Was anybody gonna tell me you can buy weed legally on the internet now? 🙎🏻♀
I usually stay reasonably informed about such things but somehow missed this, probably due to the flood of fearmongering about "delta-8" and related garbage. Unless I'm missing something huge (a distinct possibility), this is the biggest thing to happen in drug law since marijuana was legalized in Colorado in 2012. While "CBD flower" aka hemp always resembled "real" cannabis to the naked eye, now it has all the same potency and recreational effects too.
Short version: Hemp growers found a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that allows them to grow hemp plants that are high in a compound called THCa and low in delta-9 THC (the banned substance). While inactive in its natural form, THCa coverts to delta-9 THC as soon as it's heated and inhaled, making the effects indistinguishable from those of "regular" weed. It's even grown using the exact same methods according to Google.
Well slap me & call me Slater
What's THCa? Think of it as a pro-drug of Delta-9 that's comparable to Vyvanse > dextroamphetamine or Levodopa > dopamine. It's inactive until it enters the body & undergoes the necessary chemical changes to produce effects. There are a number of drugs like this, it's just that THCa is produced naturally by a plant instead of in a lab. It induces the same high as regular medicinal or recreational cannabis--no shady synthetic cannabinoids or "delta-8" necessary. As far as I can tell, there are no catch-22s with this product, though I've only started looking into it. The downside: Trump's already got it slated to become illegal in November, 2026.
How could our lawmakers overlook something this huge? Because they're lawmakers, not scientists or chemists. Just like all their other woefully inadequate drug bills, they left the door wide open for people smarter than them to walk through, though they may slam it shut at any time. 🚪👋🏻 Enjoy it while it lasts and don't abuse it like the kratom vendors have done with 7-OH.
If we want to be trusted with freedom of choice, we have to be trustworthy. Prove that you can manage legal cannabis without resorting to something stronger or going insane and blaming the drug. Don't buy it and resell it to minors or market it as something it's not. Don't make crazy-potent extracts & sell them in gas stations where kids can buy them (probably already happening). Make responsible choices. This goes equally for users and vendors of THCa products. Don't be the asshole that gets this banned by doing something foolish & ending up on the news. (That said, lawmakers would be wise to leave it be if they truly care about protecting the public from harmful products like delta-8, Spice, 7-OH, tianeptine, salvia 80x, bath salt stimulants and all the other grey-market drugs they claim to hate & fear so much.
It's abundantly clear the general public wants more legal intoxicant options than alcohol, tobacco & caffeine--better this than 99% of what's out there). Clearly they DON'T care though, or else they wouldn't be banning all hemp/CBD products at the end of this year! So I guess stock up while you can and prepare for whatever hellish replacement drug will take its place. I'll be sitting that one out, as weed isn't so important to me that I'm willing to risk my life and health to use any old synth 'noid.
Here's an interesting Reddit AMA from a licensed THCa hemp grower from a YEAR ago (seriously, how did I not know this was a thing before now?!). As for me, I'll be perusing the popular shops and seeing what they've got on offer. Look for a review or two sometime soon. 😶🌫
THCa offerings from around the web
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