Finally, around 2023, the legal cannabis frontier pushed even further. Enterprising vendors realized that Congress had banned cannabis “flower” containing more than 0.3 percent of delta-9 THC — but that even intoxicating cannabis doesn’t contain delta-9 dHC.

Instead, it contains delta-9 THCa — or tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, a chemical that is non-intoxicating unless exposed to heat, at which point it is converted to intoxicating THC. (That’s why simply eating marijuana doesn’t get the consumer high.)

Therefore, based on a strict reading of the 2018 Farm Bill, Congress hadn’t just legalized the growth of hemp fibers — it had legalized smokable, intoxicating cannabis, which was legal up until the point that the purchaser lit it on fire.

As one online vendor notes, “THCa is completely legal across the U.S. It contains less than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC, which according to the DEA, makes it federally legal.”

Lmao