cannabisnews.com: The Real Dope 





The Real Dope 
Posted by CN Staff on June 03, 2002 at 21:45:10 PT
By Christopher Wanjek, Special To The WP
Source: Washington Post
It's one of the most convenient arguments parents can use to discourage their children from doing precisely what they did in their teenage heyday: Sure, I smoked pot, but it's so much stronger now than it was in our day that you can't even compare them. Smoking pot today is too dangerous. D.A.R.E. (the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program) and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America offer this line to parents. And it seems like an excuse made to order for former pot-smoking baby boomers seeking to reconcile their own reckless past with a useful anti-drug message. 
But in this case -- and we know you hate it when it turns out this way -- the claim appears to be partly true, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). A key study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2000 reported that marijuana seized in drug arrests during the late 1990s was twice as potent as that seized in the late 1980s -- and nearly four times as potent as that seized in the 1970s. Data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration support this conclusion. Medical and policy experts are divided, however, over whether stronger pot is more dangerous.The main active ingredient that produces the high in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. On average, the pot on the streets 30 years ago was 1 percent to 2 percent THC; today the average is about 4 percent."There's no question marijuana is more potent today," said Mahmoud El Sohly, director of the Marijuana Project, a NIDA-funded program at the University of Mississippi that grows marijuana for study. "There has been a constant increase in potency" from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, he said. The levels fluctuated until around 1990 and then consistently increased again.Yet smokers in the 1960s and 1970s certainly had access to more potent varieties of marijuana -- what Mom and Dad may recall as "killer weed." Sinsemilla, made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants, averages 7.5 percent THC. Hashish, the sticky resin from the female plant flowers, can be as high as 28 percent THC. Hashish oil can contain up to 43 percent THC.Still, most pot sold on the streets in the 1970s was low-quality cannabis from Mexico -- what Mom and Dad may remember as "bunk weed," according to Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times magazine. The three main species of marijuana, cultivated for thousands of years, haven't changed much in the past 30 years, Hager said. What has changed is the quality and variety available to U.S. teenagers.A generation ago, the typical bag of pot contained mostly leaves, which don't have as much THC as the buds, along with stems and seeds, which have very little potency. A typical bag of pot today contains more buds, Hager said. Also, most marijuana is now grown domestically, often hydroponically, where controlled growing methods result in a plant with consistently higher THC levels, which ultimately fetch a higher price on street.Where's the Danger?   Here's the problem for boomer parents who inhaled: Just because today's pot is stronger doesn't necessarily mean it's more dangerous. Comparing marijuana strength through the years is "absurd," according to Lester Grinspoon, an emeritus professor at Harvard Medical School, who consults patients, many of them elderly, on using marijuana to relieve pain and nausea. "The whole issue on potency is a red herring," he said. "The more potent the pot, the less you use."Grinspoon said that studies have shown -- and his patients' experiences confirm -- that marijuana users smoke until they feel high -- or, as he prefers to say, "achieve symptom relief," -- and then stop, whether it took two hits or an entire joint. In this regard, today's higher-potency pot is no more "dangerous" than the bunk weed of yesteryear, he said.NIDA data from an ongoing project called Monitoring the Future support the notion that smokers aren't getting higher from more potent joints. Surveys show that joint sizes have dropped over the years from half a gram to about a quarter of a gram because more experienced smokers know that a smaller amount of pot can go a longer way toward making the smoker high."Even as the cannabis has gotten stronger, students in the NIDA surveys don't report that they're getting any higher," said Mark Kleiman, a professor of policy