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| Stupidest Drug Story of the Week |
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Posted by CN Staff on April 27, 2007 at 16:41:29 PT By Jack Shafer Source: Slate Magazine 
Washington, DC -- Why don't the hacks who cover the illicit-drug beat just turn their keyboards over to the drug-abuse industrial complex and let them write the stories? This week, Reuters moved a story based on a government press release about marijuana potency issued by the Office of National Drug Control Policy—the office of "drug czar" John P. Walters. The press release and the Reuters story state that marijuana potency has reached its highest level since the government started monitoring it in the late 1970s. The average levels of THC in marijuana now stand at 8.5 percent. (THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.) This compares to a little less than the 4 percent measured in 1983. Headlined "U.S. Marijuana Even Stronger Than Before: Report" on Reuters' Web site, the piece quotes nobody outside of government as it channels drug warrior hysteria. As this drug-czar chart shows, the average percentage of THC in cannabis samples analyzed by the ongoing Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project at the University of Mississippi has increased over the years. Assuming for just a moment that these findings accurately reflect marijuana potency, I've got a question: So what? Back in 2002, when Czar Walters warned of the dangers of stronger pot in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed, drug scholar Mark A.R. Kleiman of UCLA responded with this item in his blog: What matters isn't how strong the material is, but how intoxicated the users get. And there's lots of evidence that marijuana users tend to have a target level of intoxication and learn how to titrate dosage to reach that level. Studies that ask marijuana users to roll a joint have found that the average size has halved, from about half a gram to about a quarter of a gram, and there's anecdotal evidence that sharing a single joint has become more common. So much for the inherent dangers of superpotent weed. But how accurate are the government's measurements of average THC? Writer Brian C. Bennett notes that the number of drug samples tested in the government study has varied widely, making meaningful comparisons of increased (or decreased) potency difficult. The collection of samples doesn't appear to be as scientific as it does anecdotal. The czar's press release asserts that two-thirds of the samples analyzed in the most recent study came from law enforcement seizures and purchases, and the rest from domestic eradications. Bennett writes that the kinds of marijuana seized and tested vary from year to year, also. In 2000, sinsemilla, the extra-potent flowering tops of the marijuana plant, constituted 3.66 percent of the tested samples. In 2004, 18.39 percent of the samples were sinsemilla. Guess which year produced a higher average measure of THC? In 2000, the figure was about 5 percent. In 2004, about 7 percent. The Reuters article also conveys the views of a National Institute on Drug Abuse official in reporting that "60 percent of teens receiving treatment for drug abuse or dependence report marijuana as their primary drug of abuse." Kleiman's blog puts the treatment numbers in perspective by pointing to the University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research, which reports (PDF) that the increase in marijuana treatment admission is driven by the increase in criminal justice referrals. Marijuana arrests "have roughly doubled over the past fifteen years," Kleiman writes in his blog, "with the vast bulk of those arrests … for simple possession. Other studies show that for juveniles, most non-criminal-justice referrals reflect parental pressure." None of this is to champion the use of marijuana. I just want journalists to stop regurgitating whatever the drug warriors tell them. Bennett catalogs some of the most ridiculous claims about marijuana potency made by officials and published in the press during the last 40 years. If you take these statements at face value, a single joint rolled from today's marijuana should carry a bigger punch than several tons of yesteryear's Mexican grass. ****** I've never smoked marijuana and I don't advocate its use. For compelling health reasons, kids should avoid it, and many seem to do just that. According to a Monitoring the Future study, the number of high-school pot smokers remains flat or down over the last decade. (E-mail may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.) Note: Is Reuters drinking bong water? Source: Slate Magazine (US Web) Related Article: U.S. Marijuana Even Stronger Than Before Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #14 posted by FoM on April 28, 2007 at 07:07:21 PT |
| How could anything that wasn't made by man be bad? Nothing in the natural world is evil. Even what we might see as bad in the natural world serves a purpose that we might understand. How can nature be illegal? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #13 posted by The GCW on April 28, 2007 at 06:48:14 PT |
| I'm sitting here reading: US: It's Not Your Father's Pot ( http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n530/a12.html?397 ) and I'm realizing, since Christ God Our Father indicates He created all the see bearing plants saying they are all very good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible; cannabis is in fact, Our Father’s “Pot.” -0- And that reminds Me to pray and thank Him... Which I do. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #12 posted by goneposthole on April 28, 2007 at 06:45:36 PT |
| A good friend of mine owned a gas station in Chicago in the earlier part of the 1970's. One day he was working on an auto on the undercarriage. The car was on the hoist and up in the air. The owner of the car, a regular, would always remain in the vehicle when he brought it in for repairs. While my friend the mechanic was working on the customer's car, he thought he smelled cannabis. Sure enough, the owner of the vehicle was smoking maryjoowanna while he waited in his car. The gas station owner finished his work on the man's car and after he lowered the vehicle to the garage floor, he asked him what he was doing up there while his car was being repaired. The man, about sixty years old back then, was a medical marijuana patient. The US government issued medical cannabis to him in packs of reefers, much like a pack of cigarettes. He was smoking his medical cannabis in his car while it was being repaired at my friend's garage. The customer offered him one of the joints. "Here, have one," he said. My friend said, "... and, boy, was it good." That powerful weed has been around for a long time. Forget about the US government, it's the blind leading the dumb. They don't know if they are afoot or horseback. Keep smoking cannabis, it's medicine. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #11 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 28, 2007 at 06:41:27 PT |
