THC vs CBD… what’s the real difference?

Here are some good links to understand the difference between CBD and THC. Many people think that this legislation (Compassionate Care Act) is about legalizing CBD (cannabidiol) for medicinal use. The truth is this legislation is all about full spectrum marijuana-THC which is very different from CBD. The FDA has approved three medications that are legal for physicians to prescribe in pill or liquid form and these are made from CBD (see below).

FDA: cannabis research and information.

Drugs.com: CBD vs THC: what’s the difference?

What is “Delta-8 THC” ?

The Delta-8 loophole: providing the legal cover for marijuana companies to synthesize THC from CBD and hemp. According to this recent study (International Journal of Drug Policy 2022), people in non-legal states are using this to get high. So all the talk about “people are dying without access to cannabis” is truly a bunch of lies created by the industry.

In the chemistry of this plant, the main psychoactive substance known as tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) has variations in their chemical bonds, known as isomers. They all have the exact same atomic composition of compounds, Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen (C21 H30 O2), however the arrangement of their chemical bonds causes the human body to react differently to these chemical bonds.

Marijuana companies today are extracting Delta-8 THC from hemp and synthesizing it to become almost as powerful as Delta-9 THC which is found naturally in marijuana. For the details of the differences in Delta-8 (legal) vs Delta-9 (still illegal in SC) read this exhausting chemical study. In summary though, just know that Delta-8 THC is considered to be about half the potency of Delta-9. This means to get the same euphoric effect one has to only use (via vaping or edibles) about twice as much. And the industry is working overtime to provide multiple types of products to sell.

Read this new article at The Atlantic magazine about how the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp as opened the door to a myriad of marijuana companies exploiting the legislation to make as much money as they can.