studies at the School of Public Policy and Social Research at the University of California, Los Angeles Kleiman.El Sohly disagrees. "This is a drug that produces tolerance," he said. "The smoker has to increase the amount he uses . . . just like alcohol" to get the same high over time. Further, he argues, smoking more pot is dangerous because the drug is bi-phasic: a "reasonable dose will produce euphoria," El Sohly said, but a higher dose will produce unpleasant and potentially harmful effects, such as paranoia and violence.High-potency pot ups the ante, producing a higher tolerance more quickly; and such higher levels of THC, quickly pumped into the body, can be great enough to induce the drug's more negative effects, El Sohly said. To Tell the Truth   So what are concerned parents who smoked pot to do when discussing drugs with their children? Lying, you may have guessed, should not be an option, according to Howard Simon, a spokesman for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a private-sector coalition that collaborates with the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Honesty makes a lot of sense," he said. "If you smoked marijuana, you don't want to lie about it with your children, because that will only destroy your credibility in the long run."Simon said this doesn't mean you have to divulge your life history with your kids. "Don't answer the questions you haven't been asked," he said (perhaps inadvertently suggesting to teenagers a tactic their parents would rather not face). Instead, tell your kids what you learned from your experience. Perhaps you have seen lives ruined by marijuana use."Every boomer parent knows, or used to know, people who smoke too much pot and don't seem to do much else," said Kleiman. "They can always serve as a bad example."Kleiman is queasy about half-truths, but he is willing to agree with part of the "more dangerous" argument. He is concerned, along with NIDA and groups such as D.A.R.E. America, about children's beginning to smoke marijuana at younger and younger ages. Here is where parents who smoked pot, perhaps in college, can caution their children.Kleiman said he knew of no one who smoked in his high school in 1968, but many people smoked at his college. A few years later, pot was creeping into the high schools. NIDA data indicate that by 1979 more than 50 percent of high school seniors had tried marijuana. Through the 1980s, junior high school students were smoking pot. By 1990, pot had made its way into grade schools. Since 1996, yearly figures show that more than 20 percent of eighth-graders report having smoked pot at least once.Marijuana use at such a young age, the experts agree, is a clear problem. A child is not responsible enough to use the drug, as is also true of drinking alcohol or having sex. The drug itself can interfere with cognitive development during adolescence. And being high can interfere with schoolwork and social life. An adolescent is less likely to know when it might be appropriate to use marijuana than a college student is."A teenager who spends the 10th and 11th grades stoned all the time will miss some growing up that can't be accomplished later," said Kleiman. (Data suggest that most people stop smoking pot regularly by the time they enter the workforce, regardless of when they started.) Nevertheless, there is still too little data on what exactly happens to the brain from years of smoking pot."I'd be pretty tough on a 14-year-old," Kleiman said. "I'd say, 'You're going to have to make a living with that mind.' "Christopher Wanjek is a frequent contributor to the Health section. Note: Tried the 'Today's Pot Is Stronger' Claim With Your Kids? Your Cover Is Blown Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Christopher Wanjek, Special To The Washington PostPublished: Tuesday, June 4, 2002; Page HE01 Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/Marijuana The Forbidden Medicinehttp://www.rxmarihuana.com/The Pollster Who Answered a Higher Callinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13035.shtml Pushing Drug Myths With Our Taxes http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12917.shtmlThe Problem Is Pot Prohibition http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12725.shtml CannabisNews Dare Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtml
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Comment #28 posted by qqqq on June 04, 2002 at 22:35:25 PT
.....Tolerance.....
....I would like to add to all the excellent comments concerning tolerance..I hope it will be tolerable...