| Interesting to note that with marijuana, the stronger the THC content the less dangerous it is to health, because when consumers have stronger pot, they smoke less. I know that I have often obtained weed by luck that was so strong I only had to take one draw of marijuana smoke. Really saves my lungs when the weed is stronger. If anything, weak weed is more dangerous to health than strong weed. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 28, 2007 at 06:36:29 PT |
| This is an excellent link. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #9 posted by The GCW on April 28, 2007 at 06:30:32 PT |
| US CO: LTE: Mind Drugs Are The Problem Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) What needs to be looked at to "solve" the problem of school shootings is the role that psychiatric drugs have had on the killers. Columbine. Virginia Tech. What school will be next? I invite you to view CCHR's website. Think psychiatric drugs are safe? Think again. www.cchr.org will show you the hard, cold facts. Bottom line: We get psychiatric drugs away from people, and we have less crime. Less insanity. Fewer psychiatrists makes a saner world. But does anyone want that? Drug makers will deny any links between antidepressants and the violence we face. Despite a most recent JAMA report, which downplayed the risks, any sign one of these pills may have contributed to the shooter's mindset could open a whole new chapter on the controversy. Keep looking. You won't like what you've been believing all this time. Prevent our kids, our elderly, our sane from becoming insane. Say no to psychiatric treatment. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n531/a12.html?397 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by mayan on April 28, 2007 at 05:04:05 PT |
| From the article you linked to... "When the data show a brief rise in cocaine prices, the drug czar holds a high-profile press conference," said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for International Policy. "But when the trend goes back down again, the drug czar sends it in a letter to one senator. Why is that?" I'll tell you why. It's because John P. Walters is a lying sack of sh*t, especially when it comes to cannabis! If he had any guts he would let the great debate begin but he is too much of a coward. If there are any DEA or ONDCP folks out there reading would you please come by and debate us on cannabis (medicinal/recreational/industrial)? Bring a whole damned army, we don't care. We will keep it civil and polite and debate only the facts. I am not counting on anyone picking up the gauntlet because they never do. We have achieved site supremacy. You just can't beat the facts. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by BGreen on April 28, 2007 at 02:56:45 PT |
| Prescriptions for all drugs except schedule I and schedule II can be phoned in directly to the pharmacy by the doctor's office. That means people are scoring the most potent THC available on this earth (albeit VERY expensive) without any real concerns for the health of the patients. If 100% THC isn't dangerous, can somebody please explain to me how 8.5% THC is so damned threatening? The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by whig on April 27, 2007 at 20:54:04 PT |
| Well, if pure synthetic THC is 100% potent, then Marinol is as potent as it can get. Marinol is so much more dangerous than cannabis that it is Schedule 3, whereas cannabis is only Schedule 1. What's that you say? Schedule 3 doesn't mean more dangerous? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by freewillks on April 27, 2007 at 19:29:41 PT |
| I just found this on MSNBC. I think the days of fake numbers for ONDCP are over. Snipped: "We've given this program a chance to work and clearly this is not producing the results we were promised," McGovern said. "Cocaine is priced as low and purity is as high as it was before Plan Colombia began six years and $5 billion ago." Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the AP that Walters would not comment on the letter but Lemaitre described it as "an accurate reflection of our agency's thoughts on the issue." In November 2005, Walters announced that cocaine prices had risen by 19 percent and purity had dropped by about the same. He touted the development as a sign that the United States had turned the corner in the drug war. Drug policy experts rejected his assertions at the time, and Grassley called for his dismissal. Snipped: [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by BGreen on April 27, 2007 at 19:12:11 PT |
| This is a MUST READ page, as mentioned in the last paragraph of the above story.Marijuana Potency Through the Years How Potent Can It Possibly Get? http://www.briancbennett.com/history/excerpts/thc-content.htm The Reverend Bud Green[ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by mayan on April 27, 2007 at 18:19:46 PT |
| Studies that ask marijuana users to roll a joint have found that the average size has halved, from about half a gram to about a quarter of a gram, and there's anecdotal evidence that sharing a single joint has become more common. So much for the inherent dangers of superpotent weed. Sorry, Johnny Pee. Your half-baked propaganda has backfired once again! Unrelated, yet very interesting... Internal Carlyle Group Memo: Market Good For 12-24 Months: http://infowars.com/articles/economy/carlyle_group_memo_market_good_for_12_to_24_months.htm This is grand... Barrett Heading to Morocco to Apprehend Suicide Hijacker: http://911blogger.com/node/8162 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by potpal on April 27, 2007 at 18:02:25 PT |
| Smartest Drug Story of the Week [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 27, 2007 at 16:44:48 PT |
| Thank you. [ Post Comment ] |
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