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.
Marijuana has been getting stronger for a long time according to news outlets. I remember seeing a collection of reports on stronger marijuana from different decades. Multiplying those “x times stronger” tells us, that marijuana is now 2000 times stronger and consists of at least 200% THC or something like that.
Does anyone have the original calculations and references? It was hilarious.
Sounds like someone has never ever ever set foot in a dispensary and asked for a “low thc high CBD strain”.
Total nonsense that contradicts my literal past lived experience, and probably my experience this afternoon.
I buy online and get lots of different strains and mixes. I was in Colorado recently - stopped in a dispensary and asked for some type 2…blank stare.
Lol that’s cuz type2 is meaningless
Wtf is type 2
meaningless
What if, like…y’know?
While the majority of products I see at dispensaries are high THC. There are always some lower options. Currently getting shake at $30 to $40/ounce and it’s about little above “mid”. 15% THC but I assume because it’s shake only, it’s slightly lower like 12%.
I heard this ‘marijuana is too strong now’ argument back in the 90s i swear to God.
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
Nay, the people are too weak.
They can fuck right off, I enjoy going to outer space on half a joint.
with consequences including hospitalizations for chronic vomiting
This was me learning to set my limit when I was 15yo. Every time I smoked, I puked. Same thing when I started drinking alcohol. Puked every time.
I can now smoke (cautiously) and drink (mightily) without issue. I think the real issue is changing cultural expectations about how much THC can be consumed at what rate. No more huge bong rips.
It’s almost like it was illegal to do any research on cross breeding strains for potency for a long time.
Sorry our science got better while cannabis was prohibited over some racial bs for 80+ years.
The same story with psychedelic research, the promising results of the years leading up to prohibition were terminated from one day to the next.
We know that these substances are the only medication that is efficacious for treatment resistant depression and indicated for many other disorders.
The problem, as ever, is conservatives making choices they don’t understand for everyone else.
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!!!”
Know what’s really fucking annoying? People whose whole personality revolves around weed.
You talking to me?
Not at all, Smokey McBongwater.
The stuff I’m getting on Ontario ain’t strong enough. Where can I find this super weed???
West Coast USA
Always been the spot…I remember when I left the west coast hitchhiking my first time and got to the Midwest and saw my first bag of shwag like pressed brick weed with seeds…oof it was a shock to say the least
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