..It is regretfully true,that years of daily Marijuana smoking,will compromise the the ability of a persons lungs to absorb oxygen,,and THC from smoke.This works as a type of tolerance.I've smoked Marijuana for over 30 years,and I was stupid enough to smoke tobacco for about 25 of those years.I quit cigarettes at the beginning of this year,and now when I smoke Marijuana,,at takes alot less than it used to for the desired effect....Even when a person does not smoke tobacco,but smokes excessive amounts of Marijuana,they will tend to develop somewhat of a partial 'immunity',to getting stoned....I think this is partially due to the diminished efficiency of the lungs,,and also due to what everyones body does naturally,when it is subjected to abnormally large amounts of anything.I think a persons metabolism automaticly compensates when subjected to repeated use of anything....It could be compared to a callous on ones hands or feet,,the body compensates for exsessive wear....The brain has similar mechanisms to compensate for repeated alterations..This relates to the essence of what addiction is all about,,, anyway, the long and the short of it is;,,I believe that a persons body,,mental,and physical,can,and will build up a "tolerance",to anything that it is subjected to........many times I've smoked with old friends who had not smoked for months,or years,(I'm a bad influence?),,,and they would get really stoned after a several tokes,,and they would ask why I didnt seem to be stoned.?....I tell them,;I'm immune to the stuff....I you use massive quanities of anything,,you will eventually build up a tolerance,or immunity to its original effects........I guess it all maskes sense?....I guess its kinda like my mind,that has been in outer space so long,that I have to pretend that I am normal..I have built up a tolerance to reality,,, I am almost immune..but I have learned to tolerate it......
..................reporting live,,,from outer space......
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on June 04, 2002 at 21:11:21 PT
Dave
Thank you for your one toke over the line story. That was good. I guess I meant that if a person would need to straightened up quickly that they could with cannabis. If a person drinks too much only time will sober them up but if a person smokes too much they can eat some food and can get their good judgment senses back faster. Does that make sense?
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Comment #26 posted by Dave in Florida on June 04, 2002 at 20:48:34 PT
One toke over the line
FOM said: I have never met a person who honestly can say wow I was really one toke over the line. Has anyone? Someone who might be afraid of repercussions could use that as an excuse?I normally smoke just a couple of tokes from the pipe after work, maybe a few more later in the evening and a couple before bed. On saturday nights, when we play Wizard with my wifes brother and his wife, we sometimes slip into recreational mode and smoke several joints. Another couple who also plays with us brought some BC bud one evening and we all became one toke over the line. We had fun, but were basicly incoherent. We smoked like we normally did and found it was very potent. We don't see that BC bud here in florida too often. We knew better next time..
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Comment #25 posted by PAUL PETERSON on June 04, 2002 at 18:43:56 PT:
TOLERANCING & LONG TERM USE EFFECTS
First, just remember that I am only a suspended lawyer, suspended for being crazy enough to come forward to the lawyer police and seek their "support" in my quest to invoke the Illinois research on cannabis act (which provides for exemption from criminal charges for valid medical use-in my case for ADD).Second, since I am "only" a lawyer (and a defrocked one at that) my opinions probably mean squat.Third, from my research, it appears that the only "tolerancing" which occurs from pot use is in the  numerical availability of receptor sites, since pot products only gradually leave the brain (since they are fat soluable or something). If most of them are full, no sites will trigger. I've also tried this myself-to take just a small puff every hour, within a few hours there is absolutely no inebriation at all, just antianxiety affects, and if I don't say so, a mental acuity very akin to taking Ritalin (good, that is).Fourth-Since recent research has proven that 1) marijuana actually works as an antioxidant, purges the brain of junk called glutamates and free radicals, avoids secondary brain cell death in strokes, gun shot wounds, etc., 2) helps avoid "excitotoxin death" to those cells from harsher chemicals, 3) works as an antianxiety medicine by taking some of the intensity out of bad memories, 4) any slight intelligence loss is only temporary (and is easily reversed by cessation of use), 5) it helps with so many psychiatric & degenerative conditions involving neurons & 6) those monkeys weren't getting lost brain cells from the pot, from the carbon monoxide, if you can keep from smoking too much of the stuff (by oral intake or vaporizer, or at least a bong filtration unit), there should not be any long term negative effects from use of pot.Obviously, since the Dopamine surge from pot is quite low, actually, there are no so-called "structural changes" in the brain, and no "in system adaptations" (meaning rewirng of the circuits, etc.), the most telling behavioral changes are from "associational cues", meaning that it is more important what you do with the high, rather than the effects of the high themselves.That means, for kids, it is best to establish good growth habits (study habits, etc.) before making life choices like drug use. The worst thing would be for a kid to start ditching class with his stoner friends. However, if his group were to imbibe before a class, (low dose intake) and then try to attend to engage in discussions, and see the positive reinforcement of these things, there might not be any loss of "patterning" or conditioning, etc. Of course, that would take a distinctly different pattern from DARE to encourage this sort of positive interacting-most likely would be an avoidance mentality to set in. Got that?
