http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365802,00.html
Marijuana Potency Increases to Highest Levels in Decades, Study Finds
Thursday, June 12, 2008
WA****NGTON — Marijuana potency increased last year to the highest
level in more than 30 years, posing greater health risks to people who
may view the drug as harmless, according to a re****t released Thursday
by the White House.
The latest analysis from the University of Mississippi's Potency
Monitoring Project tracked the average amount of THC, the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana, in samples seized by law enforcement agencies
from 1975 through 2007. It found that the average amount of THC
reached 9.6 percent in 2007, compared with 8.75 percent the previous
year.
The 9.6 percent level represents more than a doubling of marijuana
potency since 1983, when it averaged just under 4 percent.
"Today's re****t makes it more im****tant than ever that we get past
outdated, anachronistic views of marijuana," said John Walters,
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He
cited baby boomer parents who might have misguided notions that the
drug contains the weaker potency levels of the 1970s.
"Marijuana potency has grown steeply over the past decade, with
serious implications in particular for young people," Walters said. He
cited the risk of psychological, cognitive and respiratory problems,
and the potential for users to become dependent on drugs such as
cocaine and heroin.
While the drug's potency may be rising, marijuana users generally
adjust to the level of potency and smoke it accordingly, said Dr.
Mitch Earleywine, who teaches psychology at the State University of
New York in Albany and serves as an adviser for marijuana advocacy
groups. "Stronger cannabis leads to less inhaled smoke," he said.
The White House office attributed the increases in marijuana potency
to sophisticated growing techniques that drug traffickers are using at
sites in the United States and Canada.
A re****t from the office last month found that a teenager who has been
depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used
marijuana than teenagers who have not re****ted being depressed — 25
percent compared with 12 percent. The study said marijuana use
increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent.
"The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase
the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental impairment," said
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
which funded the University of Mississippi study.
"Particularly worrisome is the possibility that the more potent THC
might be more effective at triggering the changes in the brain that
can lead to addiction," Volkow said.
But there's no data showing that a higher potency in marijuana leads
to more addiction, Earleywine said, and marijuana's withdrawal
symptoms are mild at best. "Mild irritability, craving for marijuana
and decreased appetite — I mean those are laughable when you talk
about withdrawal from a drug. Caffeine is worse."
The project analyzed data on 62,797 cannabis samples, 1,302 ha****sh
samples, and 468 hash oil samples obtained primarily from seizures by
law enforcement agencies in 48 states since 1975.
|
