Let’s Talk Delta-8 State Legality: California

As an east coast vagrant, I am loyal to the east coast for reasons that are beyond me. I like the brisk cold, grey skies and the lightboxes that give me vitamin C from September to March. But Cali, we’ve all heard it before. The repeating songs, statements, and references about California are an everyday reminder that the state thinks it’s another nation. Same weather every day, same celebs, and same west coast Moog synth gliding into harmonies. I am just bitter, they say, and they’re right. But they can’t have it all, right? Do they get the sun, the glitz, the glamor, and delta-8 THC? Yes, they get it all.

California was the first to embrace the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana in November 2016 with Proposition 64. But they first legalized medical use in 1996. So, they’ve been rolling in it. A few recreational states see delta-8 as trouble, whether through competition or they don’t think the industry is ethical. However, California is not one of those states. They’ve embraced anything and everything. The black market is competitive because the taxes make it inaccessible for most. The taxes can get up to 60%. No, thank you. California was kind enough to adjust their legislation to fit the federal guidelines. When you have had delta 9 THC for 5 years…there has to be something legitimate to turn away Delta-8 THC.

According to CALIFORNIA INDUSTRIAL HEMP LAW DIVISION 24, TITLE 3, DIVISION 4, CHAPTER 8:

1. Definitions.

(a) For purposes of this division, the following terms have the following meanings:

(6) “Industrial hemp” or “Hemp” means an agricultural product, whether growing or not, that is limited to types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, the resin extracted from any part of the plant, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of no more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.

(9) “THC” means delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol.

CHAPTER 1. General Provisions and Definitions [11000 – 11033]

11018. “Cannabis” means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin. It does not include either of the following:(a) Industrial hemp, as defined in Section 11018.5.

(b) The weight of any other ingredient combined with cannabis to prepare topical or oral administrations, food, drink, or other product.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 27, Sec. 115. (SB 94) Effective June 27, 2017. Note: This section was amended on Nov. 8, 2016, by initiative Prop. 64.)

11018.5. (a) “Industrial hemp” means a crop that is limited to types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. having no more than three-tenths of 1 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contained in the dried flowering tops, whether growing or not; the seeds of the plant; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin produced there from.