Take two billion dollars of drug war money and call me in the morning. PAUL
http://ILLINOIS-MMI.org
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Comment #24 posted by freedom fighter on June 04, 2002 at 17:04:11 PT
Potent Sham
No where in this article bothered to mention this..JAIL is far more dangerous than all use of "potent" pot. There are far more "violence" when "law" break your door down just because you grew a wonderful strain.What a sham!ff
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Comment #23 posted by goneposthole on June 04, 2002 at 16:37:24 PT
The Real Dope On The Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers were originally the Minneapolis Lakers.The Minneapolis Lakers won National Basketball Association Championships in 1949 -50, 1951-52, 1952-53 and 1953-54.They lost the 1958-59 NBA Championship to the Boston Celtics.Re-legalize cannabis, it ain't hurtin' nobody.
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Comment #22 posted by VitaminT on June 04, 2002 at 15:14:57 PT
I'm from a much more ordinary planet than Boppy
It seems logical that more potent strains would have been developed in the last 30 years but if there has been a significant increase in potency my money is on greatly improved growing techniques that just weren't widely known in those days.I've been smokin' the good herb for 28 years now and I can say that the Mexican commercial I smoked in the seventies was about as effective then as the Mexican commercial I smoke today! And the price has barely doubled in 30 years.We always talked about Columbian "GOLD", Maui Wowi and Panama Red and probably some names we just invented ourselves but when the talking was over we put it in the bowl and smoked it!!!Sorry I just got caught up in a 'trip' down memory lane!Peace
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Comment #21 posted by boppy on June 04, 2002 at 13:50:29 PT
potency issue is just more BS
I remember from back in the 70's that we were always getting a choice of hash, Thai stick, hash oil, Columbian Gold, Panama Red (reported to be) and Sinsemillian from who knows where. Maybe I just was in the lucky crowd who had access to it. The cheap, crummy stuff just didn't turn up too much until the mid 80's. All of the stuff back then was top notch and nothing matched it until genetics and "private gardens" were currently made available. Potent stuff today is mostly comparable to what was around then. There is no validity in the so called potency issue.
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Comment #20 posted by E_Johnson on June 04, 2002 at 11:59:35 PT
I can prove there's no tolerance
My dose goes up automatically when I'm under a lot of stress or injury but it goes back down against automatically when the stress is removed.When I bruised my kneecap two years ago, I doubled my dose of cannabis cookies because that was what I needed to rest comfortably through the night and reduce the inflammation in my knee.And when my knee healed I just naturally went right back to my old dose of four cookies every day with no problem. Now ask any doctor out there what happens if one did that with a medication like Prednisone. You cannot just halve your dose of Prednisone without severe consequences.Even though Prednisone is not technically a psychoactive or addictive substancem doctors have to step it down very very carefully because the psychological and physical side effects of reducing the dose are very very bad.And they don't warn people adequately about that, either.If anyone in the DEA is reading this -- you people are making no sense. You make your whole career out of making no sense. It makes absolutely no sense for a severely dangerous drug like Prednisone to be freely prescribable while the less dangerous alternative -- cannabis -- is a Schedule I substance.The DEA is an agency that is just against making any sense.
Absolutely senseless drug policy for fun and profit -- that should be the motto of the DEA.And also it makes no sense that the NBA can shoot Kobe Bryant up with all kinds of designers corticostroids that compromise his long term health, when the man can't even smoke a joint to quell the nausea from his food poisoning without worrying about being kicked out of the NBA!GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Comment #19 posted by stickyresins on June 04, 2002 at 11:34:26 PT
80s pot vs. 90s pot
How are they coming up with the data that pot now is more potent? Are they testing weed that was actually confiscated in the 80s? If that is the case then of course it is less potent. Do you think that the cops stored it well so that there was no thc loss? 
