Assembly Bill 45, passed in 2021, explicitly states: “‘Industrial hemp’ does not include cannabinoids produced through chemical synthesis.”   

Gumming up Clarity on Gummies 

The study tested potency and checked to see if products complied with the legal definition of hemp. Disturbingly, it found that a full 54% of products tested failed to meet the federal hemp standard (based on Delta-9), and 88% failed to meet the California hemp standard (which also includes Delta-8). 

A full 95% of products tested contained synthetic cannabinoids, including 97% of vapes and 90% of gummies. Delta-8 was found in 86% of products, Delta-9 in 84%, “uber-strong” THCP in 47%, HHC in 34%, and THCO in 6%. 

Devitt says many of the so-called “hemp” gummies contained “astonishing levels” of THC that were significantly higher than what’s permitted in California’s regulated cannabis market, which abides by a per serving THC cap of 10 milligrams and a per package cap of 100 milligrams. A full 84% of tested gummies exceeded the serving cap, with the average THC per gummy weighing in at 89 milligrams. Over a third had between 100 and 325 milligrams. And 81% exceeded the per package cap. 

These products continue to be available despite emergency regulations proposed by the California Department of Public Health and signed into effect by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024, which banned any detectable amount of THC in hemp products (including Delta-8 and Delta-9). These emergency regulations were challenged in the courts by the US Hemp Roundtable, but they were upheld and remain in effect. 

The Vape of Things to Come? 

The study’s findings with vapes are even more ominous. Synthetic cannabinoids were present in a full 97% of vape products tested, and often these compounds were much stronger than naturally derived THC. According to the study’s “THC equivalency” scale, the average amount of THC in tested vapes was 2,682 milligrams per cartridge — 268% above California’s limit for THC in adult-use cannabis vape products, which is 1,000 milligrams, and also well above the cap for such products under the state medical marijuana program, which is 2,000. Over half of tested products contained between 2,000 and 14,000 milligrams of THC equivalency per vape. This was mostly attributable to THCP. 

“With greater potency comes a risk of unintentional over-intoxication,” says Devitt, “and these risks are amplified by exposure to adulterants and the mislabeling of products, so consumers don’t have a clear idea what they are using.” 

The study found that some products marketed as supposedly legal “THCA” vapes contained synthetic Delta-8 and THCP but no nonpsychoactive THCA at all. Such was the case with vape carts hawked by Cookies. 

Devitt expresses serious safety concerns. She sees a potential for vape-related lung damage similar to the nationwide outbreak of hundreds of pulmonary injuries, some fatal, that researchers linked to vaping in 2019.

‘Shrooms and Kratom

Perhaps most surprisingly, the study detected in several products additional psychoactive compounds that have nothing to do with hemp or cannabis at all — including psilocybin mushrooms or molecules derived thereof. Even in very minute quantities, these could be a shortcut to a longer and stranger trip than the user may have bargained for. 

Found in other products was kratom, a somewhat controversial substance, which the report describes as an “addictive, opiate-like herb.” Yet its advocates tout its ability to help wean users off opioids. In response to its growing popularity, the DEA announced in 2016 that kratom would be placed in the restrictive Schedule I — along with cannabis. However, the following year, the DEA put off its decision pending further public commentary.

Among the products containing kratom are Cheech & Chong’s Kosmic Chews — marketed under the brand name of the infamous counterculture comedy duo. Each Kosmic Chew has 25 milligrams of kratom, as well as 15 milligrams of THC. This information is listed on the label, which promises a “deeper high.” However, the fine print notes that “some people have developed kratom dependency after prolonged daily use.” 

Devitt takes issue with the claim on the label of Kosmic Chews that the product contains “all natural” Delta-9 THC. The company website boasts: “No synthetic chemicals. Just 100% naturally occurring REAL THC, from American-grown hemp…” But, as noted in the study, the Infinite Chemical Testing Lab found that Kosmic Chews contained chemically synthesized THC, which has been prohibited in California hemp products since 2021. 

When contacted by Project CBD, Brandon Harshbarger, president of Cheech & Chong’s Global Holding Company, maintained that the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp-derived THC products, and Kosmic Chews are within the 0.3% federal THC limit. He also claimed there’s no evidence Kratom interacts adversely with THC. “The combination of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC and kratom extract in Kosmic Chews is not inherently dangerous when consumed responsibly,” according to Harshbarger. “Each ingredient has a well-documented safety profile at the included doses.”

