As cannabis has become more socially acceptable, the prohibitionists have been struggling to find arguments against its use. They never made a good case (if you ask me) but they have really been stretching the limits of their imagination in recent years. One of the weaker arguments that seems to be appearing more often these days is an attack on the allegedly higher potency of modern marijuana. It goes like this, marijuana is stronger than it was at some point in the past and, therefore, is "dangerous."
This point is nonsense for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its basic premise. That is to say, that stronger equals dangerous marijuana. This works off the false assumption that a user will use just as much regardless of potency and this is false. We all know, that overly exuberant cannabis dosing can be unpleasant but not dangerous. People who are not ready for that kind of experience can suffer from paranoia, panic, and a general "icky" feeling. In the real world where facts and common sense matter, a cannabis consumer meters his or her dose based on quality. If your weed is strong you smoke less, simple. This actually makes cannabis consumption safer, as a person need not inhale a large quantity of harsh smoke. Sadly, prohibitionists and their mouthpieces (I would call them pieces of something else but that's beside the point) in the media, conveniently, fail to mention this aspect of high potency cannabis.
Even if the premise was true (which it isn't), their "evidence" for this trend is weak. They often site THC content and compare it to decades old tests that were preformed under completely different parameters and hold this up as proof of their point. This is incredibly dishonest and misleading. A lot things have been written on this subject so I won't go into great detail but I will briefly explain the issue. In the past the standard practice used be to test the entire plant for THC content. These tests included the roots, stems, and seeds and, since many parts of the plant have little or no THC, the average THC content of a given plant appeared to be rather low. This has changed in the last twenty-five years, however. Now, only the usable parts of the plant are tested which gives a much higher reading. The age, storage, and transportation of modern cannabis also contributes today's supposedly higher potency. In days of yore, most cannabis in the U.S. was shipped in from mexico in the form of bricks. These bricks were often old, poorly cured, and shipped in less than ideal conditions. All these things negatively affect quality and give the false impression that modern weed is significantly stronger than it really is. The truth is that weed isn't that much more potent now. It is preserved and cared for better which makes for better quality on the consumer level but that is a difference in how we treat cannabis and not a difference in the cannabis itself.
(Some old time brick weed. Image credit: freeimages.com)
When all else fails they just straight up lie to us. It is undeniable that there is more good smoke in circulation these days but the media and the prohibitionists lie about how good that good weed is. If you don't mind depressing yourself, google some news stories on this subject. You will find people saying things like "marijuana is hundreds of times stronger today" and so on. This can be disproved with basic math. They will state that marijuana was three to five percent THC in the past (we already covered why this is false) if you multiply three percent by one hundred (less than many of the claims that I have read, by the way) you end up with three hundred percent. So if we take them at their word a modern bud is three times its own weight of THC. Clearly this is untrue but the masses, being unlikely to investigate a claim they hear on the news, go about their lives believing that there is some dangerous super weed on the market.
Can we get some of this mythical super weed? Please.
Clearly, this potency hysteria is utter nonsense. If you come across someone who makes this claim pleas consider correcting the record if you are able.
Peace.
This is the third installment of my continuing series of brief posts that are intended to highlight some of the dumber aspects of the drug war. If you liked this post, please feel free to check out my page for more similar content.
Unless otherwise credited, the images in this post are sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.
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This should be an inherent responsibility to every cannabis consumer.
The buck stops HERE !
Thank you for your efforts in educating the mass brainwashed citizens of the world.
Peace !
Thank you. I am glad someone is reading this stuff lol.
I really hope to plant the seed (if you will forgive the pun) that grows into a desire in others to try to educate people in this same way.
Haha! I love puns dude! I'm one of your followers. I make it a point to read the people I follow, because I only follow quality shit !
You have some blogger talent going on, keep up the great work!
Don't worry too much, the word is getting around. Once the greedy politicians figure out how to make all the money flow their way, it will be legal for recreational use everywhere. Just a matter of time..
Haha thank you. I actually went to school to write but life happened and all that so I kind of forgot I had that training. I am super rusty but its starting to come back.
I appricate you reading.
Yeah, things are better for sure. I remember how it was when I was in high school. there were still a lot of true believers "teaching" us about drugs. One of them once said that people smoke LSD which is pretty dumb...Come to think of it, she said a bunch of dumb stuff because she also insisted that one could get pregnant from butt sex lol.
