What has changed about marijuana in the past several decades? Everything has. The same marijuana that many used during the Woodstock era is not the same pot that is going around today. Many would argue that the pot of the 70’s was harmless but one thing is for sure, today's pot is not harmless and is very addictive.
Today's marijuana contains two compounds that produce significant pharmacological effects. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) is the component that produces an intoxicating high when inhaled or ingested. Cannabinoid (CBD) is the medicinal component that helps to reduce nausea, convulsive seizures, and the symptoms of schizophrenia. It also acts as a significant antagonist that acts to block the intoxicating effects of THC on the human brain.
Today's Marijuana is more deadly than smoking tobacco
Research has shown that marijuana smoke contains fifty to seventy percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. Today's marijuana is not the same product that was widely used in the 1960’s and 70’s. Growers have been tampering with the genetics of marijuana since the early 1980’s. Their goal has been to increase production capacity and THC concentration while maintaining low levels of CBD.
Today's marijuana clearly indicates that efforts to increase both the production and intoxicating capacity of marijuana while minimizing the medicinal effects have been successful. The modern, genetically altered, seedless marijuana plant produces much more of a finished product that has more than twice the intoxicating THC concentration of the unaltered natural plant.
Today's marijuana is much more potent than the pot in 1983 where the THC potency averaged less than four percent. In 2009, THC potency of marijuana seized in the United States averaged nearly ten percent. Product recently seized in Oregon and California has tested at well more than thirty percent THC. At the same time, the concentration of the intoxication blocking CBD has remained essentially constant.
All in all today's marijuana is down right worse than it has ever been
Today's marijuana is eight to ten times more potent than the natural product. In fact, modern marijuana users generally call naturally produced marijuana by disparaging names such as garbage, dirt-weed and crap because of its relative lack of potency. The newer more potent forms of marijuana are indisputably addictive. In 1992, about 93,000 people were admitted to treatment for marijuana addiction in the United States. Less than two decades later in 2009, more than 360,000 were admitted for marijuana dependency.