Chart from a fact sheet by the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House.
In recent decades, marijuana growers have been genetically altering their plants to increase the percentage of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in marijuana. The average potency of tested marijuana from Federal seizures more than doubled from 1998 to 2010.Via The Dish, where one user's bad experience is noted and countered.
"marijuana growers have been [b]genetically altering[/b] their plants to increase the percentage of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)"
ReplyDeleteThat's a funny way of spelling selective breeding. Though the idea of some growers actively splicing cannabis genes is pretty funny, it's much less involved than that.
Find two plants with high THC, make sure they offspring. Profit.
Seriously, that's exactly what I thought when reading that excerpt. Breeding is now now considered "genetically altering"??? I don't expect your average growers have labs set up for advanced genetics and DNA tampering.
DeleteI do worry about chemical fertilizers, molds, and insecticides- none of which you want to be ingesting. Just like any consumable, people need to think about where it comes from. A process that could be made much easier and safer if it was regulated!
Selective breeding IS genetic modification. The one word just invokes a much stronger response than the other.
DeleteAbsolutely selective breeding is a form of genetic modification / genetically alteration.
DeleteThere are many technologies that are so common now that we no longer think of them as technologies such as cooking or language.
I suspect the quality of a package has changed also. More bud - less leaf.
ReplyDeleteHigher THC content in marijuana no more makes it a different drug than the higher alcohol content of vodka (40 per cent) makes it a different drug than beer (five per cent). That is nothing but rhetoric. It has no basis in pharmacological reality. Also, average joint sizes have dropped over the years from half a gram to about a quarter of a gram. In addition, pipes, water pipes, and vaporizers typically require less marijuana per use than joints and these items have become increasingly popular over the last 30 years.
ReplyDeleteThe hilarious part is that in the 80s, we were told "This isn't your father's pot! It's 5 times more powerful with as much as 15% THC!" Now of course they're telling teenagers "This isn't your father's pot! It's 3 times as powerful!" I wonder if you can smoke propaganda, or if you're better off with a vaporizer?
ReplyDeleteHaving now looked at the original article, I'd like to add that if pot were legal, the amount of THC and other compounds could be regulated and the contents posted on the package.
DeleteCoool.
ReplyDeleteThere's no evidence that this is reflective of actual Cannabis - it's reflective that agents used to test everything and included samples that weren't psychoactive. They don't anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe average joint smoked is no more potent.
http://norml.org/library/health-reports/item/norml-s-marijuana-health-mythology#11
(Not that they're not biased, but... law enforcement is biased the other way. And in fact, are under orders from Congress to always give them the answer they want or lose their jobs.)
Crissa, you're citing a NORML report from 1994:
Delete"A careful examination of the government's data show that average marijuana potency increased modestly by a factor of two or so during the seventies, and has been more or less constant ever since."
Now look where 1994 is on the graph.
I think it is worth noting that there is some evidence that the ratio of THC to other cannabinoids found in the plant may cause a change in its psychoactive effects. In particular paranoia appears to be more pronounced in users of plants that have been bred for high THC to the exclusion of other cannabinoids.
ReplyDelete