Jonathan Kelso/New York Times/Redux
FILE — Delta-8 cartridges in Decatur, Ga., Feb. 23, 2021.
CNN
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high school graduates use of delta-8, a cannabis compound sometimes touted as “mild THC” or a legal alternative to weed, is “significant,” according to a new study, especially in states that don’t have a legal weed option for adults.
Delta-8 THC, or delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, is one of more than 100 chemical compounds found in the cannabis sativa plant. It’s an isomer, or sort of a chemical cousin, of delta-9 THC, the molecule that creates a high when someone ingests cannabis. Delta-9 is the most abundant form of THC in weed and is responsible for most of the psychoactive effects. Delta-8 acts on the brain in the same way, but is less powerful and has fewer legal restrictions.
Unlike weed, there are no age restrictions for purchasing delta-8 in most states where the product is legal. Based on the findings in the study, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, the authors say the number of teens who reported using delta-8 could be a “potential public health concern.”
“What we didn’t know before this study was the extent to which these products were reaching teenagers, which was a problem because they weren’t comprehensively regulated,” said study author Dr. Adam Leventhal, executive director of the USC Institute for Science about addiction.
Delta-8 comes in many forms that may appeal to children, such as gum, chocolate, cookies, vaping cartridges, sodas, and even cereal. Delta-8 is also readily available as it is sold in convenience stores, gas stations and online, not just aged–limited dispensaries.
For the new study, researchers used data from the Monitoring the Future school-based survey conducted in the US between February and June 2023. The survey is an ongoing, nationally representative assessment of adolescent behaviors and attitudes on a variety of topics. Researchers first measured delta-8 use in 2023.
In the sample of 2,186 12th graders, 11.4% said they had used delta-8 THC in the past year, and even though weed is illegal for teens, 30.4% of participants reported using it.
Of the 295 students who reported using delta-8 in the previous year, 68.1% used it at least three times, 35.4% used it at least 10 times, and nearly 17% used it at least 40 times. Nearly 91% of delta-8 users also reported using weed.
Delta-8 use was higher among teenagers in the South and Midwest and in states where marijuana is not legal for adults, the study found.
White teens are more likely to use delta-8 and weed than those of any other race or ethnicity. Slightly more boys used weed and delta-8 than girls, according to the study.
“Eleven percent is a lot of people. That’s at least one or two students in any medium-sized high school class who might be using delta-8. We don’t know enough about these drugs, but we see that they are now extremely accessible to teenagers,” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement. “Cannabis use in general is associated with negative effects on the adolescent brain, so we need to pay attention to the types of cannabis products that teenagers use, educate young people about the potential risks, and ensure that treatment for cannabis-related disorders the use of cannabis, and adequate mental health care is provided to those who need it.
Leventhal also said 11% was a “very high” number.
“We didn’t expect it to be this high and it was alarming when we saw the data,” he said.
The study has some limitations. The study did not include teenagers in every state and only surveyed those who were enrolled in school. Most of the participants were around 17 years old, so the study may not fully represent how many younger teens use delta-8.
The authors say their research likely underestimates how many children are using these drugs. There is general concern that the number of students using delta-8 is increasing, according to an editorial published Tuesday along with this study.
“The unregulated distribution of Δ8-THC poses a potential threat to public health,” wrote Dr. Jennifer Whitehill, Kelly Dunn and Renee Johnson, who are scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Johns Hopkins. “The trends in Δ8-THC use patterns articulated by Harlow et al should serve as an important signaling and mobilizing event; the next cannabinoid on the market may not be so mild.
The use of Delta-8 is enough of a concern among some public health officials and policymakers that it has been banned in at least 17 states and “severely restricted” in seven more as of November, according to the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Scientists don’t fully understand what effects delta-8 might have on teenagers. There are no major medical studies to show exactly how it affects the body, especially a young one that is still developing. A study of weed found that it can negatively affect teenagers’ memory and attention, as well as their ability to learn.
“Some of the concerns based on the underlying biology would be, of course, addiction, like what we see with marijuana, some of the neurodevelopmental changes that can happen because the adolescent brain is still forming and exposure to narcotics can prevent the proper development of brain pathways that support cognitive and emotional regulation,” Leventhal said.
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The FDA regulates medicinal products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds, as it does other pharmaceutical and medical products, but does not regulate delta-8. so it’s also not entirely clear what’s in each individual product.
There are other indications that the use of delta-8 is increasing and causing some problems. Calls to U.S. poison centers about delta-8 products jumped 82 percent from 2021 to 2022, the group said in a recent report, with 3,358 managed exposures in 2022. The calls fell into two categories: children who accidentally ingested the products, and adults who had adverse reactions.