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Comment #18 posted by scott on June 04, 2002 at 11:32:08 PT
marijuana and schooling
I began smoking mj my senior year in high school. I remember specifically because my smoking had a dramatic effect on my classes. My first quarter grade in physics was a "D". The next quarter my smoking increased and I got a "c". The last quarter I was attending class high, and frequently recieved the best scores in the class. I believe that the reason for my improvement was that I became truely interested in the class. I was having fun and was more successful as a result. Furthermore, my success in school with mj lasted throughout my college carreer.A quote from the gipper. "Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." I apologize for not having a source.
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Comment #17 posted by Ethan Russo MD on June 04, 2002 at 10:32:50 PT:
Chronic Medical Use
The 4 patients in our Chronic Use Study have used the same basic dosages for many, many years. My other medical patients have had a similar experience.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on June 04, 2002 at 10:25:39 PT
Tolerance and Cannabis
I guess I don't understand the tolerance thing. I know you can develop a tolerance and need more of drugs ( narcotics, amphetamines) but not Cannabis. Because there are so many different types of cannabis I would think that you wouldn't build a tolerance anymore then a person who uses other medicinal herbs. I have never met a person who honestly can say wow I was really one toke over the line. Has anyone? Someone who might be afraid of repercussions could use that as an excuse?
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Comment #15 posted by el_toonces on June 04, 2002 at 10:09:42 PT:
Medical use and dosages...
Most medical users want to ingest only enough cannabis, THC, CBD -- hell, throw in the whole 'entourage' and its 'effect' -- to ward off symptoms and allow full function.  Too much 'psychic buzz' and it's too hard to concentrate, do work, or even play a sport with gusto (except golf, of course, where the 'cannabis rule' seems to be the more the merrier).  When one uses cannabis for somatic pain, if one takes more than needed to 'cover the pain', then there is a real risk of one "feeling too good" (i.e., the mild euphoria of cannabis intoxication) and then getting the body to move around to accomplish things is too hard.The best thing about high-potency whole cannabis, though, is the tremendous titration ability it provides for the patient. Never is there a need to 'load up' on medication in anticipation of a physically or emotionally stressful event or task, and so one can use a very low dose initially (and by mouth if enough time is present) while feeling very secure and safe in the knowledge that just an inhalation or two of high potency cannabis will provide almost instant and complete relief of any pain that 'breaks through' the 'pre-event' or basal dose. Even if one took opiate medications for pain using a "baseline" or around the clock (ATC) dose, and kept a "breakthrough" or instant release dose handy for additional problems, such dosage precision and convenience would still not be possible with opiates. With the possible exception of Actiq (which I believe delivers fentanyl to the body via the oral mucosa; yes, it's a Morpho-Pop!) and some I.V. products not used outside of clinic or hospital, there are no opiates I know of that act nearly as quickly as inhaled cannabis. Even allowing for the slower opiate absorption and thus delayed relief, the dose of a breakthrough opiate is usually high enough so that it feels heavy and lasts much longer than needed.Having declined to fight and thus making the 'switch' from opiates to cannabis, I can say without question my opiate doses went up very frequently while I used such items for pain, but for the three months I have used nearly only cannabis, if there has been any overall change in cannabis dosage trends, it's been in the downward direction.So, Ethan, I agree with you that Dr. El-("the perfect way to deliver cannabis is by suppository")-Sohly is lying. After all, how many patients in your Chronic Use Study had cannabis dosage changes, and of those, how many would even be in the same ballpark of the dosage increases they would have needed if they had been using opiate medication for the same period? In fact, how many Missoula patients required any increase in dose at all?
