In 2022, the federal government reported that, in samples seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, average levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—the psychoactive compound in weed that makes you feel high—had more than tripled compared with 25 years earlier, from 5 to 16 percent. That may understate how strong weed has gotten. Walk into any dispensary in the country, legal or not, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a single product advertising such a low THC level. Most strains claim to be at least 20 to 30 percent THC by weight; concentrated weed products designed for vaping can be labeled as up to 90 percent.
The high that most adult weed smokers remember from their teenage years is most likely one produced by “mids,” as in, middle-tier weed. In the pre-legalization era, unless you had a connection with access to top-shelf strains such as Purple Haze and Sour Diesel, you probably had to settle for mids (or, one step down, “reggie,” as in regular weed) most of the time. Today, mids are hard to come by.
The simplest explanation for this is that the casual smokers who pine for the mids and reggies of their youth aren’t the industry’s top customers. Serious stoners are. According to research by Jonathan P. Caulkins, a public-policy professor at Carnegie Mellon, people who report smoking more than 25 times a month make up about a third of marijuana users but account for about two-thirds of all marijuana consumption. Such regular users tend to develop a high tolerance, and their tastes drive the industry’s cultivation decisions.
I love it. Instead of using portion control like filling smaller bowls, smaller joints, or one-hitter pipes, everyone needs to change.
Talk about entitlement.
For me it means it’s easier to smoke too much accidentally. If I’m alone that’s fine I guess but socially it’s a problem. I prefer gummies or drinks now.
I heard this ‘marijuana is too strong now’ argument back in the 90s i swear to God.
This is such a wild stance to take. “The quality of recreational cannabis has improved, and we’re mad about it!” If it’s too strong, just use less. Skill issue
I’m not sure that quality and potency are synonymous.
THC percentage in isolation means nothing - if it did, you could easily use less, like you don’t chug booze like it’s beer. The problem is the disturbing ratio of THC to the many other contents, especially the anti-psychotic CBD.
It’s easy not to pack the bowl full of the strong weed, but it has become hard to avoid the strains that make me paranoid and probably drive a teenager to psychosis.
The solution is to legalize and mandate warnings on the packaging, and other safety measures.
No teenager can legally buy cannabis. 21 seems to be the prevailing age limit. What different age limits do you suggest?
Not suggesting, only speculating, but it seems pure CBD should be easily available (it is here), and psycho-weeds should be at the other end of the limit spectrum. Maybe “extra bad for teenage brains” on the packet of those strains in addition to the age limit. Or it could be a gene test, assuming it was known which genes interact badly with which molecules.
They’re talking pseudo-bs too
Do elaborate. Don’t you believe there are significant differences between strains caused by psychoactive compounds other than THC? https://herbceo.com/cannabis-terpenes-101/
This argument shows up every few years and its always been BS. Not that weed doesn’t get stronger, but it always fails to mention how the majority of people simply consume less. This happened when growers figured our sinsemilla (seedless) weed. This happened when continued cross breeding techniques and lab testing became more regular in the horticulture aspect of the business. This happened when vape pens, dabbing, and further concentration methods showed up. Ultimately it’s up to the adults consuming these products to determine how much is “too much” or “too strong”.
Am I for bigger warnings on packages? Yes. Am I for heavier regulation of the industry as a whole? Definitely. Am I for having honest respectful conversations with teenagers and kids about the pros and cons of drugs use that doesn’t demonize nor glorify it? Hell yes. And ultimately, am I for responsible use? Absofuckinglutely.
But I get so fucking annoyed by seeing that this kind of scare tactic article shows up every few years, pretty much beat for beat trying to demonize the drug exactly the way it was before. No new news. No new insights. Just the same old shit with slightly updated data. We get it, the weed is stronger. Its because people started to give more of a shit about the quality of what they were putting into their bodies. That’s because the cannabis industry became more legitimate and regulated. That’s a good thing.
Now I’ve got my criticisms of the modern cannabis industry, but it has more to do with my problems with how capitalism encourages oligopolistic practices, which definitely has manifested in the cannabis industry here in the States.
But I’m definitely not complaining about the fact the weed is stronger. I can go out and buy ether alcohol and drink myself to death way quicker than with a bottle of vodka. It doesn’t mean I think ether shouldn’t be available. If I want to kill myself with ether alcohol, I’m an adult, I’m informed on what ether alcohol is and the dangers of using it. I should have the freedom to use it as I see fit. Same with strong ass cannabis.
