Ever since Florida legalized medical marijuana, those of us who work in the emergency department have seen an alarming uptick in people coming in with complaints of nonstop vomiting.
From what I've read, today's weed has much more cannabinoids than the varieties decades ago. A friend who smoked back in her youth, tried a modern variety and was pretty much shocked at how much stronger it seemed to be.
This makes sense if you consider the "active ingredient," as opposed to the plant matter in toto, as what's worth smuggling. Probably the same reason fentanyl variants have become so popular - for the same risk per trip of being caught, you move a higher value of merchandise.
And of course, the same basic argument applies when it's legalized.
years ago my exwife was a dope smoker. a couple times she got some that had little white specks in it. no idea what it was and smoked it anyway. and got sick…. yay.. a drug addled population is easy to control… and short lived..
Yeah, a family friend who is an ultra liberal raised her only son to be the same. When he hit middle school it only took him til he was a junior in high school til he began having seizures from smoking so much weed. Now he has a permanent disability and can't drive anything more than a 49cc scooter.
No change, of course, in her stance. Nor his. They cling to weed like it's their national flag. Even when it poisons their kids they cling to it.
Today's weed is very much different than what I had in my youth. It is aspirin versus vicodin different. (I would use oxy, but that would be too far of a stretch.) Even the mild stuff is stronger than the strong stuff I had when I was 17ish. (that is about when I quit smoking weed. It affected me way too much. No fun being at a party when all you can do is sit in a corner incoherent.)
And, the really strong stuff is available at the dispensary right next to the mild stuff.
As Boris points out, the concentration of active ingredients is way higher than in decades past. I don't remember the numbers but the impression I have is that it's at least a factor of 10, perhaps much more than that. So it's a bit like substituting a glass of Everclear for the glass of beer you're used to.
Apart from that, given the marginal legality of all this stuff, you don't have any good reason to believe in the purity of what you're sold. Who knows what kind of pollutants might be mixed into your weed by the various lowlifes in the distribution chain?
On "marginal legality" -- the problem with "legalized" marijuana in various states is that it still isn't really legal (Federal law) and doesn't necessarily come with a legal supply chain.
It reminds me of the situation in Holland some decades ago. It was reported here as "legalized" marijuana, but it wasn't actually at all. The Dutch term translates to "tolerated" -- by national government policy, retail sale and possession of marijuana were no longer prosecuted even though the laws had never been repealed. But to make it stranger, the laws against growing, importing, or distributing marijuana were neither repealed nor covered by "toleration". As I put it then, weed stores had a legal front door and an illegal loading dock.
When things are semi-illegal like that, normal protections against adulterated products don't work.
From what I've read, today's weed has much more cannabinoids than the varieties decades ago. A friend who smoked back in her youth, tried a modern variety and was pretty much shocked at how much stronger it seemed to be.
This makes sense if you consider the "active ingredient," as opposed to the plant matter in toto, as what's worth smuggling. Probably the same reason fentanyl variants have become so popular - for the same risk per trip of being caught, you move a higher value of merchandise.
And of course, the same basic argument applies when it's legalized.
years ago my exwife was a dope smoker. a couple times she got some that had little white specks in it. no idea what it was and smoked it anyway. and got sick…. yay.. a drug addled population is easy to control… and short lived..
Yeah, a family friend who is an ultra liberal raised her only son to be the same. When he hit middle school it only took him til he was a junior in high school til he began having seizures from smoking so much weed. Now he has a permanent disability and can't drive anything more than a 49cc scooter.
No change, of course, in her stance. Nor his. They cling to weed like it's their national flag. Even when it poisons their kids they cling to it.
Today's weed is very much different than what I had in my youth. It is aspirin versus vicodin different. (I would use oxy, but that would be too far of a stretch.) Even the mild stuff is stronger than the strong stuff I had when I was 17ish. (that is about when I quit smoking weed. It affected me way too much. No fun being at a party when all you can do is sit in a corner incoherent.)
And, the really strong stuff is available at the dispensary right next to the mild stuff.
As Boris points out, the concentration of active ingredients is way higher than in decades past. I don't remember the numbers but the impression I have is that it's at least a factor of 10, perhaps much more than that. So it's a bit like substituting a glass of Everclear for the glass of beer you're used to.
Apart from that, given the marginal legality of all this stuff, you don't have any good reason to believe in the purity of what you're sold. Who knows what kind of pollutants might be mixed into your weed by the various lowlifes in the distribution chain?
On "marginal legality" -- the problem with "legalized" marijuana in various states is that it still isn't really legal (Federal law) and doesn't necessarily come with a legal supply chain.
It reminds me of the situation in Holland some decades ago. It was reported here as "legalized" marijuana, but it wasn't actually at all. The Dutch term translates to "tolerated" -- by national government policy, retail sale and possession of marijuana were no longer prosecuted even though the laws had never been repealed. But to make it stranger, the laws against growing, importing, or distributing marijuana were neither repealed nor covered by "toleration". As I put it then, weed stores had a legal front door and an illegal loading dock.
When things are semi-illegal like that, normal protections against adulterated products don't work.
There is a qualitative difference between 2% THC and 22% THC.