What Is THCA, and How Are Stores Able to Sell It?

Dear Stoner: My friend in Texas says he lives by a real dispensary. He buys weed there, and the way they get around the law is by claiming it's hemp with THCA. More power to them, but it sounds illegal.
Raising Brows

Dear Raising Brows: These "dispensaries" are quasi-legal at best, and criminal at worst. Based on the stories I'm hearing from states with no legal cannabis, however, this tactic doesn't surprise me. A lot of ballsy operators have popped up in the South since hemp's federal legalization, and this THCA movement might be the boldest of them all.

THCA is just a form of THC that needs to be activated by heat. Cannabis buds typically have more THCA than THC, which is ready to intoxicate. Flames or vaporizers convert that THCA into THC while you burn it (that's why herb should be heated up before you use it to make homemade edibles). Some stores claim they're selling hemp with THCA, not THC, making it federally compliant with hemp laws. That's a bunch of horseshit, though, and good luck explaining it to a cop or prosecutor.
Save for a 0.3 THC limit, hemp and marijuana are the same plant. A new sector of intoxicating cannabis products has been created by loopholes in federal laws surrounding hemp, CBD and the definitions of different THC compounds, like Delta-8 THC or hemp-derived THC edibles claiming to be 0.3 percent by weight. These products have skirted by in federal court cases so far, but Colorado has already banned their sale, and more states are looking into them.

I don't have enough info to tell if the THCA weed in question is the same kind of cannabis we have in Colorado or if it's CBD buds sprayed with THC extracted from hemp. Either way, your friend should stick to an underground dealer and stay away from these stores. The prices and quality alone should be reasons to avoid them.

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