Neither the CDC nor the FDA have coupled their warnings with a proposal to ban delta-8 THC, despite their strong warnings. Both agencies seem more concerned with educating the public on the prevalence of potentially misleading information, as well as urging retailers to be more forthcoming with information on the compound.
The CDC says, “Retailers selling cannabis products should report total THC content on product labeling, including ingredients like delta-8 THC that may be synthetically produced to create a psychoactive effect.”
On the state level, regulators have been working to craft legislation around delta-8 THC products. In some cases, as with Kentucky, the state agriculture department has issued a full-on ban on distributing delta-8 THC. Michigan took a different tack by making it a 21+ product controlled by the Marijuana Regulatory Agency.
The current uncertainty around delta-8 THC could be seen as stemming from decades of policy conflicts around marijuana in general. This has made it a gray-market product — however, there is a case to be made that if whole-plant cannabis were universally legal, there would be little demand for synthetic products. The rise of delta-8 THC may simply be the market’s answer to lingering prohibition.