TIME Magazine looks at Florida marijuana grow industry

(TIME Magazine) California may be the center of the marijuana trade and the controversies over its legalization. But Florida has surpassed it in one important category: the Sunshine State is now the country’s leader in indoor marijuana cultivation. It is a potent distinction because most of the marijuana grown this way is cultured hydroponically — that is, mostly without soil and with a carefully calibrated cocktail of chemicals and lighting — to create some of the highest level of highs on the market.

In 2006, Florida law enforcement here discovered 480 homes growing marijuana indoors. Last year, 1,022 grow houses were busted. “This isn’t your grandma’s marijuana,” quipped a Miami-Dade narcotics officer at one bust as he tossed garbage bags stuffed with confiscated marijuana into an unmarked police truck. Levels of THC — the agent in marijuana that produces feelings of euphoria, and in some users mild hallucinations and paranoia — have risen dramatically because of indoor techniques. Thirty years ago, most marijuana contained about 7% THC. Today, indoor growers boast THC levels of 25% or higher thanks to the additional care that indoor plants receive.

Ah, yes, “Pot 2.0: Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed!” raises its ugly head.  Except the weed from 30 years ago was supposed to be only 2% THC… at least according to the TIME Magazine story in 2004 about the previous super-pot hot-spot, Vancouver, British Columbia:

(TIME Magazine 2004) Although the actual potency of BC Bud varies from batch to batch, depending on how it’s grown, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that as much as 25% of BC Bud is made of the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In contrast, the pot that the hippie generation smoked in the 1970s had only 2% THC content, and most pot consumed in the U.S. today averages about 7% THC.

So five years ago TIME warned the smokers of 7% weed about the 25% BC Bud that wasn’t like the 2% weed of the 1970s, and today TIME warns the smokers about Florida’s 25% hydro-bud that’s not like the 7% weed of the 1970s that we were apparently smoking all the way up to 2004.  Let’s look back farther, to a 2000 TIME story on Marc Emery:

(TIME Magazine 2000) Known as “B.C. Bud,” this pot is finding a lucrative market among U.S. users of recreational drugs. A pound of dried B.C. Bud–whose active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, accounts for up to 30% of its weight–sells for about $8,000 in New York City. The more common marijuana from Mexico, with a THC content of about 5%, sells for as little as $300 per lb.

Ah, so nine years ago, the BC Bud was 30% THC and most folks were smoking the regular 5% THC Mexican varieties.  So, then, did the 7% weed of the ’70s drop 2 points, or did the 2% weed of the ’70s raise 3 points?  I’m confused and I’m not even high.  Let’s look back to the actual time period in question, the 1970s:

(TIME Magazine 1978) Equally adept at agronomy and foiling the police, Oregon’s pot farmers turned home-grown weed into a profitable racket by developing their unique sinsemillas hybrid. The robust, waste-free strain attracts buyers willing to pay $1,600 a pound, the yield from just one well-cultivated plant. Studies show that sinsemillas weed contains five times more tetrahydrocannabinol (pot’s narcotic ingredient) than the common Mexican variety. Even federal drug experts are impressed. “A good deal of expertise goes into producing that kind of plant,” notes Dr. Carlton Turner, director of marijuana research for the National Institute of Drug Abuse at the University of Mississippi.

So if 1978 sinemilla was 5x more potent than the average weed, and that was at 2% (TIME 2004) or 5% (TIME 2000) or 7% (TIME 2009), then fine Oregon bud was already at 10% to 35% thirty-one years ago!  Except back then, the pound of “super-pot” went for $1,600 and today it fetches $8,000.

The 2009 TIME article goes on to scare us about the hydroponic growers illegally tapping into the electrical grid, maintaining high-voltage lighting systems and chemical irrigation systems, sometimes protecting themselves with weapons, and sometimes living in the homes with (gasp!) children!  It highlights how the rest of the Florida economy is suffering so much the housing market is full of foreclosures, which the sellers of $8,000/lb. super-pot are buying up left and right.  So be afraid, be very afraid, of the new Florida Super-Pot!  It’s just as strong as the 2004 BC Bud and the 1978 Oregon Sinsemilla!

For the record:

• Marijuana potency, on average has increased over the past forty years, from about 4% to about 8% on average.
• High potency strains have always been available.
• The government approves Marinol, a 100% potent THC pill, as a Schedule III medicine.
• Increased potency is a direct result of prohibition, as buyers paying cognac-prices for plant matter tend to want the most bang for their $300-$420 bucks per ounce.
• Smugglers and sellers of marijuana in a black market are under pressure to maintain secrecy so they’d rather use their valuable storage/smuggling space for the best-earning product, just as bootleggers during prohibition favored smaller crates of whiskey bottles over larger barrels of beer and wine.
• In surveys of cannabis users in pseudo-legal Amsterdam, they prefer the milder varieties of pot, just as alcohol drinkers after prohibition preferred beer and wine to hard liquor.
• Finally, THC is non-toxic, so potency does not matter.  People using marijuana use enough to get high.  If it’s Mexican schwag, they smoke a joint and get high.  If it’s Florida/BC/Oregon bud, they smoke a puff and get high.  It’s not like if you smoke a 7% joint you get high, but if you smoke a 25% joint you murder your sister with an axe.

Now as for the grow houses, the illegal electricity taps, the armed growhouse owners, the housing market manipulation, the chemically fertilized high-voltage light hydroponic operations, and so forth, I’d ask just one question: how many Florida homes have been converted to clandestine indoor tobacco farms or large-scale home breweries lately?