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Last month, Florida-based company Kandy Girl launched a new kind of weed product: a THC-infused gummy cube, called Kandy Girl Delta 9 Gummies. Like most other THC products on the market, it will get you high. Unlike other products, though, the THC in Kandy Girl is sourced from hemp, which means it’s technically legal for sale in 49 states.
Kandy Girl is selling hemp derived delta 9 THC gummies, along with other hemp and hemp-derived products, online for sale nationally. CEO Alina Boyce says the company wants to make cannabis products accessible to consumers who don’t have local access to legal THC products. And, she says, “Our goal is also to make it more affordable for people that might not be able to afford to use cannabis as often as they need to.” At $4 per serving for 10 mg of THC, the price is well below what marijuana-derived THC costs in most legal states, with Washington being the only state to have a law on delta 9 converted from hemp.
The difference between cannabinoids derived from hemp or marijuana is a technicality — but it could have serious legal consequences, Hemp and marijuana are classified botanically as the same plant, Cannabis sativa; the distinction between the two under U.S. law is in the amount of the cannabinoid known as THC, which is the plant’s psychoactive component. Under the Farm Bill passed by Congress in December of 2018, legal hemp contains 0.3 percent or less THC, while marijuana contains more than .3 percent THC on a dry weight basis.
In 2018 when the Farm Bill legalized the cultivation and sale of hemp and hemp derived products, derivatives, and isomers under federal law, farmers and manufacturers mostly focused on extracting cannabidiol, or CBD, from
hemp, raking in huge profits. However, the surge of interest in hemp led to a glut of hemp-sourced CBD production, accompanied by a drop in price.
Mostly due to the abundance of cheap hemp, enterprising cannabis businesses found a cost-effective method of producing a lesser-known cannabinoid called Delta-8-THC from hemp-sourced CBD. Delta-8, a less-potent cousin of Delta-9-THC, or “regular” THC, offers a mild, functional high, according to many consumers.“
The legal loophole of extracting Delta-8-THC from hemp gave rise to an entire industry of Delta-8 products sold around the country by companies like BuyDelta8Online, Reef Canna, FukedUp, all which offer hemp-derived Delta-8 gummies, flower, concentrates, and vape cartridges for sale online.
“A huge expectation of people with CBD was feeling something, and Delta based products provide that,” Boyce told LA Weekly earlier this month. She also added, “I’m really glad we have progressed this far. It’s been nothing but delight since we started”
How are Hemp Delta 9 Gummies Legal?
For now it looks like Delta 9 is on the charts to be a huge hit this summer. Boyce is confident that the company has met the requirements to sell hemp-derived THC legally across the country. “Our Gummies are a 4-gram product, so you’re talking 4,000 milligrams of total dry weight,” Boyce says. “Ten milligrams of THC in 4,000 milligrams of product comes out to 0.25 percent.”
So, since each bottle of Kandy Girl Delta 9 THC Gummies contains less than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis, it complies with the provisions laid out in the Farm Bill.
Is Hemp Delta 9 THC Legal?
Kandy Girl seems to have found a way around federal marijuana laws with its hemp-sourced Delta-9-THC product — for the time being, at least. As Kandy Girl has hired an expert cannabis attorney to consult them on whether their product is legal.
Thomas Howard a cannabis Attorney at the cannabis law firm Collateral Base stated, “Delta-9 THC compliant hemp infused products are legal under federal law. The 2018 Farm Bill clearly wanted hemp to be a broadly defined product from the cannabis plant, but Congress still does not really understand the plant because of the Delta-9 THC thresholds. The plant doesn’t make the delta-9 version of that cannabinoid. It only appears after a decarboxylation occurs. The extraction and processing of the mother liquor can dial up or down the THC levels and even eliminate them completely. Had Congress wanted a definition of hemp that regulated the THC in hemp plants and eliminated it from hemp extracts, it could have done so.”
Will Hemp Delta 9 Stay Legal?
Hemp derived delta 9 isn’t out of the clear entirely. Howard also went on to state, “Perhaps that is exactly what is going to happen with the 2022 Farm Bill and the newly proposed CBD Product Safety and Standardization Act but all such acts have been slow to roll out. So look for more of the Delta-9 THC products with compliant levels of the substance in their finished products to qualify as hemp. The window will close one day, but I can only speculate as to when that day will be.”
Are Kandy Girl THC Gummies Safe?
Kandy Girl is not candy and not for children and requires it’s site visitors to be 21 years of age or older. They have proactively included age gates to verify every user’s age before being allowed access to the website.
An examination of a certificate of the laboratory analysis, or COA, shows a 0.25 percent THC threshold in Kandy Girl.
The lab that produced the COA for Kandy Girl confirmed the results to LA Weekly, noting they not only were tested for cannabinoid potency they were also tested for heavy metals and pesticides. Kandy Girl links to its product COAs on its website.
What Is The Future Of Hemp Delta 9
It’s no surprise other brands will be hopping on this hot trending product in 2022 Kandy Girl plans to release more hemp-derived Delta-9-THC products like energy shots and sleep shots as well as more candies and gummies. Boyce is confident that Kandy Girl will have a massively positive impact on the hemp and cannabis industry as a whole.
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