We Miss the Mellow Stuff – Why is Marijuana So Stronger Now Than a Few Decades Before

Pot is more powerful and plentiful than ever before but low-grade shake or the mellow stuff, as stoners prefer to call it, still has a lot of loyal fans. Marijuana continues to be decriminalized and legalized all around the world to each pothead’s delight but there’s no denying that the herb is getting stronger with each passing season.

Smokers from the 60s will surely tell you with a sad voice how marijuana is much stronger now than it used to be in their time. So, the true question is: what happened to cause the herb to become so strong nowadays? Well, in the last few decades, marijuana evolved just like anything else around us.

600 analyzed samples of both medical and recreational marijuana proved that THC or tetrahydrocannabinol has risen significantly when compared to CBD or cannabidiol which, despite its therapeutic value, has declined.

Rising Potency

The new analysis showed the main result indicating that potency has significantly risen by a factor of three in the past few decades. In fact, a lot of the latest marijuana is extremely and surprisingly strong. Potency values go up to 30 percent THC which is a lot.

To get the real picture here, the potency a few decades ago used to be 10 percent or less. Today, because the market demands it, the potency has been bred upwards. The absolute amount of cannabinoids, which is what determines the strength, change as well as the ratio of other cannabinoids to CBD to THC.

Waning Cannabidiol

While potency is rising and THC increasing, CBD or cannabidiol content is shrinking more and more. Despite its proven antipsychotic effects and medical benefits in treating Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease as well as schizophrenia and other mood and brain disorders, the demand for high THC is much bigger than CBD. People who rely on CBD for its medicinal benefits and properties aren’t getting what they actually need.

Increasing Contaminants

Both chemical and biological varieties have been tested for contaminants and the results were surprisingly bad. Fungi and butane were found in many specimens indicating how dirty a lot of this potent marijuana really is. Butane is used to make an extremely high-potency marijuana known as wax. While biological contaminants aren’t that surprising since this is a plant we’re talking about, and it’s the chemical contaminants that we should worry about.

These contaminants are making a difference in what’s safe and what’s not. Despite the rising THC trends that have been present for quite some time now, it’s the rapid ratio of growth that’s much greater than expected. This is something that surely affects the general public.

So, the trick here is that the THC concentration alone isn’t that concerning, it’s the variability that we should all worry about. This variability makes it difficult to determine the right dose for the best effect.

Medical Concerns

With ever-increasing THC potency, the users will consume excessive doses which will eventually only lead to adverse clinical effects. The latest events in emergency departments have already marked higher THC content as the main driving factor of the increase in marijuana-related emergencies. Most potheads aren’t aware of the fact that the stronger the weed the stronger it affects the brain.

So, we can safely say that higher THC content will have much stronger effects on the brain which may cause users to end up with some reactions such as psychosis or they may end up in the ER. On the other hand, just as THC increases, CBD decreases and this decline is quite concerning. People who need marijuana high in CBD for its therapeutic effects may now not receive what they need.

Several Facts that Confirm that Cannabis is Getting More Potent

There are several facts that prove that cannabis is getting more potent:

1. The cultivation practices have greatly changed in the cannabis industry as it has moved into sinsemilla production. Sinsemilla is the part of the marijuana plant with the highest TCH content and it’s a product generated from flowers of unfertilized female plants. This is now the preferred product in the cannabis industry which explains the sudden increase in potency.

2. The way cannabis producers trim their cannabis products such as buds and sinsemilla also plays an important part. They also remove all large leaves which are low on THC.

3. Money plays its role in this thing just like in anything else. To get high cash value, people select only the highest THC strains and varieties

4. THC produces tolerance in all who frequently use it. The more they smoke, the more THC they need. Since the demand dictates the production, it’s safe to say that frequent users demand marijuana with higher THC content.

There’s one more aspect to this story as well. In the last ten years, the adaptation of the more modern plant sciences overpowered traditional agriculture which also plays a very important part in regards to potency.

Tissue culturing, strain-crossing, and overall better breeding conditions and terms all led to the increased presence of cannabinoids. Data based and scientific plant cultivation techniques eventually led to higher quality and this trend will continue in the years to come.

That means that cannabis will become even more potent the more technology changes and advances since more advanced cultivation techniques and better genetics put together are already showing incredible results.

Demand for money, frequent users demanding stronger stuff, the change in the cannabis industry, all this has caused marijuana to become stronger and more potent.