Or just admit the worst that happens is you get scared for 39 min
Might puke on a nice shirt…
Their explanation is pretty dumb. The main driver for more concentrated drugs in general is money. If you can make more money with less material, its going to be easier to transport, hide, trade. Thats what drug cartels care about. To be blunt the reason cannabis is more potent now is because it was/is illegal.
Like exactly the same thing happened during alcohol prohibition. Beer disappeared, and spirits got harder and harder.
Seriously, what is up with us as a species? Are we still adapting to being able to record history?
Are we still adapting to being able to record history?
History? We barely remember yesterday’s mistakes…
Maybe tackle it like the UK does tackle sugar, tax higher after a certain amount of THC?
They also claim that all sour diesel strains are top shelf without considering the quality of the growing process at all.
What? But the volume is the same. It’s not like people are buying smaller amounts they’re just smoking stronger stuff.
Best way to balance this is to buy some cbd bud and mix it in to return it to healthier levels.
Citation needed
Well I’m in the UK but people have been smoking the same amounts for the past ~15 years when grass became popular. Before then it was much denser ‘soapbar’ hash. Grass is a lot harder to smuggle and takes up more volume so it’s not being driven by that.
Those responsible for 2/3 of consumption have had their tolerance pushed up by rising THC levels the past 15 years, but they’re still buying the same amounts every month. The inbalance between THC/CBD is also causing a lot more anxiety and psychiatric symptoms to emerge and pushing people away from it.
I believe there’s some efforts in legal states to move away from the high-THC strains causing these issues, so you’re right that the illegality is ultimately causing these terrible practices.
1, This is not a citation
2, This is bullshit. All of it.
Cut it out.
I was citing the original article where it’s stated. It says it’s increased to match the tolerance of the people who consume 2/3rds of the product not some nonsensical fantasy it’s being done to make it easier to ship.
No bro, its “serious stoners”
If you take one peek in any grower community you will see that that is not the case. This isn’t cocaine. Growers do not seek just THC, they seek to improve trichome development in general. This includes flavor molecules, Entourage chemicals, and the main chemicals that you know of.
We refer to ourselves as trichome growers, not cannabis growers.
Im sure for recreational or small scale growers this is true, but i doubt that big drug operations care about quality as much. As long as you only use it yourself, you can grow and breed it to whatever needs you have ofcourse.
homegrown is the way
no nasty pesticides, no PGRs, no machine trimming.
Agree to disagree, especially if you tried the synthetic shit back before the analog law came into effect (don’t try the stuff that bypasses the laws; you will have a bad time). It made THC feel like coffee, and permanently wrecked my tolerance. It’s been 10 years and I still need 500mg+ of pure THC distillate to feel anything. I need stronger weed.
What you need is to pause your consumption for at least a couple of weeks.
Tolerance you need to build up, but you can also build it down
I would but I have a job and can’t sleep without it. I’ve been a chronic insomniac my entire life. I literally never had a good night’s sleep before I discover the wonders of cannabis indica in my 20s.
And those “legal” xHC vape pens just don’t do it for me. Feels way different - not in the good way, though.
I prefer some delta 8 for that reason now days. If you shop around for CBD strains, you can score some single digits D9 THC occasionally. What I miss is some old school creeper weed.
Creepers are dangerous… 😂 Did you smoke enough? Or are you going to a new planet in 15 minutes.
me: “I think I have had enough”
the creeper: “HAHAH sucker, you had enough a while ago. Get ready to rubble!!!”
Because it’s gotten so much stronger, I actually smoke less to get to that “sweet spot,” which saves me money.
Won’t catch me complaining.
Besides that I just grow the weed I want to consume. Legalization is great 💖
I’ve been growing in Virginia for a few years now and I’m blown away with what you can make at home.
I compared it to expensive weed from a dispensary and it is way better. No machine trimmed bullshit full of plant growth regulators that can cause cancer.
Unfortunately I’ll be moving to a Prohibition State soon, going to suck to give it up but worth it for the lower rent
Nice! Wish I could do that 😅
Can confirm, legally growing your own weed is the best. It is a beautiful plant and gardening is a great, relaxing hobby.
