cannabisnews.com: The Myth of `Superweed'










  The Myth of `Superweed'

Posted by CN Staff on September 09, 2002 at 07:10:33 PT
By Clarence Page 
Source: Chicago Tribune  

The nation's drug czar is annoyed again. This time it is with me.Without mentioning me by name, a guest column by John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in the Sept. 1 San Francisco Chronicle held up one of my columns as an example of how journalists can be "fed misleading advocacy information that they swallow whole."
The result is "a lack of accurate information" that plagues the public debate over marijuana. He recounts how a columnist described his claims of increased potency in today's marijuana as wildly overstated "whoppers."I knew he was talking about me. A database search turned up nobody else's essay that has used the words "drug czar" and "whoppers" in the same column. I found this amusing, since my own efforts to get "accurate information" out of the drug czar's office while writing my column in May were unsuccessful.I was writing, ironically enough, in response to an earlier Walters column that opposed an effort to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes in the District of Columbia.In that piece, printed in The Washington Post and reprinted in other newspapers, Walters tries to frighten us Baby-Boomer parents by warning us that "today's marijuana is different from that of a generation ago, with potency levels 10 to 20 times stronger than the marijuana with which they were familiar."As a Woodstock-generation parent of a wise 13-year-old boy, I took great interest in that statement. Unfortunately, as I noted, Walters didn't say where he got that "whopper" of a statistic.I had cited a federally funded study published in the January 2000 Journal of Forensic Science, which found the average THC (that's the active ingredient that makes people high) content in confiscated marijuana had only doubled to 4.2 percent from about 2 percent from 1980 to 1997.That brought a response from Walters claiming that I didn't cover a long enough period. THC content averaged less than 1 percent in 1974, he said. But "by 1999, potency averaged 7 percent.""The THC of today's sinsemilla (high-grade marijuana) averages 14 percent and ranges as high as 30 percent," he said."Wow," as my "deadhead" friends might say. "That must be some killer weed, dude."I tried once again and actually reached Walters this time. After conversations with him and some of his expert advisers, we agreed to disagree on the key question: What are the chances that your little Johnny or Jane will latch onto some of that knockout grass?That depends on how you interpret the available data. The latest quarterly report by the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project (which examined 46,000 samples of seized marijuana nationwide) found an average potency of 6.68 percent. Actual potencies ranged as high as 33.12 percent THC content for some extraordinarily potent sinsemilla confiscated by the Oregon state police to as low as 1 percent THC or no THC at all (Somebody apparently got burned) for grass confiscated elsewhere in the country.But it is hard to estimate based on available data how common or how rare the high-octane dope happens to be. Purchasing weed is an art in itself. Everyone seeks the "preemo" stuff. Every dealer promises it. Fewer actually deliver.Nor is it at all clear that the marijuana commonly available in the 1960s and 1970s really was all that weak. Potency studies at the time were plagued by such problems as small samples and poor storage in police lockers.In his book called "Understanding Marijuana," Mitchell Earleywine, a University of Southern California associate professor of psychology, observes that it "makes little sense" that marijuana with less than 1 percent THC would have enough potency to have increased in popularity as dramatically as it did in the 1960s and 1970s.Either way, the "killer-weed" scare tactic avoids the serious issue of the medical marijuana debate. Higher potency actually is quite desirable for those seeking relief from pain, nausea and other symptomatic miseries associated with HIV, glaucoma, chemotherapy, migraines and multiple sclerosis.I did not use the word "whoppers" to mean lies, just exaggerations. Warnings that exaggerate the dangers of marijuana undermine one's credibility in the way "Reefer Madness," the hyperventilating 1936 anti-pot movie, found new audiences after the 1960s as a laugh-riot, cult-comedy hit.That's what the Bush administration risks with its multimillion-dollar effort to link street marijuana to international terrorism. Last week the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a legitimate medical marijuana health cooperative that was treating more than 200 patients, some of them terminally ill, in Santa Cruz, Calif ., one of eight states where voters or legislators have legalized medical marijuana.Snatching medicine out of the hands of seriously ill patients sounds like terrorism to me. In this case it was federally sponsored and taxpayer-financed. Put that in your bong and smoke it.Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)Author: Clarence PagePublished September 8, 2002Copyright: 2002 Chicago Tribune CompanyContact: ctc-TribLetter Tribune.comWebsite: http://www.chicagotribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/DEA Raid Sparks Medical Marijuana Protests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14023.shtml Pushing Drug Myths With Our Taxeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12917.shtmlThe Myth of 'Harmless' Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12683.shtml

