THC Level in Pot Rises, Per CNN
May 14th, 2009 by RickCNN American Morning reported on the issue of marijuana being the most abused drug in America and the fact that it is also more potent than ever.
CNN Homeland Security corespondent, Jeanne Meserve, visited the University of Mississippi and became privy to the only federal government sanctioned and licensed grow operation/storage area in the United States. Not only do the scientists there have barrels upon barrels of high grade dried marijuana in a vault but they also have an indoor cultivation area that produces large quantities of marijuana used for research.
Thousands of samples of marijuana confiscated in seizures across the country are sent to this department every year. The marijuana is put through a siv, to clean out the seeds and stems, the weed is then weighed, put in a solution and analyzed chemically.
The result of the studies is today’s announcement that the THC level within marijuana has risen for the first time in years to a little over ten percent. Some samples were even found to contain a thirty percent level of the psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Mahmoud Elsohly, part of the Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project had this to say about inexperienced users:
They’ll get paranoid, they’ll get irritable and that’s just the opposite of what they were looking for.
CNN goes on to say that because of the higher potency, more people are going to emergency rooms and seeking drug treatment. What? If anyone is going to the emergency room, I strongly doubt it would be from overdose or direct effects from smoking pot.
As usual, they bring in the argument about the kids and them having access to the drug and with it being more potent if it will sway their minds from using it. I’m sure that marijuana, even with it’s ten percent level of THC is better and safer and far less addictive than that ten milli-Percocet or thirty milli-Vicodin, easily found in their parents’ medicine cabinet or even the fifth of Jack stored in the cupboard.
Researchers say that after years of decline, there has been a recent surge in marijuana use. Scientists at the project predict that the THC potency will go up another five percent within five to ten years as marijuana growers learn more sophisticated techniques to cultivating marijuana.
