{"id":4428,"date":"2025-03-07T14:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T03:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/new-report-exposes-the-great-hemp-hoax-synthetic-drugs-masquerading-as-hemp-products-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:00:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T10:00:25","slug":"new-report-exposes-the-great-hemp-hoax-synthetic-drugs-masquerading-as-hemp-products-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/new-report-exposes-the-great-hemp-hoax-synthetic-drugs-masquerading-as-hemp-products-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW REPORT EXPOSES \u201cTHE GREAT HEMP HOAX\u201d: SYNTHETIC DRUGS MASQUERADING AS HEMP PRODUCTS\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-4425\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/stats02.jpg\" alt=\"stats02\" width=\"450\" height=\"371\" style=\"margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 30px; float: right;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/stats02.jpg 1234w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/stats02-300x247.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/stats02-1024x844.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/stats02-768x633.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/>Analysis Reveals Widespread Use of Synthetic Cannabinoids, Extreme Potencies, and Systemic Tax Evasion in the Unregulated \u201cHemp\u201d Market<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SACRAMENTO, CA&nbsp;\u2014 A new analysis of 104 so-called \u201chemp\u201d products from 68 brands has uncovered a public health crisis in California\u2019s unregulated hemp market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The white paper<strong><em>,&nbsp;The Great Hemp Hoax<\/em><\/strong>, reveals that 95 percent of tested products contained chemically synthesized cannabinoids, which are prohibited in California.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuch of what\u2019s being sold as \u2018hemp; today isn\u2019t hemp at all \u2014 it\u2019s a cocktail of synthetic intoxicants and illicit THC masquerading as a natural, legal product. It\u2019s essentially the ultra-processed junk food of cannabis, but far more dangerous,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tiffany-devitt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tiffany Devitt<\/a>, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Groundwork Holdings, Inc. \u201cThese companies aren\u2019t just skirting regulations \u2013 they\u2019re putting consumers at serious risk with designer drugs that look a whole lot more like \u2018Spice\u2019 than natural hemp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laboratory testing also found alarming potency levels:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some gummies contained 32 times more THC than what\u2019s legally allowed in California\u2019s regulated cannabis market.<\/li>\n<li>Vape products had THC equivalencies averaging 268% above California\u2019s legal threshold.<\/li>\n<li>Nearly half of the tested products contained THCP, a synthetic compound up to 30 times more potent than natural THC.<\/li>\n<li>Other products included psychoactive substances such as kratom and hallucinogenic mushrooms \u2014 all sold under the guise of hemp.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not just seeing high-potency THC; we\u2019re seeing an influx of synthetic compounds with unknown health risks,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joshua-swider\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Josh Swider<\/a>, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs. \u201cMany of these substances are unregulated, untested, and more potent than anything found in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the public health concerns, these unregulated products are undermining California\u2019s legal cannabis industry and evading taxes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>91% of tested products failed to collect California sales taxes.<\/li>\n<li>None of the vendors remitted required cannabis excise taxes when required to do so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThese illicit operations aren\u2019t just dangerous \u2014 they\u2019re undercutting California\u2019s regulated cannabis businesses and workers,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kristin-heidelbach-b1a397101\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kristin Heidelbach<\/a>, Legislative Director of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council. \u201cWhile licensed cannabis businesses provide good union jobs and comply with strict labor standards, many synthetic \u2018hemp\u2019 producers manufacture out-of-state or import from overseas, dodging California\u2019s labor laws and tax obligations.\u201d (for complete story&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ufcwwest.org\/new-report-exposes-the-great-hemp-hoax-synthetic-drugs-masquerading-as-hemp-products-in-california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UFCW<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/The_Great_Hemp_Hoax2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"button\">Click for Research<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Analysis Reveals Widespread Use of Synthetic Cannabinoids, Extreme Potencies, and Systemic Tax Evasion in the Unregulated \u201cHemp\u201d Market SACRAMENTO, CA&nbsp;\u2014 A new analysis of 104 so-called \u201chemp\u201d products from 68 brands has uncovered a public health crisis in California\u2019s unregulated hemp market.&nbsp; The white paper,&nbsp;The Great Hemp Hoax, reveals that 95 percent of tested products [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-4428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannabis-as-medicine","tag-cannabis-as-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}