The U.S. sat on the sidelines as world leaders at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) approved a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 12 to ban the cannabinoid HHC on the international stage.
Although the U.S. delegation abstained from casting a vote, the approved recommendation could ultimately impact how HHC is classified in America as well as the broader debate on how cannabis is scheduled.
HHC, or hexahydrocannabinol, is a semisynthetic compound that’s converted from THC using a hydrogenation process. While it’s not new—American chemist Roger Adams discovered HHC in 1944 by adding two hydrogen molecules to delta-9 THC—the intoxicating cannabinoid became more well-known in the U.S. in late 2021, when manufacturers began selling products with HHC converted from hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.
Although some say converting hemp-derived cannabinoids to HHC is compliant with the 2018 Farm Bill—which federally legalized hemp in the U.S.—Dr. Ethan Russo, M.D., a board-certified neurologist, told Cannabis Business Times in February 2022 that the Federal Analogue Act of 1986 prohibits drugs or molecules that are made from a Schedule I or II controlled substance, notably if they are “substantially similar” and intended for human consumption.
This week in Vienna, the United Nations CND voted to classify HHC in Schedule II of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, an international treaty designed to restrict the diversion and abuse of certain drugs. CND delegates at the session discussed how HHC can be inhaled, consumed and absorbed sublingually, Portugal-based Canna Reporter reported.
Forty-eight countries cast favorable votes—including Canada and Uruguay, where adult-use cannabis is federally legal—which was more than the two-thirds majority needed to pass, according to the news outlet. The United States, however, abstained from voting.
Following the adoption, the U.S. Mission to International Organization in Vienna issued the following statement:
“While the United States supports the use of the international scheduling system to make scientifically informed decisions about international drug control, we were unable to vote on the proposals to place hexahydrocannabinol into Schedule II of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and to place carisoprodol into Schedule IV of the 1971 Convention. Nevertheless, both of these substances are already controlled in the United States, at levels that will allow the United States to meet its international obligations arising from the CND’s decisions today.”
Unrelated to cannabis, Carisoprodol is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug that relieves discomfort associated with acute, painful musculoskeletal conditions, according to the National Institute of Health.
For HHC, debate on its legality in the U.S. has continued during the past three years.
While many industry stakeholders claim that HHC naturally occurs in trace amounts in cannabis, CBT learned in early 2022 that those claims had not been proven by peer-reviewed research.
In October 2024, the WHO issued a report on HHC suggesting that the semisynthetic cannabinoid “may” be present naturally in the cannabis plant in trace amounts.
However, in an April 2024 letter to the Louisiana Department of Health, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) determined that “HHC does not occur naturally in the Cannabis sativa L. plant and can only be obtained synthetically, and therefore does not fall under the definition of hemp.” This position fell in line with an earlier letter the DEA sent to international cannabis attorney Rod Kight declaring that delta-8 THC and THC-O acetate were Schedule I controlled substances.
HHC, specifically, is commonly converted from THC in a hydrogenation process that involves adding hydrogen while using a metal catalyst, like palladium, that is liable to ignite spontaneously upon exposure to air, cannabis scientist and educator Greg Gerdeman, Ph.D., told CBT in 2022. The same hydrogenation process is used to convert vegetable oil into margarine.
Despite the DEA’s position that HHC, delta-8 THC, THC-O and “all synthetically derived tetrahydrocannabinols” fall under the list of Schedule I controlled substances, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth and Ninth circuits have offered rulings that contradict the DEA’s viewpoint.
The Fourth Circuit ruled in September 2024 that THC-O meets the legal definition of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, applying many of the same considerations the Ninth Circuit used in its May 2022 ruling that delta-8 THC is legal under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Both circuit courts determined that the 2018 Farm Bill is unambiguous concerning its definition of hemp applying to “all such downstream products so long as they do not cross the 0.3 percent delta-9 THC threshold.”
Specifically for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling from 2022, this unambiguous determination was crucial under the Chevron Doctrine: a 1984 case that required federal courts to defer to federal government agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine in a June 2024 decision for Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce. In other words, even had the Fourth Circuit’s September 2024 ruling found the 2018 Farm Bill language to be ambiguous, it still wouldn’t have had to defer to the DEA’s interpretation of synthetically derived cannabinoids.
The Fourth and Ninth circuits hold jurisdiction over 13 states and two U.S. territories where these synthetically derived hemp cannabinoids are considered federal legally by the judicial branch; however, products containing these cannabinoids can be prohibited or regulated by state or local laws.
But where does HHC in the U.S. stand following the CND’s Schedule II approval on March 12?
Attorney Jason Adelstone, with Harris Sliwoski LLP, offered his take on the impacts of the CND’s scheduling decision in a Canna Law Blog post on March 14.
“Should the Attorney General [Pam Bondi] schedule HHC pursuant to treaty obligations, it may raise concerns regarding the unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to a foreign body,” he wrote.
Adelstone outlined several scenarios that could play out between Bondi and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the coming months.
“Assuming Secretary Kennedy and Attorney General Bondi adhere to 21 U.S.C. § 811 and complete a review of HHC, or at a minimum, order that HHC be added to a CSA schedule, then the process, and HHC’s ultimate placement, could provide valuable insights into the broader cannabis scheduling debate,” the attorney wrote.
While potential action in the executive branch could take more than six months to unfold, U.S. lawmakers continue to target the definition of hemp in a farm bill reauthorization package that’s been on the backburner since 2023.
