- Effective July 1, Oregon will ban the sale of synthetic cannabinoids or cannabis compounds such as CBN.
- It is the first state in the United States to ban laboratory-grown weeds, but many are already illegal at the federal level.
- Oregon officials said the lack of regulation on synthetic weeds influenced his decision.
Oregon will soon become the first state to ban the sale of synthetic weeds, which includes products containing lab-grown cannabinoids such as delta-8.
As of July 1, weed shoppers will not find certain jelly beans and other products in their stores, even if they are not without THC, The Oregonian reported. This is because Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission officials say they are concerned about the unregulated nature of these products, many of which exist in a federal legal loophole.
“We have pesticide testing. We have residual solvent testing of the extraction process. We have no testing for any of the entire universe of chemical reagents that you could use to synthetically convert a cannabinoid into something else, or for any of the byproducts of this reaction, “Steven Crowley, a hemp compliance and processing specialist for the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), told The Oregonian.
The federal government has banned or temporarily banned certain synthetic cannabinoids such as K2 or “spice,” but there are hundreds that remain unregulated at the state level.
Scientists are designing natural cannabinoids in laboratory engineering
All cannabinoids, the chemical compounds in weeds, start out as CBG (short for cannabigerol) or the “mother” cannabinoid, as researchers often call it.
When exposed to environmental factors such as light or heat, CBG reacts and is converted to other cannabinoids, such as THC, CBD, THCV, and CBN. THC, the cannabinoid best known for making a person “hygienic,” but not legal everywhere, is also the most common in the cannabis plant.
There are hundreds of these cannabinoids, but they are often found in small amounts in nature. Now, scientists are designing them to create more power in labs.
According to Crowley, the entry of laboratory cannabinoids is linked to a surplus of CBD.
“And so people who had CBD on hand were looking for other ways to market it. People started working on different products that they could turn CBD into. That’s where you get delta-8 THC products,” Crowley said. dit.
If synthetic weed sellers want to keep their products on Oregon store shelves, they will need to apply to the FDA regulatory process. Wyld, who sells jelly beans with synthetic CBN, filed a petition to stop the ban.
In July 2023, approved synthetic weed products will only be sold in OLCC-sanctioned stores, according to the ban.
