UCLA Health: FDA issues strong warning on cannabis products containing delta-8 THC

SOURCE: UCLA Health

EXCERPT:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning the public that cannabis products containing delta-8 THC can pose serious health risks to consumers. The public notice, issued Wednesday, May 4, was prompted by adverse event reports received by the FDA and national poison control centers over a 15-month period.

Products containing delta-8 THC, a substance that can produce intoxicating effects, are available in stores and online through a loophole in cannabis laws that makes hemp-derived products legal in most states. Delta-8 THC has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA for safe use in any context, the agency stated.

Further, the FDA is concerned by the proliferation of products that contain delta-8 THC and are marketed for therapeutic or medical uses without approval — a marketing practice the agency calls deceptive, violates federal law and puts consumers at risk.

Ziva Cooper, PhD, director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative in the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, points to two primary concerns surrounding the use of delta-8 THC — a lack of data on the effects of the compound and a lack of regulation over the manufacturing process.

“Unlike delta-9 THC that’s been studied extensively, there have only been four studies in humans looking at delta-8 THC since 1970,” Dr. Cooper notes, adding that the most recent was in the 1990s.