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Comment #27 posted by FoM on September 10, 2002 at 07:58:57 PT
Dankhank
No there is nothing wrong with music so p4me started a thread on Cann.com where it can't be freely talked about and we can stay on news on C News here.http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/threadview.shtml?0x0x0
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Comment #26 posted by Dankhank on September 10, 2002 at 07:46:22 PT
something wrong with music?
Music has been an integral part of resistance since the first cave family marched at the harvest gathering chanting about how they don't want to have to kowtow to that "Neanderthal" over there who doesn't know what he's grunting about.  
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Comment #25 posted by tlspn on September 09, 2002 at 22:47:44 PT:
THE MYTH OF SUPERWEED
I just sent this to Chicago Tribune.To the editor:Whatever you are paying Clarence Page is not enough. I suggest you raise his salary immediately! He is the rare journalist who has integrity and cannot be bought. He searches long and hard for the truth and for the DEA the truth isn't pleasant. It is refreshing to see an investigative journalist who calls the DEA promoters of terrorism. It is even more refreshing to see he has the intestinal and the testicular fortitude to tell them to put it in their bong and smoke it.me 
t
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 21:26:40 PT
VitaminT
I forgot all about the Drug Policy Board. I always went to the Political Board but I just checked it out and I like it. If you all get something going over there I'll drop in and talk when I have time for sure.
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Comment #23 posted by VitaminT on September 09, 2002 at 21:23:04 PT
Good options
The Drug Policy board over there has quite a few familiar names posting and doesn't seem particularly juvenile at all. I'm gonna start checking it out regularly, especially when things get quiet here and/or when nothing interesting's happening in the Drugsense chat room which is often outstanding (IMO)
Drug Policy Board
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 20:48:55 PT
VitaminT
Thanks! I use to post a lot on the Political Board until I got really busy here with the news. I like the way Ron made the boards too. You can even post a picture when you comment if a person wants too. Ron created Cannabis News and hosted it for quite awhile. 
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Comment #21 posted by VitaminT on September 09, 2002 at 20:42:52 PT
I checked it out
seems to me we could open a quiet little thread off the beaten path that would meet everyones needs without trampling on anyone elses toes. Why not give it a try?
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Comment #20 posted by BGreen on September 09, 2002 at 20:38:02 PT
My thoughts aren't that important anymore
Look at the topics over there. It's like going to Jr. High. Apparently Sovietism is on topic but music goes to the chat rooms. Anti-Bush web sites and conspiracy theories that have nothing to do with cannabis are hunky dory, but music, which would really suck without cannabis, has no place here. My entire life and existence is chat material because some scientists who have no sense of humor or understanding of music don't think what we have to say is important.Frankly, I'm insulted.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 20:24:10 PT

General Discussion Board
I thought I'd go get the link for those who might want to check it out. Ron has a built in proxy I think it's called if people that don't trust the email system which I do understand. Here it is.http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/threadview.shtml?0x0x0
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 20:12:36 PT

BGreen
This really is a news site. I want it to stay a site that talks about news. I know that Cann.com has a general board that is very busy. I can post the link if you want. 
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 20:10:30 PT

Mike
Sorry to have to mention this but I've had complaints about people going off the news article and talking about music. I really wish you all would help me out and email one another when it's general talking. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it. 
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Comment #16 posted by BGreen on September 09, 2002 at 20:08:41 PT

Sorry, FoM
You wrote more words admonishing me than I originally wrote. Has it come to this because some people have thrown tantrums? I really don't know what to say anymore. How do we get to know people without the highly traceable email? The social aspect of this plant is one of the things that's non-existant anymore. Now we can't even have that here.I'm sorry I'm not a scientist or a doctor. They seem to get their way.
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Comment #15 posted by Mike on September 09, 2002 at 19:27:35 PT

Jazz
Back in the day, the art of jazz was such that many musicians entirely improvised musical pieces from start to finish, relying totally on being "in tune" with each other.One of the greatest Jazz pioneers was Bix Beiderbecke, from Davenport, Iowa. An incredible talent, he improvised music working along with other greats like Bing Crosby. They would smoke "Indian Hemp" and would start a piece and without any pre-planning or practice let it flow from beginning to end. Truly the greatest expression in musical creative talent. (In fact, Bix never bothered learning how to read music.) Everything was either improvised or memorized... with the help of Indian Hemp, of course.Also back in the day, Jazz music was considered such a social demon that it was banned in many places. Bix's parents were socilaites who openly disowned their son for his partaking of "satanic music." We laugh about the term today, but back then to be involved with Jazz was in their eyes to be actually doing the work of "the devil". Cannabis itself wasn't considered the demon so much as that it was associated with the creation of this "awful music".Tragically, like many of our talented musicians, Bix died young, in 1931 at age 28 (from complications deriving from alcoholism of all things, at a time when alcohol prohibition had been going on for over a decade.) Ironic that its partially his use of cannabis that brought out his natural talents so well. Indeed, had he lived, it has been argued that Bix could have become the most famous musician of all time.Even today, Davenport Iowa has their annual "Bix fest" and "Bix 7-mile run".  The popularity has grown over the years, despite the people who claim that he should not be celebrated at all because he was a "drug addict" and that by dying young he "got what he deserved". ::sigh:: Why are prohibitionists always so bitter and hate-filled? I suppose it would take that mentality to be a prohibitionist....
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 18:10:30 PT

