Good morning ya’ll!  I get asked at farmer’s markets sometimes about THCA flower, or dried cannabis flower, and ya’ll might have some questions too, so here’s a quick primer!

So the federal Farm Bill that legalized hemp said that any cannabis with under .3% Delta 9 THC by weight is defined as hemp.  Any cannabis with over .3% Delta 9 THC is then Cannabis and is federally illegal and also subject to state laws about cannabis. What was not thought about (or was, but not discussed openly) at the time of the farm bill, is that while Delta 9 THC is the main and most known psychoactive component of cannabis, it doesn’t actually exist in large amounts in dried cannabis flower.  THCA is very present in dried cannabis flower, also known as THCA flower.

So raw, dried cannabis flower, if it is tested without heating it first, can and now sometimes is, considered to be hemp.

While we don’t sell THCA flower (at least for now), we do offer hemp-based, CBD products. You can browse them here.

Delta 9 THC is formed from THCA when it is heated.  So when dried cannabis flower is heated, like when smoked, the THCA turns into bio-available Delta 9 THC and has effects.  You could eat a joints worth of high quality raw, dried cannabis flower, and not feel anything, because THCA is not bio-available and thus has no effect.  If you smoked that same, high quality joint, you’d get high.

THCA needs decarboxylation (heating) to turn into the stuff that gets you high, Delta 9 THC.  The USDA, which has federal-level rules making control over hemp, says that their testing requires Total THC, which means they decarboxylate it when testing.

Back when states were deciding how they wanted to do it, some went with USDA rules, and some made their own.  Of the ones that made their own rules, some did NOT require Total THC testing, so flower that would have very high Delta 9 THC, if heated (decarbed), would pass the test and be considered Hemp.

This of course leads to all sorts of interesting things, and some shenanigans.  Legal weed states with gluts of supply can have their cannabis tested without decarboxylation, and be considered hemp to be sold in prohibition states.  States without Total THC testing rules can grow it, and sell it to states under USDA rules.

So when you go into a shop in NC or elsewhere, and you see and smell nice looking flower that’s labelled as THCA flower, it’s actually just cannabis.  The law and order types will jump up and say ‘let’s ban it!!!‘, but the take away I’d like to see is, ‘oh wait, the sky hasn’t fallen, maybe this isn’t so bad!‘

If we are cool with Alcohol and Tobacco being sold all over with only ID checks, then we should be cool with the same level of regulation for hemp, THCA flowers (dried cannabis flower).

There’s no logical reason someone wanting hemp or cannabis should have to jump through more hoops for a non-harmful product.

What does this have to do with THCA?  Well, currently that’s the level of control over THCA flower in NC, and I’m ok with it!  Ever since the 2018 Farm Bill was passed into law this has been the case, and while there’s been plenty of things we have had to worry about, I don’t think rampant cannabis use has been one of them.

So yeah, THCA flower is actually just weed, and as long as it’s sold only to adults, I think that’s ok.  What do ya’ll think?

– Sam

PS, even the DEA says ‘no deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported.’

PPSS, it was Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.