Hillsborough commissioners to discuss regulating sale of Delta 8 products

TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County Commissioners will meet Thursday to discuss the sale of Delta 8 – a new and legal alternative to marijuana. 

Their concern is not necessarily of its sale to adults, but how it’s sold and marketed to children.  

Delta 8 is said to be about two-thirds as potent as cannabis, and it's often sold in gas stations and smoke shops. It's legal thanks to a loophole created in the 2018 Federal Farm Bill.

The Hillsborough report found half of the edibles, including Delta 8 cereals, used cartoon characters and animals that might be appealing to minors.

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They found Delta 8 products in 81 stores. A quarter of them lacked the required proper permitting.  

Many were named the same as popular candy and junk foods.

Ellen Snelling, a board member of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, has been wanting commissioners to act.

"It’s completely unregulated, fruit flavors, gummy bears. Bright colors attracted to children all allowed in the state of Florida. If this was laying on your dining room table a child would eat the entire package," she told commissioners at a previous meeting.  

Some sellers say it’s the gas stations using poor marketing, that’s giving them a bad name.  

"We spend a lot of time trying to do this responsibly," Carlos Hermida, Chillum Glass Gallery and Hemp Dispensary told FOX 13, "and it looks bad on us when gas stations aren't,"