Marijuana Is Too Strong Now

When I was a kid, roughly as long ago as the "before" in this study (late 90s), my dad would say the same thing to warn me against the dangers of "modern" (at the time) marijuana being so much stronger than what he smoked when he was younger. Today, it's legal where I live, and I partake a few times a week, with the worst negative side effects being the munchies. More potent weed just means I need to refill my vape less often, not that I'm getting obliterated by a static level of consumption.

Studies have also shown that people can’t differentiate potency (as determined strictly by THC) and in blind studies fail to identify higher potency cannabis.

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2020/06/10/marijuana-concentr...

I’m not really certain why, but I don’t tend to enjoy commercial product. I suspect that it is a result of breeding out other cannabinoids in order to test high in THC.

An entire generation of consumers is being produced from cannabinoid-homogeneous product and being fooled by strain names and smells as the only major differentiator.

This is a byproduct of treating cannabis like alcohol, in order to make regulations. But the result is that uninformed consumers and merchants treat tests like buyers guides and have ultimately steered themselves into inferior products.

It’s a shame really, and if you like cannabis, the best way to find out is to grow your own “low potency” stuff. One plant goes a long way…

This article's kind of a mess.

I agree with the premise (the only success I've ever had consuming THC has been through legal edibles, where I can reliably control the dosage), and I agree - at least in part - with doing what it claims to be the solution (federal descheduling and regulation), but it does a poor job establishing any real connection between the two.

In particular it's not clear to me how federal regulation will make any of this work any better than regulation at the state level.

> studies have drawn a link between heavy use of high-potency marijuana, in particular, and the development of psychological disorders, including schizophrenia, although a causal connection hasn’t been proved.

The schizophrenia link has been a scare story for at least two decades now but why can't any research establish or discredit it?

Louis CK was talking about this in 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la4VsJ4XZBk

It sounds like a blessing to be able to inhale less carcinogens in order to get high.

Joints kinda suck anyway, get a one hitter if you’re into that sorta thing.

I take CBD bud and mix it with THC bud. Or buy the low potency stuff at the dispensary. And dabs are reserved for bedtime. Easy fix

It is too strong, but you can mix with a pure CBD strain or chamomile, lemongrass, mint or a bunch of other herbs. Of course then you get the (mostly) mild effect of that herb as well and it's another step and changes the flavor. I do wish they stocked a less than 10% strain near me.

Taxing based on potency would certainly help. At my legal dispensary, prices don't really seem to have any correlation to potency.

NY used to have a potency tax, but sadly just replaced it with a flat tax.

Is potency terpenes or cannabinoids or both?

People that use it for medical reasons, I think want the potency.

Bigger issue is not really knowing what’s in it that creates the effects.

And also not being able to get the same thing reliably.

I bult something To help with this here in Florida

https://webfrontend.whiteocean-f322c3e8.eastus.azurecontaine...

A few years ago, someone had found and grown an old 90s strain of 9% weed. They didn’t try to hypermile it, they just sold it as exactly what it was.

It was the weed from my childhood. It was dreamy. It didn’t give me a five minute sky high, it didn’t give me heart palpitations, it didn’t make me nauseous. It was chill and fun and absolutely made my day.

I fucking miss that strain. I’ve had to move to specific edibles where I can very carefully control exactly how little I take (hint: not very much) and I can measure when it kicks in and when it tapers off. I can get a couple hours off and then I’m hungry when it’s over, and I can still function tomorrow? Deal.

It fucking sucks to watch people get pulled into high-dose pot though, for the same reasons that it sucks to watch people get pulled into high-dose alcohol. Fuck. I hope they regulate it soon, and I hope the states carve out more room specifically for microgroweries.

I just use less of it. Me and my wife consume a 0.3g dose in our vape about once a week, and that’s enough for us to relax.

> "I solo'd a joint from the dispensary recently and was tweaking just walking around."

Imagine not being able to conceive of a solution to this problem facepalm

Speaking as a stoner for half my life, this most definitely gets filed under "skill issue" / just don't be a moron and finish the whole damn joint at once; is it your last day on earth or something? Heaven forbid you consume less byproduct in getting high!

God, the state of average person's logical faculties...

P.S. Greetz to all the geniuses downvoting common sense and caution, they probably never smoked a joint in their life to know that halfway through one you should know if it's time to put it down, instead of just yolo'ing the whole damn thing desperately trying to get high as possible and then turning around and complaining they got too high, as if that has nothing to do with their idiotic decision and should rather be blamed on the weed itself. Imagine trying to make this argument with eating too much food! "Oh no, I ate 6 people worth of food in one sitting and now my stomach is sore, damn that overly filling food!" Meh, yet another topic not suitable for HN.

The main problem I see with store bought weed is not that it’s too potent, it’s that it’s cut too early.

A crumb of weed from a used Dutch grinder is still enough for a spliff in the US.

> One of the basic premises of the legalization movement is that marijuana, if not harmless, is pretty close to it—arguably much less dangerous than alcohol. But much of the weed being sold today is not the same stuff that people were getting locked up for selling in the 1990s and 2000s

The comments saying “just smoke less” are missing the point here I think.

There’s a widely held belief among many users that all warnings about cannabis use and potency are bullshit. This is understandable given the decades of demonization and actual lies about the harms of cannabis.

But this is a problem because many people who end up experiencing the negative effects (ranging from habitual use that is hard to stop to full-on hyperemesis syndrome) are often fully convinced that negative outcomes are extremely unlikely. Many struggle to get support because people don’t believe them. People don’t take the addiction potential seriously and chalk it up to mental problems on the part of the user.

And it’s not just high THC flower. It’s also the even higher concentrations in vape pens, higher still in concentrates, etc.

A common recommendation among users who’ve experienced these downsides is to “avoid carts and concentrates, stick to flower”, which is good advice, but the point here is that flower is often looked at as the “low THC” option because realistically it currently is, relative to the other products on the market.

While I agree that “smoke less” is probably still the right thing to do, the problem is that there isn’t a wide enough understanding of the potency problem for people to realize this is what they should be doing for their own safety. There isn’t a wide enough understanding of what “less” actually is, concretely. And the “you can’t OD on this stuff” position is technically true but wrong in practice. You may not die, but it’s shockingly easy to overconsume without realizing it, and overconsumption comes with real risks.

I still think it should be legal, but this space desperately needs two things:

1. Updated educational campaigns that focus on debunking lies and keeping people aware of real risks

2. More low THC strains. If I could easily find 10-15% strains, that’s all I’d ever buy

It’s like going to a liquor store and being able to choose between cask strength scotch, cask strength bourbon, ovenproof rum, and everclear. And prebottled mocktails.

Shit man, sometimes i just want a beer…

Then just, smoke less?

Do you know that this is not happening accidentally? Cannabis is addictive, and they are giving you more THC and CBD so you become addicted. Now that weed has gone corporate, they are playing the same game as big tobacco.

Besides, our body makes cannabinoids naturally. No need to smoke them if you are eating right.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318528