FDA, CDC issue delta-8 THC warnings and recount hospitalizations

More than 100 people in the U.S. have been hospitalized this year after consuming delta-8 THC products, federal health regulators warned Tuesday.

The hospitalizations included pediatric intensive-care unit admissions and were among more than 600 calls to local poison control centers, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its own public health alert Tuesday about delta-8 THC, warning that delta-8 products are frequently mislabeled.

“The rise in delta-8 THC products in marijuana and hemp marketplaces has increased the availability of psychoactive cannabis products, even in states … where non-medical adult cannabis use is not permitted under law,” the CDC warned, adding that poison control centers have added a new code for delta-8 THC exposure.

No fatalities were reported. The warnings did not elaborate on product names connected to any hospitalizations.

Delta-8 THC is an isomer of the psychoactive cannabinoid that occurs naturally in the cannabis plant, delta-9 THC.

Delta-8 THC is rare in nature but can be easily synthesized from CBD, giving rise to products that offer intoxicating effects without needing to be sourced from marijuana, which isn’t legal in all states and remains illegal under federal law.

The FDA warned that delta-8 THC “may have potentially harmful by-products (contaminants) due to the chemicals used in the process” but did not elaborate.