Ep103 - Biologist Jason Wilson Talks Delta-8-THC, the New Kid on the Cannabis Scene
Our guest is Jason Wilson, a natural products researcher and a laboratory quality consultant, which means he knows something about this new product that is taking the cannabis world by storm.
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Like a winter snow in July, Delta-8-THC is taking the cannabis market by storm, but what is it? It is said to come from hemp but hemp doesn’t produce high levels of THC. It is said to be a natural sleep aid, but so is good old Delta-9-THC. In the last weeks I’ve heard that it has the same chemical structure of Delta-9-THC except for the location of one tiny double bond......that it’s extracted by spraying hemp flowers with a gas that reeks of rotten eggs... that it’s sort of legal…(sort of legal?!).
While seeking answers to my questions I did what so many other cannabists do: I turned my body into a lab and tried it myself. Over a week, I took several 30mg white grapefruit Delta-8-THC gummy from the Tampa, FL based company, PUR. The label listed the ingredients (which include corn syrup, silicon dioxide and some artificial flavors, so not that pure), a batch and lot number plus a QR code that promised to direct me to a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) but instead brought me to a shopping site -- disappointing. I called the company and even though the gent who answered the phone promised to email me the CoA (once he asked his colleague what a CoA was), it never arrived.
Nonetheless...the flavor “white grapefruit” was less disappointing than the lab testing info. Its sweetness was nicely cut with a mouth puckering tang. And the effects were gentle but not insubstantial. I took it at night and slept well. I woke up a bit foggy, but not unbearably so. I took a 2nd dose a few nights later with similar results but a much blurrier morning. Friends had mixed reviews. One woman’s experience echoed my own. Another male said it put him to sleep but wiped him out the next day. Conclusion: Just like all cannabinoids everybody seems to experience d8 THC differently depending on their metabolism and a host of factors that our guest this week, Jason Wilson, MS, spells out with great clarity.
Jason is a natural products researcher, a board member of the Oregon Education and Resource Center, and a laboratory quality management consultant, which means he knows something about the funny business that goes on in product testing (more on that in an upcoming episode). He’s also a chemist who can explain processes in understandable english. When Delta-8-THC is synthesized from hemp CBD it is often processed with sulfuric acid (which is why it smells like rotten eggs). Depending on that quality of that chemical synthesis, a number of mysterious byproducts may also appear, which raises legitimate questions about the purity of the final product. As to its psychoactivity -- Delta-8-THC has less activation at the CB1 receptor, which is why it is less potent than d9 THC. As for its legality...let’s say citizen chemists are way ahead of the lawmakers, who are still trying to figure out the law.
Of course, the simplest way to resolve the question of legality and assure product purity is to legalize and regulate all cannabis products. Hopefully, with the Dems firmly in control of their agenda, that day is around the corner.