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Comment #14 posted by John Tyler on June 04, 2002 at 09:56:12 PT:
Leno
Last night on Jay Leno's show Kevin Eubank did a really funny parody on mail order medicine. He was hawking the services of Liberty Medical, which sold all types of cannabis, papers, pipes, and bhongs, etc., etc. He ended it with a call to join the many thousands of satisfied customers like, Willie Nelson, Keith Richards and Dionne Warwick. 
Leno and cast seem to be taking this issue and running with it.   
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Comment #13 posted by goneposthole on June 04, 2002 at 06:49:05 PT
quit picking on cannabis and cannabis imbibers
They're good people, too, you know.Good grief, prohibitionists, live a little. Have some fun, go on vacation, ham it up. It's not that bad.Anyway...............
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Comment #12 posted by monvor on June 04, 2002 at 06:03:40 PT
Let's see...
"Simon said this doesn't mean you have to divulge your life history with your kids. "Don't answer the questions you haven't been asked," he said (perhaps inadvertently suggesting to teenagers a tactic their parents would rather not face). Instead, tell your kids what you learned from your experience. Perhaps you have seen lives ruined by marijuana use."Parent:
Actually, son/daughter, MOST of the guys and gals that I got high with ( theoretically ) in college and high school went on to be executives, computer programmers, a lawyer, engineers, and a few managers. Oh and there was that one guy who became a billionaire politician. And that other guy who got busted with a joint at an AC/DC concert and was denied a student loan and his driver's license was suspended. I think he mows lawns now and takes classes when he can. So my point is not to get busted. But if you do, we're white and have a lawyer, so no sweat.
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Comment #11 posted by BCG on June 04, 2002 at 05:49:19 PT
CPDD
p4me,
As a member of CPDD, and one who will be giving 2 presentations at the meeting this year, I just wanted to make sure the views of the group were accurately represented here: http://views.vcu.edu/cpdd/pages/national.htm
I think you will have no great objection to our mission.BCG
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Comment #10 posted by Cannabis Crusader on June 04, 2002 at 05:43:24 PT
here's a link
I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about marijuana! They had someone from http://www.christiansforcannabis.com/ arguing that the marijuana laws are unjust. Thought some of you might like to check it out. Keep it up, we are winning!!! The facts are on our side. All we need is for the public to start talking about it, and this horrible nightmare will end.
Christians for Cannabis
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Comment #9 posted by Ethan Russo MD on June 04, 2002 at 05:19:46 PT:
Some Thoughts
I must disagree with my friend Dr. ElSohly. Medical users do not typically elevate their dosages over time. Rather, they seem to get by nicely on the same amount of the same strain. Not everyone smokes to achieve a high, and the tolerance issue remains controversial at best.E_J, eloquent as usual!Null, I need those Reagan quotations as soon as you can find them, please.
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Comment #8 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on June 04, 2002 at 04:15:18 PT
Potency through the years
I have a good friend, a social worker, who is about 11 years my senoir (older).I keep him up to date on cannabis prohibition and we discuss many aspects of it.He has another take on the " more potent these days" line.He told me about a friend that came back from Viet Nam with some weed, "back in the day"......" we somked a joint of it..and we got f***ked up! Then we smoked the ASHES..and we still got f***ked up!"I am still snickering over this reply to the potency issues.Nobody says why pot's more potent either: its largely due to prohibition, but pertly due to simple plant genetic. Reagans escalation of the Cannabis War "caused" people to move grow operations indooors and gave them much more incentive to increase potency.Im sure the same genetics can breed cannabis plants that produce various grades of hemp fibre, and plants that are especially good for biodiesel production.And thats why Team Bush is investing so much energy in suppressing the cannabis legalization movement: consolidation of pertochemical power.Thank God they will never win.FREEDOM ENDURES
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Comment #7 posted by Ron Bennett on June 04, 2002 at 00:58:34 PT
Another 10 Years and That Line Won't Work!
