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Pennsylvania grand jury findings show need for smoke shop regulations, DAs say

Smoke shops in the Philadelphia area have been selling unregulated cannabis products that have gotten into children's hands, a Pennsylvania grand jury found, according to 100 pages of findings released Thursday.

District attorneys from Montgomery County, Bucks County and Chester County addressed the grand jury's report in a news conference. You can see the full report here.

The DAs discussed a proliferation of smoke shops around their areas and recommendations from the grand jury that they hope will be taken to the Pennsylvania legislature. Those suggestions include ID scanning systems at smoke shops, implementing restrictions on selling these cannabis products only to people 21 and over and raising awareness about THC products. The report also recommends regular batch testing on these products to ensure compliance with standards.

Investigators conducted controlled buys of well over 100 loose flower and vape products sold at smoke shops and had them sent to labs for testing. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said over 93% of the products tested were "straight up marijuana" with Delta 9 THC levels higher than the legal limit of .3%. Others had no discernible levels of THC, not matching their advertising, or had different compounds like Delta 8 or Delta 10 THC.

"The results make it clear that these smoke shops are acting as our neighborhood marijuana dealers," Steele said. "In Montgomery County alone, we have 240. ... one shop for every two square miles."

For context, Delta 9 THC is the primary chemical in legal and medical marijuana known for providing a "high," while compounds like Delta 8 have less psychoactive effects. Delta 8 THC has been sold in states where recreational marijuana is not technically legal, because in 2018, the Farm Bill legalized hemp and hemp-derived products at the federal level. Delta 8 can be derived from hemp using chemical solvents and then sold in states where recreational weed is banned, since it is a federally legal hemp-derived product.

In one instance, the labs tested a product called "Lancaster County Cannabis" that purported to contain CBD and no THC. CBD is a hemp-derived product that proponents say can help or soothe a range of conditions from joint pain to anxiety to seizures. However, lab results showed the product did not contain CBD, but did contain THC.

The report said improper labeling can lead to unsafe situations, providing a hypothetical example where a commercial truck driver believes that label to be correct and ingests the product. If the driver believed they had not ingested any THC, they might think it would be safe to drive after consuming the product, and be unknowingly under the influence and potentially causing an unsafe situation on the roads.

The 10-month investigation resulted in several arrests and more could be coming, officials said.

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