More Than 11 Percent of US Teens Report Using Delta-8

The psychoactive substance from the cannabis saliva plant can cause hallucinations, vomiting, tremor, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness.

Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in the MRI lab at the National Institutes of Health’s research hospital in Bethesda, Md., on May 16, 2019. AP/Carolyn Kaster

More than 11 percent of 12th graders in the United States have reported using delta-8—a psychoactive substance found in the cannabis saliva plant—in the past year, according to a study published on March 12.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study declared that the prevalence of delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol use among adolescents in the United States is a “potential public health concern.”