Give it another 10 years or so and that line won't work anymore...that's about when many teens who grew up in the 90s will have teens of their own.DARE, etc are off the deep-end, if they think parents are going to be able to say with a straight face in like 2010 to their kids, "the weed back when I was growing up in the 90s was so much weaker..."And anyways, the dose received self-limiting...that is the more potent the cannabis is, the less of it one will consume and vice-versa. The DARE/NIDA folks must hate the fact that kids today can get a better quality product than they could back when they were kids...
ONDCP Website - Learn the Truth!
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on June 04, 2002 at 00:52:58 PT
That's not the only data that's missing
Nevertheless, there is still too little data on what exactly happens to the brain from years of smoking pot.
I haven't heard about any hard data on what happens to the brain after years of reading the Post, but we aren't spending billions of dollars to ban it and throw the printers in jail are we?
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Comment #5 posted by null on June 03, 2002 at 23:46:26 PT
right on EJ / Reagan
the unlucky ones might end up Pres or VP of the U.S. or mayor of NYC! ;)Speaking of presidents: I got my CDs of Ronald Regan's radio broadcasts from the late 70s. There is no index or table of contents to them. Thus, I am just going to have to work my way through the 6 discs to find his marijuana quotes. However, rest assured that you all will get to hear the glorious outakes showing that the Gipper didn't care if people used cannabis.
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on June 03, 2002 at 22:58:20 PT
But we do know, honeychile
 Nevertheless, there is still too little data on what exactly happens to the brain from years of smoking pot.
Well let's use some famous examples.You could become Louis Arnmstrong and overcome an upbringing etched by the worst that racist America could hand you and still emerge smiling and triumphant as a creative productive genius who helped shape 20th century music across the world and make a lot of money in the process.You could become Bob Marley and free yourself from the mental burden of oppression by approaching music as a moral and spiritual calling and write uplifting and culturally significant music that evolves Western culture, bring white people to the struggle agfainst racism, supports your family quite well and serves as a voice for nonviolence in your own country.Or you could become Carl Sagan and bring the science of astronomy and cosmology to the masses, stimulating their desire to learn with your own superlative ability to imagine and explain, and you could have a famous highly rated TV series and a collection of best selling books that are just coming out in boxed anniversary sets right now, continuing to contribute not only to American culture but also to the economic viability of popular science education.But hey, that's just anecdotal evidence.
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Comment #3 posted by VitaminT on June 03, 2002 at 22:34:07 PT
fearmonger listen-up.
High potency => GOOD (i.e. somke less)
GREATLY
REDUCES
ONLY
KNOWN
HARM
OF
CANNABIS
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on June 03, 2002 at 22:11:09 PT
So what?
What does the potency of marijuana have to do with freedom, corruption in government, pragmatism, or good sense?What gets me is I cannot get a hold of the good stuff that everyone talks about. You DARE and Fartnership people should concentrate on tobacco and alcohol that are the real drug demons in America and just forget about everything else. Then again that falsely assumes you are concerned about drug abuse in this country.I saw that link to unansweredquestions.org and noted the fact that they were going to put up video of the meeting to be held nest Monday. This gives me a chance to briefly comment on convergence that people have dreamed about for twenty years. That convergence of course refers to your television and your computer monitor able to handle both television and computer screens. I want to include a link to the new Microsoft technology that will reduce file sizes and support video cards on the HDTV. These cards will be available for Christmas and it completely changes our ability to communicate with video. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/apr02/04-23VideoCardPR.aspOur Drug Bizarre, Dip$hit Walters, will be speaking in Quebec city next Wednesday for the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. http://views.vcu.edu/cpdd/images/PROG_GRID__2002.pdf
 
ICBS,VAAI,POW
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Comment #1 posted by null on June 03, 2002 at 22:05:46 PT
truth
An adolescent is less likely to know when it might be appropriate to use marijuana than a college student is.Thus admitting that there are appropriate times to use marijuana!This was a pretty well balanced article. I was glad to see Lester Grinspooon quoted. He runs a nice site.
Lester's site
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