In an opinion issued final week, Arizona Legal professional Basic Kris Mayes stated that the sale of delta-8 THC merchandise and “different hemp-synthesized intoxicants” by companies not licensed by the state well being division will not be permitted to be offered underneath state legislation.
“Regardless of delta-8’s debatable federal legality underneath the 2018 Agriculture Enchancment Act (‘Farm Invoice’), Arizona continues to outline and regulate ‘industrial hemp’ in a way that precludes the sale of hemp-synthesized intoxicants in comfort shops, smoke outlets, and different unlicensed locales.” — Mayes within the Mar. 11, 2024 opinion
Within the opinion, Mayes notes that the Farm Invoice “is silent” on delta-8 THC merchandise. However as a result of the cannabinoid happens naturally in hemp crops, albeit in low focus, proponents argue that the federal laws legalized delta-8 and different intoxicating cannabinoids present in hemp – and a 2022 Ninth District court docket ruling helps that argument. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), nevertheless, considers delta-8 an unlawful drug listed underneath Schedule I of the federal Managed Substances Act, the opinion states, and Arizona, too, lists delta-8 as a Schedule I managed substance.
Within the opinion, Mayes says that delta-8 merchandise fall underneath the purview of the state’s adult-use hashish legalization legislation and that companies promoting the merchandise have to be licensed by the well being division in the identical manner as dispensaries and delta-8 merchandise can’t be offered exterior of state-licensed dispensaries.
“Delta-8 is an intoxicating hemp-synthesized cannabinoid with a chemical profile and psychoactive impact materially just like that of marijuana,” Mayes wrote. “Intoxicating hashish merchandise are Schedule 1 managed substances that could be offered solely by licensed hashish sellers in Arizona. Arizona’s 2018 industrial hemp legislation didn’t create an exception to those legal guidelines. … Delta-8’s sale by unlicensed entities like comfort shops and smoke outlets is due to this fact illegal.”
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