Its going on the right direction we just need to keep working at it.
I wonder if we are in the same age group? I remember some of this rhetoric LOL.
Well I have a clear memory of the 1990's so that probably makes me a little older than a lot of people that I see on this site but not much.
Well I'm in my early 30's so we probably aren't too far apart. :)
mh, a filled page with actual content thats not made up out of 50% banners, curlies, @someone-tags and what not is somewhat hard to come by, one thats actually written in self-written language even harder to come by than a post that doesnt go "thisbot upvoted you for 0.2% vp holding up the network by itself casting 200 votes a day that net nothing of worth" lol
as for the article @artisticscreech , i'm not at home in the american moral majority rhetoric but i can think its probably close to the same ... "dreughs is baed" you would get everywhere ... here, for a country that sells beer on every corner from 16 years up you'd think they wouldnt stop a kid with a joint, alas police is left in a grey zone so in a small town like this the kid will get a perma-stain on his record for toking a few puffs when caught while 25km further in ghent or brussels the cops are too busy with actual crime and violence they wont even bother to stop if someone sits smoking on the side of the road so to speak.
That said id like to say i do believe the balance of THC/CBD is a critical factor in causing psychosis for people who smoke too much and for kids who start to young ... which doesnt mean it will, but the statistical chance that it could increases, those are the numbers i know. And i think its the same for anyone who ab-uses , not uses any psychoactive substance (that includes alcohol, and im not a muslim btw, if anything id be a polytheist agnostic who doesnt believe in gods who care but until i see one the box is closed and its Schroedingers problem wether they exist or not, the sheer fact that it has not been proven however is not enough for my chemical scumness to assume it isnt there)
and here i go off-topic again ... which euhm where was i ?
is what any politician or lobby would do on either side of any debate : lift then numbers from a statistic out of context and use half a sentence from "an expert" here and half another there to get a collage that spells exactly what they've been proclaiming.
This kind of ping pong, i do agree gets no one anywhere . I probably already said i have smoked for about 14 years myself, daily, and i have known many peope who have smoked since and still are, working people, daddies and mommies who probably are telling their kids not to before they put them to bed right now ...
the only problem is ab-use and irresponsiblity and the biggest enemies are fear and ignorance
the usual i guess ... same old song on the radio , the radio might be an iThing with a brandnew skin but it plays the same song
over and over
now then, before i banner out the meaning of the words ... this is the steemit part i like best, fact that im not making a thousand every month hasnt bothered me so far. The only thing that has was people telling me what i couldnt post and say in the beginning but they back off in the end :D
bubble universes and diverse opinion, perspective and point of view and topics and content hard to find on fudbook hahah
see you around
Thank you. And thanks for respondind with something interesting as always.
I agree that abuse can be a problem for the individual but I believe that the freedom of everyone in society outweighs the problem of an individual.
The truth is, any kind of freedom bares some danger with it but the question is whether we believe that danger is a fair price for it. If, for example, all speech is ok then a person may say something stupid and make an outcast of himself but protecting him is not a valid reason to limit your speech or mine. Judging from what your page says I suspect we would largely agree on these types of issues. In my mind, freedom has more value than safety and as a result my own ethical/moral code requires me to oppose any trasspass against that freedom.
"Just a matter of time." Since 1937? How many years is that: 81? Hell, it's been 47 years since the beginning of the War on Drugs. Greedy politicians take a long time to figure out things, huh.
Well...You do have a point, and I would say yes, they do take forever to figure things out, but hopefully they will figure it out within our lifetime right? lol
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I have smoked for 45+ years. I go to he gym almost daily. Have a house, kids, cars, job on and on. I am now retired. I had to stop smoking because i live in a country that has people so scared that you can die on the spot if you get caught smoking. People do partake here but they are very discreet about it. I remember reading an article in USA many years ago that said that Cannabis will make mens breasts grow. I hope you continue with your posts. Thanks for some good reads.
Hahaha yeah I hear that myth every now and then.
That is a shame. Hopefully things inprove over time. As more information becomes eaiser to access it will be harder to sell the lies and people will forget why it was banned in the first place.
Thanks for reading.
Thank you.