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.
Since computers are too strong, websites only need seconds to load.
No one can read that fast, so this is a problem.
Ugh, they used the word ‘marijuana’. Foreshadowing.
So meta
Another point on this. CBD and THC content are inversely correlated. So high TCH will almost always result in very low CBD. So instead of getting the high + relax you just get high.
One of the best weed I’ve ever smoked was “shit weed” which put me into a “relax and enjoy life” mood. I really want weed to be legalised so that people will start producing weaker weed with high CBD content.
If you’re in a country where CBD is legal, you can mix regular weed with CBD weed bought in store.
It exists.
I can go to the dispensary down the street and get it if I wanted it.
I actually miss the old Mexican brick weed from thirty years ago. It could give you a headache, but otherwise, the high it produced of everything being hilarious doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Modern weed pretty much makes me instantly catatonic.
Further, I don’t know if it’s age, but a single bong rip will send me into violent fits of coughing that frequently render me running outside to puke.
I’ve stopped smoking entirely in favor of edibles due to the coughing thing. The edibles still knock me the hell out. I don’t know how the younger set wakes and bakes and carries on with their day with the modern stuff.
I don’t know how the younger set wakes and bakes and carries on with their day with the modern stuff.
It was tough lemme tell ya. I hadta set goals, show up every day and give it 110%.
You can too. I believe if you set your mind to it and take one step at a time you too can achieve.
Tolerance is kind of the only reason I’ve been able to enjoy ridiculously strong weed. Otherwise, like you said, I’m just catatonic. These days, I need to consume such a small amount (I’m talking 5mg edible) when I don’t have a tolerance.
But I take 1 puff off a joint and that’s when I find that beautiful high where everything is funny, and I still am able to talk to my friends.
Seriously, with this strong ass weed, less is more.
It sounds like you’re looking for a really uplifting sativa / haze the get the giggling feeling. The mainstream strains have been crossbred so much you’ll probably have to look a bit to find a classic lineage.
They can fuck right off, I enjoy going to outer space on half a joint.
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.
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.
If you can’t handle your weed it’s a skill issue.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Maybe during a vacation?
And those “legal” xHC vape pens just don’t do it for me. Feels way different - not in the good way, though.
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 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…
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.
I heard this ‘marijuana is too strong now’ argument back in the 90s i swear to God.
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.
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 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?
Nay, the people are too weak.
