A booming hemp market erupted out of the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and Texas House Bill 1325, which legalized hemp and eventually brought about products such as delta-8 THC. There are several different kinds of THC: delta-9 THC is the main psychoactive component in weed that gets users high; delta-8 is sometimes referred to as a less potent cousin of delta-9. There are even more out there such as delta-10 THC, HHC and THCa. These are also called cannabinoids.
The survey pulled data from the 2023 Monitoring the Future study, an annual cross-sectional, nationally representative, classroom-based survey of U.S. youths. This was the first time the study inquired about delta-8 use. Participants weren't asked about the use of other cannabinoids such as delta-10 and HHC.
A total of 2,186 12th-grade students from 27 states were included in the survey, and 11.4% of them self-reported delta-8 use in the past year. About 30% said they had used marijuana in the last year. The results aren’t broken down by state, but Texas students were included in the survey.
Some have been already trying to sound the alarm on delta-8 use among adolescents. State Rep. Stephanie Klick, a Republican from Fort Worth, told us in November that she wanted to propose legislation in Texas to keep these products out of kids’ hands. “We need to tighten up our regulations on this so that kids do not get a hold of these products,” she said. “If they are caught using these products, they can be sentenced to alternative education. I mean, it’s a pretty heavy burden for kids.”
A group of 21 attorneys general wrote to Congress with their concerns about these products as well. One of the issues they cited was consumption of the products among people under 21.“We are dealing with what is a burgeoning health crisis." – Nico Richardson, Texas Original
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Now, Nico Richardson with Texas Original, one of three medical marijuana businesses licensed in the state, is trying to put out a warning about these products. “We are dealing with what is a burgeoning health crisis,” he said. “Unfortunately, this is affecting teenagers mostly. … Why? Because you’ve got 5,000 hemp stores in Texas with no regulation selling whatever they want right now, and they’re selling it to kids. So, we need to really look hard at this issue.”
There are plenty of hemp shops that require customers to be 21. But some might wind up selling to minors, and minors might also attempt to buy the products online.
“I’ve been in this industry now for 10 years,” Richardson said. “I am a proponent of broader access. I am a proponent of legalization. This is insanity, the definition of insanity is what we’re seeing happen in Texas right now.”
He added: “The people that are going to abuse this are not typically people of your age or my age [adults]. The people that are going to abuse this are the 13-year-olds, 14-years-olds and 15-year-olds that want to test the limits of what the human experience is with no critical thinking at that age. That’s who’s going to really harm themselves. We’re already seeing it.”
We have yet to see any studies that suggest use of these products by people as young as 13, as Richardson claims. However, the FDA and national poison control centers have tracked delta-8 use among people younger than 18. We have come across stories out of Georgia about two children, one 7-year-old and one 9-year-old, who mistakenly ate candy that was infused with delta-8. Both incidents involved trips to the emergency room. One child was suspended from school for four days for accidentally eating the delta-8 candy.
In New Caney, Texas, seven middle schoolers ingested THC gummies and were taken to the hospital. However, the New Caney Independent School District never said if the gummies contained delta-8 or delta-9. In a story about these products and their use among children, Axios reported that drug-related school suspensions in 2022–23 were up 79% from 2019–20. These statistics come from the Texas Education Agency. The drug being used is not specified, so it’s hard to tell if kids are getting suspended for having marijuana, intoxicating hemp products like delta-8 or any other drug for that matter.
Cynthia Cabrera, chief strategy officer of the hemp manufacturer Hometown Hero, said she takes Richardson’s comments with a grain of salt. “I think it’s super disingenuous for a marijuana company to be calling out what they consider their competitor [the hemp industry],” Cabrera said. “Under the guise of public safety, it doesn’t make sense because there are regulations.”“Under the guise of public safety, it doesn’t make sense because there are regulations.” – Cynthia Cabrera, Hometown Hero
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She said since 2019, Texas has required hemp products to be tested and labeled. Additionally, hemp businesses have to be registered with the state. “What he [Richardson] should have been calling out is [that] it's up to the state to enforce, and I don't actually see a ton of enforcement,” Cabrera said.
What Texas doesn’t have, but could have, is a law on the books that bans sale of these products to people under 21. During the last legislative session, Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat, filed House Bill 4439, which included ways to protect people under 21 from these products. Moody’s bill would have required that hemp products come in tamper- and child-resistant packaging. It would have prohibited hemp products and packaging that may be attractive to children. And it would have made it a Class C misdemeanor to sell these products to people under 21. However, the bill didn’t get the support it needed and died in the legislature. Cabrera said she thinks there was just too much going on in the legislature at the time for the bill to gain traction.
What we have now is an environment of self-regulation when it comes to age-gating these products. For example, though it's not required to, Hometown Hero labels its products as 21+, age gates on its website and tells retailers with whom it works not to sell to people who are underage.
“Hopefully retailers and other manufacturers in the state are abiding by the same standard, but beyond that, I'm not sure what else they can do,” she said. “They're required by law to test. They're required by law to have the tests available to consumers. They're required by law to have packaging that has all the warnings and the information. So, I'm not sure what else businesses could do other than perhaps join with us and ask the state to formally increase the age restriction to 21.”
Richardson said other states have stepped up their regulation of these products, but Texas hasn’t. “There are other states doing great work right now,” Richardson said. “Texas needs to wake up and adopt some of these policies immediately because this is one of those things where you’re doing damage right now that’s going to last years, years for Texas kids.”
