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Abstract

Delta-8 THC (D8) is an intoxicating compound linked to poisonings and hospitalizations, and no federal laws prohibit its sale to minors. We examined retail D8 availability near public schools (n=231) in Fort Worth, Texas, where D8 sales are minimally regulated. Between September-October 2021, trained data collectors collected D8 availability data from 1,178 retailers with alcohol, tobacco, and/or consumable hemp licenses. We examined differences in product availability for retailers near (within 0.5 miles) schools vs. not near schools. There was a higher prevalence of retailers selling D8 near (vs. not near) schools (12.4% vs. 8.2%; chi-square test 5.84, p<0.05). Of the 231 public schools, 37.2% (n=86) had at least one D8 retailer nearby. Of the 86 schools with D8 retailers nearby, the cheapest products were for vaping (40.7%) and edibles (31.4%). There were school-level racialized and socioeconomic inequities in availability. Ongoing surveillance of D8 availability and laws are urgently needed.

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@AmandaYKong

@YockeyAndrew

Author ORCID Identifier

Amanda Kong: 0000-0002-8361-7342

Cassidy LoParco: 0000-0003-4206-4179

Lily Herbert: 0000-0002-9915-8400

Andrew Yockey: 0000-0002-2140-2418

Matthew Rossheim: 0000-0003-4388-5251

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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