Just look at my nice ladyplant here.
It’s beautiful 🥹❤️
That is a legit beast, my compliments!
I read a while ago that the landraces of cannabis that were used sacramentally by Rastafarians in Jamaica are believed to be extinct, replaced by more profitable high-THC varieties grown by organised crime for export to US consumers.
Bastards always trying to see "how far can we take this thing?", always “chasing that demon”. The same as with spicy food, once they got their hands on ghost peppers, scotch bonnets and moruga scorpions, doing hybrids, looking to break the 2 million Scoville Units barrier and above… for some reason that’s beyond my comprehension.
If you can’t handle your weed it’s a skill issue.
Do any of these journalists realize you can just smoke less?
Potent weed is better for you, because you have to inhale less plant matter for the same effect.
If I have to smoke a whole blunt of 15% weed to get high I am doing way more damage than a single hit of 35% weed from a bong.
The issue is that it’s not the same high.
Right, you don’t get that nice carbon monoxide head buzz
Canadian here. Yeah this is such bullshit.
I’m not a heavy smoker, I can still get 15%ish weed easy. It’s the same quality that I was getting pre-legalization and costs less than half of what I was paying before.
Have at it super stoners, but I still got shit to do.
It’s really not. Most strains you get, even ones claiming to be landrace strains ARE NO LONG what they claim to be.
Most stains are hybrids, focusing on high THC and because of this, they don’t work on as wide a spectrum of receptors.
You, and all weed users should be worried about the homogenization of weed strains. It comes from commercialization and Capitalism. Capitalism aims for fast growth and high THC claims, rather than quality of the character or purity of heritage. It’s not good, because we lose out on less well studied effects, and weed that works with specific states and conditions.
You’re being scammed out of the variety of highs your parents and ancestors had access to. We need to protect the landrace stains against Capitalism and the homogenization and false advertising of Capitalism is doing.
I’m pretty strongly anti-capitalist and have talked many times about how commodification is ruining cannabis. Saying that today weed is worse because it’s stronger is asinine though. It sounds like the ramblings of someone that got way too high with too little tolerance and wants to ruin it for everyone.
The bleeding and hybridization programs aimed at high THC and fast growth is exactly what’s damaging to traditional strains purity.
I heard it on a podcast from a guy who just made a show interviewing farmers, and it’s one thing a lot of them said. Dudes a comedian, Billy Wayne Davis, and it was just at the end of a Behind The Bastards episode.
Nobody said you can’t have 1billion stoner scoville units if you want it. The issue is that its increasingly the only option. Some people want lower THC weed, for any number of reasons.
This is good, IMO. People don’t have to smoke as much, so less damage is done to their lungs. Vapes, edibles, and concentrates that are not combusted are probably even less damaging.
This article feels like it was written by an old man yelling at clouds. “… Back in my day we smoked mid and we liked it” shakes fist and then uses it as a reason to go back to prohibition. Why can’t we just make it legal and let the free market figure it out.
Turns out more THC for the buck means people can make a few months supply of edibles out of a few grams. Cost effective!
This is such bad reporting about cannabis that it makes me think The Atlantic probably has very poor standards for all their articles.
I’d call it more of an opinion piece than actual reporting or journalism but it’s still dumb.
Leftists have been calling out the Atlantic’s poor reporting for a while now, history just has a weird way of always proving them right.
It’s pseudo legal, and the free market has spoken. People want stronger
I do agree with the old man yelling sentiment, but in fairness to the article it has ,imo, become a lot easier to get too high in the last decade. By that I mean becoming uncomfortably high. As a daily user for the last decade I smoke mainly because it has been the only reliable way to help me sleep I’ve ever tried, but I honestly enjoy being high as well.
I have issues with anxiety though and it definitely is really easy to accidentally overdo it. I’ve seen this sentiment grow in a minor portion of the community.
Luckily it’s a super super easy fix, add cbd bud. When I was reading scientific lit I saw many journal articles that discussed cbds ability to help with thc side effects. I don’t feel like digging them up right now.
No. The explanation is that prohibition makes markets. If you’re gonna risk getting caught you might as well hype your shit and turn a higher profit.
Otherwise there’d barely be adulterated weed.
How does this track with legal marketplaces?
I can buy weed that tests at 38% here if u wanted to, legally.
It’s spawned from the same culture
