Posted on 07/25/2004 1:12:55 AM PDT by MadIvan
New super-strength marijuana readily available on US streets is prompting the White House to change direction in its war against drugs.
Research from the government-sponsored Marijuana Potency Project claims today's cannabis is more than twice as strong as in the mid-Eighties, leading to greater health risks for those smoking it at increasingly younger ages.
Now President George Bush, who had already promised a more aggressive campaign against substance abuse, has ordered that resources be allocated to fighting so-called 'soft' drugs instead of concentrating on harder forms, such as heroin and cocaine.
'We are working hard on education, but unfortunately a lot of today's parents are under the impression marijuana is harmless and that their kids trying it is some kind of rite of passage,' said Jennifer de Vallance, of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
'They might have had experience in their own teenage years with no problems, but this is not the same marijuana as in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Today's forms are much stronger and potentially more harmful, especially to young people whose brains are not fully developed and are therefore more susceptible to adverse reactions.'
The Marijuana Potency Project, at the University of Mississippi, analysed more than 30,000 samples seized over the past 18 years by the authorities. It found that the average level of the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), jumped from 3.5 per cent in 1985 to more than 7 per cent in 2003.
Of more concern to the analysts is that the upward trend appears to be continuing. The average potency of 20 marijuana samples seized and tested so far this year exceeds 9 per cent, with a peak of 27 per cent in one batch from a state in the North West.
'Today's marijuana is a much more serious problem than the vast majority of Americans understands,' said John Walters, the government's director of drug control policy who has promised a clampdown on producers.
Those who support the legalisation of cannabis are not convinced. 'Whenever government officials speak about drugs issues, a more detailed examination of the facts is a good idea,' said David Borden, executive director of the Washington-based Drug Reform Coordination Network.
'These projects are always government-funded and, without criticising the researchers, officials take what they want from it and send out their press releases. There has always been a wide range of potencies. It doesn't mean people are getting more intoxicated, because the higher the potency, the less they smoke.'
Figures suggest overall drug use in America's high schools has fallen by 11 per cent in two years but the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports the number of children and teenagers receiving treatment for marijuana abuse jumped 142 per cent over the last decade, and that emergency hospital admissions of 12 to 17-year-olds in which marijuana was implicated rose 48 per cent in four years.
Borden acknowledges children must be steered away from drugs, but says: 'Their anti-drugs efforts have had a paradoxical effect in promoting the underground cultivation of marijuana. The number of users makes it an appealing target and there is no limit to the number of arrests that can be made, and the government uses those numbers to scare the public into thinking there is some big problem.
'All the government has been able to do is encourage people to experiment with stronger drugs than they would have before.'
Here's my two cents.
Pot effects people different. However, the same can be true about over the counter medicine (can't take cold medicine it makes me freak out) and alcohol.
I don't know anyone in my circle of friends (we have all smoked from time to time and would find it hard to pass up a good joint during a girls weekend) or whatever.
The stronger the pot, the less I would smoke. Don't mix it with alcohol. Plain and simple. If it's around.. YIPPEE, I like it better then a drink. If it's not, OH well I have a million other things I can do with my time.
Pot does not cause you to be a loser. If you have lazy tendencies you of course wouldn't be productive if you smoked 24x7.. but then again anyone who does something like that---- that much is going to cause you to miss out on life. the same could be said about lots of things. (alcohol, sleeping too much, smoking cigarettes etc.)
Take responsibility for your actions but let's not pretend here. I do not want my children smoking or drinking in high school. They are developing and I agree with the concerns. I think when you get to college that's another story, but as a parent you have to set down rules. Too much partying is bad with or without drugs involved.
What were you thinking when you posted this?!?
Do you really expect to come to a WOD thread chock-full of baseless aspersions and witless propaganda, post a sensible , experienced-based point-of-view, and escape unharmed?
No way! Unfortunately, there's just too much common sense in your thoughtful post to slander all at once!
So I'll pass. Good post. ;^)
Pot affects the memory. Not a good idea to spend thousands to send a kid to college to have him sit around bummed out.
Why don't you practice what you preach?
If you go back and see who I was responding to you will find that it was YOU and that YOU had crossed threads with your slurs. As I said ...
Of course I jumped threads in my post responding to YOUR post where you jumped threads. I jumped threads to HIGHLIGHT the post you made in which YOU jumped threads with your slurs.
Isn't that an issue between the kid and their parents, not the kid and the state?
If the kid is using state (taxpayer) money, it is the states' business.
If you hadn't jumped threads with your slander, I would never have responded to you by jumping threads on you. My jumping threads was to make it a point of highlighting YOUR jumping of threads.
Cry me a river.
Typical response when one is nailed.
ping
Can you say "HYPERBOLE"?
The posts I was referring to were #770 and #821 on this thread. I've never run into this mugs99 dude on FR in the past, so he's not my "buddy".If you deny this story, I'll believe you and drop it. I just found the picture in my head of this argument to be really funny.
Really. You know false slurs when you see them. It is in bad taste for you to repeat/spread false rumors. Indeed.
That is what you said before but you still keep it active even after I said it was false.
OK, I believe ya. Mugs, it appears as if you might have to retract your post on that thread.
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