There is a rapidly expanding, virtually unregulated competitor to medical cannabis in Maryland. It’s called Delta-8.

The CDC issued a health alert in September about Delta-8, saying there were 660 adverse events related to Delta-8 reported from January through July 2021, including 119 hospitalizations. Nearly 40% of the adverse events involved people under 18. “As the state’s medical cannabis regulator, we receive a lot of calls, emails, other correspondence from patients and parents concerned about what they think are medical cannabis products,” Tilburg said. “In actuality, they end up being Delta-8 THC products. … They are untested, unregulated and it’s unknown largely what is within them.”