BGreen
Who is he? Please folks lets keep this non personal. That's what email is for. We are here to talk about the news articles. Thanks.IS please don't ask questons like that. 
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Comment #13 posted by John Tyler on September 09, 2002 at 17:50:29 PT

Jazz
Ken Burns had a tv show on PBS a while back about jazz. He mentioned that the jazz musicians used cannabis. 
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Comment #12 posted by BGreen on September 09, 2002 at 16:45:49 PT

Oh yeah, he's back
I'll drop you a line by tomorrow. I'm kind of busy right now, but I am going to Amsterdam for sure.
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Comment #11 posted by Industrial Strength on September 09, 2002 at 16:27:18 PT

unknown pleasures
are you E Johnson's reincarnate?
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Comment #10 posted by BGreen on September 09, 2002 at 15:59:11 PT

That happened to me in the 1970's
I heard of grass with THc levels so high, it turned a white suburban kid into a negro jazz musician ...just like that.Well, without the skin color change. Jazz is probably the most intellectual music there is. Improvisation, defined as spontaneous composition, requires a degree of musical knowledge and inate creativity that would be all but impossible under the influence of the mythological demon weed.The great jazz guitarist Barney Kessel told a master class I was taking that "Jimi Hendrix didn't take acid and learn to play the guitar; he learned to play and then took the acid." His point obviously wasn't to take LSD, but to differentiate between the technical nature of the instrument versus the limitless creative powers of the mind and our attempts to enhance that creative flow.History has shown that heroin deteriorated the playing abilities of many great jazz performers even to the point of death, but cannabis highly enhanced many great players and, IMHO, played a major role in the creation of the only true american style of music.
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Comment #9 posted by monvor on September 09, 2002 at 15:45:02 PT

Osama bin
Huchinson
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Comment #8 posted by Leaf Hopper on September 09, 2002 at 13:48:56 PT

%%%
33.12%!! I really have to doubt the accuracy of their methods of measuring...or the integrity of the testing lab. 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 10:01:04 PT

Unknown Pleasures
Wow did that happen to your friends too? Maybe we should give up our fight! Thanks that was good!
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Comment #6 posted by Unknown Pleasures on September 09, 2002 at 09:49:24 PT

Not yer Daddy's Grass
All my friends who have smoked 'BC Bud' are either dead, insane or have gone to join Al-Queda.I heard of grass with THc levels so high, it turned a white suburban kid into a negro jazz musician ...just like that. One toke of that stuff, and you'll be convulsing on the floor, bleeding from every orefice.Sooooo... Mr. Walters, how much 'modern' pot would one have to smoke in order to overdose?Hmmmmmm...?? 
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Comment #5 posted by John Tyler on September 09, 2002 at 09:40:21 PT

Good point
Good point kaptinemo. It is rare and refreshing to see a journalist take on a gov. offical and question them about their data. Kudos for Mr. Page, and keep it coming. 
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on September 09, 2002 at 08:40:29 PT:

OO-Rah! for Mr. Page!
On the surface, this doesn't sound very important. At first glance, it looks like nothing more than a real journalist taking a government functionary to task for failing to provide accurate information. And using that misinformation as the basis of the policy that has condemned many of those sick and dying cannabis users to agonizing deaths.But this...from an African-American columnist, this is major news.And that's more important than you might think. Because for the first time in memory, an African-American has publicly challenged the DrugWarrior Emeritus to put up or shut up about the misinformation Walters is peddling as DrugWar Gospel...the same off-key and badly sung hymnals we've heard from the DrugWar choir for 3 decades.In short, Mr. Page has dared to pull back the curtain and show the little man pulling the levers. What's more, he came back and made the point that the Bush Too Administration is engaging in what all previous Administrations have done - misinformation about illicit substances - and is daring them to call him a liar.It's raise or call...and no DrugWarrior can afford to have his (ha-ha) 'credibility' questioned. Walters must respond...or Page will up the ante. Because, Walters made the mistake of making it personal...with an influential member of the media. This could be the start of a public battle royale between the Administration and...a member of the group that has suffered the most from the idiotic and racially motivated DrugWar. Who speaks for who-knows-how-many people who share his sentiments.It might be interesting if the newspaper that Mr. Page writes for were to run a series of articles on the racial origin of prohibition. I'm sure many of his readers possess 'enquiring minds' but have not the time or means to look...
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 09, 2002 at 08:14:23 PT

POT TV Interview - Valerie Corral
http://www.pot-tv.net/ram/pottvshowse1511.ram
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Comment #2 posted by VitaminT on September 09, 2002 at 07:58:04 PT

Way to go Clarence!
State-sponsored Terror - against peaceful Americans suffering life-threatening illness.Thank You George Bush!We'll remember you on Novembers to come. I promise.
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on September 09, 2002 at 07:20:09 PT:

It's About Time
Kudos to Clarence Page for demonstrating the fortitude to confront the administration with their propaganda. He is one of the few prominent journalists to "get it."
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