Study: Marijuana potency increases in 2007
Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 3:16 pm | By: Radical Russ
The Associated Press: Study: Marijuana potency increases in 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) — Marijuana potency increased last year to the highest level in more than 30 years, posing greater health risks to people who may view the drug as harmless, according to a report released Thursday by the White House.The latest analysis from the University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring Project tracked the average amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in samples seized by law enforcement agencies from 1975 through 2007. It found that the average amount of THC reached 9.6 percent in 2007, compared with 8.75 percent the previous year.
The 9.6 percent level represents more than a doubling of marijuana potency since 1983, when it averaged just under 4 percent.
When you look under the numbers, though, you find that two-thirds of the samples in this survey are not domestic marijuana. The domestic marijuana potency is at 5%, according to these figures. Plus these cannabis seizure numbers reflect everything from ditchweed and leaf to sinsemilla and hash.
I wonder, then, if these reports are worthless when we talk about the domestic cannabis market. Certainly more of the seized marijuana is going to be foreign, because it’s going to most likely be seized as it travels into and around our country. The Iron Law of Prohibition always makes a smuggler create more potent drugs to smuggle, so it is no surprise that the domestic weed comes in at 5% and the international at 9%.
Marijuana growing, though, is so easily concealed in a home that many people are getting their weed just one or two steps away from a local grower. How many people are smoking much more potent domestic weed that rarely gets seized by the police (like a 37.20% THC seizure that topped their list for the quarter.)
Which is all quite a fascinating argument except for one small detail: marijuana’s potency is irrelevant.
While the drug’s potency may be rising, marijuana users generally adjust to the level of potency and smoke it accordingly, said Dr. Mitch Earleywine, who teaches psychology at the State University of New York in Albany and serves as an adviser for marijuana advocacy groups. “Stronger cannabis leads to less inhaled smoke,” he said.
A report from the office last month found that a teenager who has been depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used marijuana than teenagers who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent. The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent.
Ah, yes, the “dope drives you insane” reefer madness. What the study didn’t even attempt to deduce was whether marijuana causes depression or whether depressed kids self-medicate with marijuana. It also didn’t measure whether those with a predisposition to mental disorders tend to smoke more marijuana to self-medicate.
I just go back to the simple question: where are the bodies? If marijuana is so harmful to the mental development of teens, then why do we not see increases in the rates of teen mental disorders mirroring the increased rates of teen cannabis use or increases in marijuana’s potency. Surely, by now, we would’ve seen an effect on the Summer of Love generation, the Me! generation, Generation X, the post-medical-marijuana generation, all using lots of pot as it gets more and more potent, yet rates of schizophrenia and other mental disorders remain virtually unchanged.
“The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental impairment,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the University of Mississippi study.
“Particularly worrisome is the possibility that the more potent THC might be more effective at triggering the changes in the brain that can lead to addiction,” Volkow said.
But there’s no data showing that a higher potency in marijuana leads to more addiction, Earleywine said, and marijuana’s withdrawal symptoms are mild at best. “Mild irritability, craving for marijuana and decreased appetite — I mean those are laughable when you talk about withdrawal from a drug. Caffeine is worse.”
Kudos to Dr. Mitch for getting his commentary in this Associated Press story. So often these stories are so one-sided, when the press quotes the government official, then quotes the law enforcement official, then quotes the scientist who works either for the government or law enforcement. Rarely do we get one of our acknowledged experts in the mainstream media to defend the truth.
