Posted on 05/23/2006 10:13:53 AM PDT by Alouette
Hydro, more potent and more expensive than regular grass, is sold mostly to the affluent, but police fear rise in violence, crime if youth start using
Israel Police have waged a war on the distribution of Hydro, a more potent and more expensive type of marijuana that is sweeping the local drug market.
Dubbed by police as “death grass,” Hydro goes for about NIS 500 (USD 110) per 10 grams (0.35 ounces), compared with regular marijuana which is sold for NIS 600 (USD 133) per kilo.
The high price of Hydro is mainly due to the high cost of growing it and the high demand. It is grown in regular homes that are rented out for thousands of dollars a month; police have discovered four such ‘hothouses’ in recent months: Two in Netanya, one in Kadima and another in Moshav Yanuv.
Hydroponics is a method of growing where the plants are grown in water and are routinely flushed with nutrients; the special equipment can cost thousands of shekels.
People who have used Hydro said the drug has a hallucinatory effect.
“If in regular grass the active ingredient is 13 percent, in Hydro it is five or six times more,” senior police official Yaron Ahrak said.
“The drug is distributed mostly among the affluent, who can afford it. The drug’s effects are lethal. All we need now is that the youth will get a hold of it.”
Police fear Hydro will spark a revolution in the drug market and an increase in drug-related violence.
'Harsh measures must be taken against growers'
“The drug may cause a rise in violence among users and among its distributors. If the youth will start using Hydro we will see a rise in violence and in criminal activity, because the users will seek ways to finance their consumption,” Ahrak said.
“If someone is in a depressed state he or she may have depressing hallucinations after using the drug; this can lead to severe situations that may end in tragedy. Hydro also has more severe medical implications – from higher blood pressure to kidney damage and even impotence.”
Despite its potency, Hydro is considered a light drug, and courts tend to sentence according to the amount of drug that was seized.
“The law must be changed immediately,” Ahrak said. “Hydro cannot be dealt with as though it is regular grass. Harsh measures must be taken against growers, dealers and users.”
Attorney Revital Svid said the courts cannot differentiate between Hydro and regular grass users, because Hydro is a type of marijuana.
“Its just like you can’t differentiate between someone who stole a Mercedes and someone who stole a Volkswagen "beetle,” she said.
It's cocktail hour, our math skils are put on the backburner!
"“If in regular grass the active ingredient is 13 percent, in Hydro it is five or six times more,” senior police official Yaron Ahrak said: False"
You mean they don't have 78% THC pot where you live?
Nah that would even make Jamaicans crap their pants if it existed.
Well there you go. It's so expensive you have no money left for food and starve to death. Hence "death MJ".
L
/sarcasm set to 11
Thousands die each year from overexposure to it, but we all ingest unknown amounts of it daily.
What can we do!!??
That's a lot less than the Chronic sells for here in California. It goes for about $55-60 per 2 grams, or around $400-450 an ounce. In California, hydroponic growth has been around for decades.
Nah, I don't smoke the stuff very often - occassionally at a social event a puff or two but I don't like the feeling it gives me. Makes me cold, and introverted, and feeling dumb. My mind races but I can't interact with people. So for me, I think it's bad.
But I have plenty of friends who do smoke regularly and have no qualms about it. I even know people who have medical marijuana prescriptions, and the price at the 'clinics' is no better than street prices - and there is no more quality control in the clinics than on the street.
The trouble with medical marijuana (to change the subject a bit) is the quality control. If you took a vicodin for pain today, and then took a vicodin for pain again 1 year from now, it would be nearly 100% the same. But not with marijuana. Every 6 weeks a new strain is on the market with different effects. Hydroponic growth could theoretically change that, but the market dynamics (not a free market, an underground market) make it a sellers market - whatever is available at the time is what is bought and sold. No QC - So yes, I see the point behind all the BS in this story... depending on the strain and the person smoking it, the side effects will differ.
I don't think it will cause a marked rise in criminality beyond petty theft, and the risk/reward is different. If you have to steal and sell something to buy this "killer weed" or you don't have to steal anything to get plain old weed... I think most people will just buy the cheaper weed. Besides, since smoking weed tends to make people more mellow and less motivated, there is a greater likelihood they will do nothing more than the bare minimum in life, just enough to live and get high.
I don't believe that and I'll tell you why - because there are many different ways to cross the strains of marijuana plant.
In the Medical Marijuana clinics in California they market various types of strains. Each strain would have a different effect on you. Since I have never used marijuana for medical purposes I can't say if all types work well for a particular ailment, but the side effects will certainly be different. One will make you hyper, one mellow, one paranoid, one sensations of cold, one hot, etc.
The different strains are marketed with names like blueberry, train wreck, snow plow, etc. The medical users seek out the strains that help their ailment while giving them the least bad side effect. Sometimes one strain is available, sometimes not. So the point is, if it were legalized, each person would seek the particular strain that they enjoyed the most (without medical considerations). There would be myriad varieties, like wines.
Glad I could educate you on this point.
I haven't used it in well over ten years.
Why did you quit?
I reckoned I had better things to do with my time and money. Why do you ask?
I just paid $140 for an ounce of Hydro. I'll be getting high and going on a killing spree in a few minutes. Hey, it's something to do on a slow night.
Glad I could educate you on this point.
lose track of time, forget what it was you were talking or writing about, or suddenly realize that you had completely overlooked something you meant to say or do, say a week or more ago.
My family and job sometimes get in the way of my FReeping. If you ever get a family or job you'll understand.
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