| ■ Marijuana Potency Increasing | 2008.06.16 |
| In 2007, marijuana potency reached its highest level in more than 30 years, according to a new report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Researchers at the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project analyzed levels of THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) in samples seized by law enforcement agencies from 1975 through 2007, the Associated Press reported. The average amount of THC in the samples was 8.75 percent in 2006 and 9.6 percent in 2007, compared to just under 4 percent in 1983. These increasing levels of THC pose greater psychological, cognitive and respiratory risks to people who use marijuana, according to John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Sophisticated growing techniques used by marijuana producers in the United States and Canada are behind the increased potency of the drug, according to the White House office. |