WASHINGTON – , researchers reported at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Most of the products identified came in bright, colorful, kid-friendly packaging and cost less than $10, the researchers found, and only 2 out of 45 sites had a third-party age verification requirement for purchases.
AAP
Kid-friendly packaging of Delta 8. Each package in this figure came from a separate website that was examined during the study. These are some examples of the many kid-friendly packages that are available for purchase.
Delta-8 THC, also called D8, is a synthetically produced cannabinoid whose chemical structure and effects are nearly identical to traditional THC, the authors explained, and past research has found that D8 products, such as e-cigarettes, can contain toxic byproducts and contaminants.
”Since D8 is not traditional THC, minors may underestimate its strength and potential danger,” wrote lead author Abhijeet Grewal, BS, a research assistant at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, New York, and senior author Ruth Milanaik, DO, director of the Neonatal Neurodevelopmental Program at Cohen Children’s and a developmental/behavioral pediatrician at Northwell Health, also in New York. “Although traditional THC is a federally banned substance, D8 is legal on a federal level and less restricted on a state by state basis, making it easier for individuals to acquire D8.”
Easily accessible
During the first seven moments of 2021, 77% of reports of accidental exposure occurred in people under age 18, including some children who required ICU admission. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also received 104 reports of adverse events from products containing D8 between December 2020-February 2022, and more than half of those required medical intervention.
To better understand how easy it is to access D8, the authors collected data on 45 websites they identified that sold D8. The researchers looked for age verification questions for accessing the site, third-party age certification, what kinds of products (edibles, smoke products, or tinctures) were sold, the price and dosage of the cheapest product, and examples of packaging, flavors, marketing claims, and warning statements at each site.
More than a third of the sites (36%) did not ask for customers’ age and almost none of the sites asked for proof: 96% of the sites lacked formal third-party age verification procedures. All but one of the sites sold D8 edibles, and most (82%) sold D8 vaping or smoking products. Only 42% sold tinctures, a mix of concentrated D8 with oil that’s orally consumed.
The cheapest product was priced under $5 on one-third of the sites and under $10 on another third of the sites. The cheapest product was between $10-20 on 16% of the sites while the remaining nine sites’ cheapest product was more than $20. In assessing only the cheapest D8 products on each site, nearly half (47%) contained 51 mg or more of D8, and 20% of the products didn’t report the dosage. Another 22% contained 41-50 mg of D8, and the remaining five products contained 20-40 mg.