ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Everywhere you go there are signs for "delta-8" THC products. It's been called "diet weed" because it'll get you high, though it's not as intoxicating as medicinal marijuana.
Hemp-derived THC products, also including delta-10 and THC-O products, have been sold in Florida for the past five years, but lawmakers are out to ban these products altogether.
The kinds of products that would be banned with this legislation sell incredibly well at head shops and smoke shops throughout Tampa Bay. But some sellers say they are being unfairly targeted.
"Before you go and completely restrict it, get educated and see who it's helping first,” Adam Wick, owner of Health Hemp Outlet in St. Petersburg, said.
Wick doesn't sell his delta-8 THC products with flashy labels or disguised as food; he sells online only, mostly to seniors who don't have a medical marijuana card but still want relief from chronic pain. He says CBD products are half his business, and delta-8 products are the other half.
"So if they took it away it would affect business,” he says. “I have customers that would be seeking an alternative and that concerns me. What would happen then?"
Unlike CBD, products with delta-8 or delta-10 THC are psychoactive and can get users high. They are sold in thousands of stores in Florida, including some gas stations. That makes them readily available for younger adults, which has addiction specialists concerned.
"The population that I see that has the most use and abuse of delta-8 products is teenagers and young adults,” Logan Chamberlin, clinical director of Turning Point of Tampa, said.
"I hope Florida will do it right and allow it,” Wick said. “But with some controls and please take it out of the gas stations and those types of things. We don't need that."
While the Senate version passed unanimously and now goes to the House, the House version of the bill has yet to be taken up by its full chamber. If the Senate bill becomes law, Florida would join 17 other states in making those THC products illegal to sell beginning this October.