We all know THC and CBD, but those are just two of over 100 so-called cannabinoids known to naturally occur in the cannabis plant. But who knows what hexahydrocannabinol is?
Well, apparently people at the United Nations do, because they just voted to make it an illicit drug.
Hexahydrocannabinol is the latest in an ever-increasing line of cannabinoids to make waves on the gray market. Chemically similar to THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, hexahydrocannabinol, or HHC, creates a high similar to THC.
Because it is not THC, however, HHC has been used as a "legal" replacement for otherwise illicit THC.
While legal in states like Washington, cannabis remains illegal both federally and broadly around the world. Hemp, on the other hand, has been legalized at the federal level. On a botanical level, there is no difference between the two plants, but in terms of regulation there is, and that creates the loophole that has allowed chemicals like HHC to make their way onto the market.
In the United States, hemp is defined as cannabis that contains less than 0.3% THC by weight. In essence, it's incredibly dull weed. It's so weak, it won't get you high.
The hemp law says nothing about the content of other cannabinoids like HHC, however. Enterprising business owners have exploited that definition by breeding cannabis plants to produce HHC rather than THC, therefore rendering them as legal hemp but allowing them to produce a high similar to illicit cannabis.
This is the same reason that CBD is now considered legal in the United States; hemp can contain CBD, just like cannabis, as long as it contains less than 0.3% THC.
Unlike CBD, which does not cause a high, HHC presents a problem for regulators. If the purpose of prohibition is to prevent intoxication, then what good is regulation that allows for legal loopholes?
International regulators at the UN last week recognized this issue and voted to put HHC on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances as a banned substance.
The move is yet another "one step forward, one step back" in the dance that is cannabis reform. While some jurisdictions move in the direction of legalization, others remain engaged with the struggle to enforce prohibition. As long as there is no consensus on the issue, the gray area that leads to chemicals like HHC hitting shelves will continue to be exploited.
