Blowing Smoke

Oregon appears to be the winner in the race to provide the safest marijuana. Out of samples confiscated since 1975, the pharmacy department at the University of Mississippi found the highest THC concentration of 33.12 percent in a marijuana sample provided by the Oregon State Police. Meanwhile, the average level nationwide has risen to 8.5 percent in 2006 from 7 percent in 2003 and from 3.5 percent in 1988.

The findings clearly show that today’s users have to inhale much less of the carcinogens found in marijuana smoke to achieve the same level of intoxication. As the Drug Enforcement Agency points out on its web site, “Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette.” The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that; “In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke.”

Clearly, the improving THC levels mean that users are now exposed to the equivalent of less than two times the tar of a filtered tobacco cigarette compared to 20 years ago. If average potency levels continue to rise toward the Oregon sample’s 33.12 percent concentration, the level of inhaled irritants and carcinogens would plummet. While other THC delivery systems have been developed, smoking remains the preferred, and more sociable, delivery method.

John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, in a failed attempt to put a negative spin on the findings said, “This report underscores that we are no longer talking about the drug of the 1960s and 1970s – this is Pot 2.0.” National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow added, “Like in the market you favor the best tomatoes. When people buy marijuana they don’t want a weak cigarette.”

Volkow, in a spasm of fear mongering, reiterated the overall danger of marijuana use by children, “If children and adolescents use marijuana, it could affect their still-developing brains.” That of course argues for keeping marijuana, and alcohol, regardless of the potency or proof, out of the hands of minors.