Posted on 07/20/2004 10:38:45 PM PDT by SeattleNeedsHelp
The potency of the marijuana grown locally and in British Columbia has attracted the attention of the White House and its drug czar.
"This is not the substance you joked about in the '60s," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We have a greater reason for concern."
Walters visited Seattle yesterday to raise awareness of increased levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, an ingredient in marijuana that produces a high. And he met with officials from a new state program at Harborview Medical Center designed to counsel emergency room patients who abuse drugs.
"You have more of it here, and it's more powerful," he said. "The production of 'BC Bud' has exploded."
"BC Bud" is a potent form of marijuana smuggled in from Canada.
According to data from the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network, the mention of marijuana as a reason for an emergency room visit increased nearly 200 percent from 1994 to 2002. Walters used the data to try to dispel the idea of marijuana as a harmless drug.
"We know cigarettes kill more people than any illegal drug. This is not about if you die from a particular overdose -- it's about addiction."
But officials at Harborview, the region's major trauma center, are less worried about marijuana addiction than they are about all drug and alcohol abuse.
"If we could just stop people hurting themselves while drinking, it would make a huge difference," said Dr. Michael Copass, director of emergency services at Harborview. "On some days, (the proportion of people who have abused alcohol or drugs make up) better than three-fourths of the visits."
Edward Dwyer-O'Connor, manager of the crisis triage unit at Harborview, said that any drug that hinders a person's ability to react increases the chance of getting hurt and making a trip to the emergency room.
The program he helps run, Washington State's Screening Brief Intervention Referral and Treatment, counsels patients about drug or alcohol abuse to prevent future visits to the emergency room.
"There is a brief window of opportunity especially when they are in the emergency room when people are more open to exploring the possibility that they have a problem that they need to deal with," he said.
Dwyer-O'Connor and Walters said education before a person becomes addicted is one of the best ways to prevent further abuse and injury.
P-I reporter Colin McDonald can be reached at 206-448-8020 or colinmcdonald@seattlepi.com
been posted from a few different sources already...bascically it sounds like a good story to justify more funding for them.
"The weed just keeps getting more and more dank! We need money to fight this potent weed!!!" (insert stoned brad pitt "sheayaaah" after the last line.
Seriously, how do they know this? I though pot research was illegal. Is there some lifelong .gov employee with the job of lighting up and reporting on how buzzed the pot gets him?
Tester: "Man, I am SO wasted!"
Department head: "That's it. This stuff is more potent. Put out a press release and a call for more funding. And bring back some cheetos!"
The only winners in the drug war are the dealers who get higher prices and the authorities who get the tax dollars to spend on their toys.
The BC Bud Advertising Association says thank you to John Walters.
In the 60's and 70's all you got was leaves. $20.00 per ounce.
Now you get buds which have always had a much higher concentration of THC. People pay $75.00 for 1/4 ounce.
I really suspect this has more to do with larger crops and decreased bulk when smuggling the stuff than with a much higher THC content.
My observation is that people who smoke it just don't smoke nearly as much.
I think the difference is like that between beer and distilled spirits.
Just for the record, I do not indulge in either alcohol or pot.
This is a non issue.
This isn't about if you die. We could care less if you die. It's about addiction, and nicoteen is far less addictive than this devil BC bud.
And they wonder why we laugh at their logic.
"...nicoteen is far less addictive than this devil BC bud."
You were being sarcastic weren't you? Surely you weren't seriously arguing that pot is more addictive than nicotine?
I dunno, I seem to recall some talk about Panama red, Acapulco gold, and the very rare Hawaiian black. Although I never personally participated, I know a few old hippies that claim that today's brands just don't quite measure up.
"In the 60's and 70's all you got was leaves. $20.00 per ounce."
That may be all you got. I recall cheap "homegrown shake" being much more available back in the late seventies when I first tried pot, but hardly anyone would buy the stuff. It was crap somebody either found growing wild or that they tried to grow from seed from marijuana from the tropics that wouldn't mature in time before the first frost up here. It was 1978 the first time I smoked pot and what I smoked was powerful sinsemilla, seedless buds. Mostly what was around back then where I live was pretty good Columbian and weaker Mexican. As the years went on the Columbian supply dried up as they switched to cocaine and the Mexican got a little better. By the mid eighties prices and quality were about what they are now for Mexican. Prices for sinsemilla have gone up some but I'm not sure that the rise in price was met with a corresponding rise in quality. Today I'm told by my friends and by the narcotics officers I work with all the time that 90% or more of what is out there where I live is regular old Mexican going for between $25 and $40 dollars a quarter ounce depending on who you know. Ounces are between $80 and $100. Pounds go for around $1000. Sinsemilla can go for anywhere between $50 a quarter ounce on up to $120 a quarter ounce depending on quality, who people know, and how much people are willing to spend.
(I know that you are joking). Coffee is more addictive.
All Sarcasm. They calim its about addiction, while comparing it to nicoteen, which has been shown to be one of the most powerful addictions known, right up there with pure heroine, while pot shows mild psychological addiction not physical.
And the 'not about death' line really split my sides. Of course it's not about dying, because they can't find any cases of death from pot. Their arguements simply fall flat.
Actually nicotine is very addictive only if you smoke cigarettes/inhale. Instant delivery to the brain creates the strong association. Smoke the traditional way - pipes or cigars. Imitate Clinton - do not inhale and you will reduce health risk to the degree that they will be smaller than benefits!
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