Tiffany Devitt’s response: “As Cheech & Chong are well aware, businesses are subject to federal and state laws. In California, THC-infused hemp products are banned. Period. There’s no ambiguity or loophole. There is a bright, clearly drawn line, and they’re crossing it.” 

Taxation and Transparency 

What Devitt calls an “incidental finding of the study” is that a full 91% of products were purchased with no state or local taxes.

Says Devitt: “There’s no cannabis excise tax, even though they are selling psychoactive cannabis products. This not only deprives the state of tax revenues. It also widens the price gap between psychoactive ‘hemp’ products and better quality cannabis comestibles, to the detriment of the legal adult-use cannabis industry.”

Devitt also feels there are issues of democracy at play here. “The legal cannabis market was developed through Prop 64 and a voter mandate,” she says, referring to the 2016 ballot initiative that legalized adult use of the herb in the Golden State. “It was crafted to provide accountability and transparency throughout the supply chain — with lab testing, track-and-trace programs and tax collection mandated. The hemp market remains chaotic and opaque.”

Globalized Gray Market 

The report raises special concern about the transparency of sourcing intoxicating hemp ingredients. It states: “California’s cannabis industry…supports strong labor protections and well-paying union jobs. In contrast, many ‘hemp’ companies manufacture products out of state or import inputs from China, bypassing labor standards and contributing nothing to California’s workforce.” 

Despite its own extremely harsh internal drug laws — which definitely extend to cannabis — China has in fact been cashing in on the cannabis boom by growing hemp and extracting CBD for the global market. In  May 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) issued a report finding that a “new generation of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists” were “circumventing legal controls” in China as well as Singapore. Apparently, producers once again were tweaking molecules to stay one step ahead of the law. And THCP continues to be available in bulk on the AliBaba ecommerce website.

Mark Scialdone suspects that most synthetic cannabinoids available domestically are derived from hemp-extracted CBD produced in the United States. But he acknowledges that the lack of transparency means it’s hard to know for sure. “There’s a commodity market for these compounds,” he says. “It’s like white sugar — when you buy it, you don’t necessarily know where it comes from.”

Fueling an Anti-Cannabis Backlash 

A final bitter twist: concerns over this unregulated sector of intoxicating products (which are not actually meaningfully related to hemp) have led to calls to place more burdensome restrictions on the regulated cannabis sector. There has been a rash of bills in several states to raise taxes and permit fees on cannabis business to prohibitive levels, or to ban smokable flower from state-licensed medical marijuana programs. It’s a matter of stigmatization by association, according to the Green Market Report (Feb. 18), which noted: “The political backlash has been fueled in large part by the burgeoning intoxicating hemp industry, which generally operates without any of the state-level guardrails that have been established to keep marijuana businesses in check.”  

A New York Times story (Jan. 25), “The Race for All-Powerful Pot,” depicted the legal cannabis industry in “a race to the bottom,” resorting to corner-cutting tricks like dusting joints with THC concentrate (which is certainly an affront to old-school growers). Among the factors driving this fast-buck atmosphere: “[T]he industry faces a growing threat from intoxicating hemp-derived compounds such as Delta-8, which can be sold more widely and with fewer restrictions.”

The elephant in the room is the apparent lack of concern regarding the health implications of distributing contaminated synthetic “hemp” derivatives into the consumer market. “I cannot imagine another legitimate industry that would be permitted to operate with such irresponsibility,” says Christopher Hudalla of Proverde Labs in Massachusetts. Yet this issue is rarely broached by product-makers, journalists, and lawyers when discussing the economic advantages enjoyed by counterfeit hemp entrepreneurs who benefit from operating on an unlevel playing field.  

“Today’s unregulated ‘hemp’ industry isn’t about wellness or even hemp itself. It’s about making a fast buck by selling synthetic cannabis substitutes under misleading branding while ignoring the health and safety of consumers,” says Devitt. “Intoxicating hemp products are the cannabis equivalent of ultra-processed junk food. They make a mockery of the medical roots of the cannabis industry. And they have nothing to do with ecologically beneficial fiber hemp and nutritious hempseed oil that have gotten short shrift since the passage of the Farm Bill.”

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Bill Weinberg is an award-winning journalist in fields of human rights, drug policy, ecology and war. He is producer of the website and podcast CounterVortex.org. 

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