Maryland Court Rules Delta-8 and Delta-10 THC Products Are Illegal

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The Appellate Court of Maryland ruled last week that delta-8 and delta-10
THC are illegal and have “always been illegal” in the state, although their
“prohibition has been the subject of lax enforcement,” the Baltimore Sun
reports.

Maryland has a regulated adult-use industry offering legal access to
delta-9 THC, which occurs naturally in large quantities in cannabis and in
very small quantities in hemp — which, according to federal law, must
contain less than 0.3% THC content. Delta-8 and delta-10 THC, meanwhile,
are typically synthesized from other cannabinoids harvested from industrial
hemp, which is federally legal.

In June, the Maryland Hemp Coalition, a nonprofit hemp industry
association, argued in a lawsuit filed under federal law that the state’s
cannabis regulations constitute an unconstitutional monopoly that unfairly
punishes unlicensed hemp businesses out of the market. But the court
determined that because hemp products utilize cannabinoids that must be
synthesized and don’t appear naturally in significant amounts, the
intoxicants are not covered by the legalization program.

“The ability to engage in the broader cannabis market generally and the
limited hemp-derived psychoactive products market specifically is not a
matter of common right … the Cannabis Reform Act is reasonably required for
protecting public interest.” — Appellate Court Judge Dan Friedman, in the
opinion, via the Sun

Meanwhile, Maryland collected $18.4 million in cannabis industry tax
revenue from April to June 2025, according to the latest quarterly report.