From the Toronto Star
lettertoed@thestar.comhttp://www.thestar.com/
June 27, 1998
By Thomas Walkom
B.C. STRIKES GOLD WITH POTENT CROPS
BRITISH Columbia marijuana is prized through-out the world because of its potency.
See A Very
Interesting Article In The Toronto Sun Looks Calmly At The Huge Canadian Marijuana
Business
and
Edmonton
Superweed Reefer Madness Embarrasses Justice Minister;
Local Paper Opposes Even Medical Marijuana
Run-of-the-mill marijuana contains only 2 to 3 per cent
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active mood-altering ingredient.
B.C. pot is stronger. Some hauls seized by the RCMP have contained as much as 15 per
cent THC. Two years ago, marijuana from Surrey, B.C., won an intemational pot award,
according to RCMP Constable Vince Arsenault.
(Ed. note: More prohibitionist BS. This was at the Cannabis Cup, and
potency was not the sole criterion, and no tests were run on it. One reason that it won
was that an enterprising young Canadian actually smuggled it into Holland for the Cup.
That was so novel that it became a "sentimental" favorite.)
But is high-potency dope more dangerous to the health?
To find out, The Star contacted Robin Room, a scientist affiliated with the Addiction
Research Foundation division of Toronto’s Addiction and Mental Health Service Corp.
Room co-authored a recent study done for the World Health Organization on the relative
risks of marijuana use. See
High Anxieties -- What the WHO
Doesn't Want You To Know About Cannabis -- New Scientist Special Report
This study concluded that marijuana - while harmful to the
health - is less so under current use patterns than either tobacco or alcohol.
The study received some notoriety when WHO refused to publish it. Critics charged that
WHO was worried the findings might be seen to contradict Washington’s war on drugs. See
More
Details From French Report Saying Alcohol Is Much More Dangerous Than Cannabis Reported By
IoS
The study will be published instead by the Addiction
Research Foundarion in a book due out this fall.
On the question of marijuana potency, Room said the answer depends on how people smoke.
Most users, he said, smoke only enough to reach the desired level of high.
In that case, he said, the higher the THC content in the
marijuana, the less users smoke.
Since much of the damage from marijuana comes from inhaling the tars in the weed,
high-potency pot should actually be safer than traditional low-THC brands, he says.
"Naive or first-time smokers might smoke too much," he said. "But I
would expect experienced users to smoke less."
Supported