U of Misssissippi Study: Not Your Daddy's Joint

"[the University of Mississippi report on Marijuana Potency] underscores that we are no longer talking about the drug of the 1960s and 1970s -- this is Pot 2.0,"
John Walters, Director of USA's National Drug Control Policy.

Tetra-hydro-cannabinol, or THC, is the active component in cannabis sativa (otherwise known as marijuana). Which means it's the thing in pot which makes people intoxicated.

Reuters, reports that the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) released a report on the potency of the plant. Cannibis sativa is the centre for a huge and illegal (in North America, at least) business in illicit drugs. The main finding of the report? Modern marijuana has a bit more than double the THC percentage it did in the late 1980's. This is based on samples of cannabis, and hashish, that have been analyzed over the decades by the Pharmacy Department at the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency Project. Their data shows that average levels of THC rose from 7 percent in 2003 to 8.5 percent in 2006, rising steadily from average THC levels of 3.5 percent, back in 1988. They studied 59,369 samples of cannabis, 1,225 of hashish and 443 of hash oil which police have confiscated since 1975. According to their report, "the highest concentration of (THC) found in a cannabis (marijuana) sample is 33.12 percent from Oregon State Police."

There is a short piece on the U of Mississippi report on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Here is the university's press release on Dan Rather's report on medical marijuana, which featured the pharmacy department's marijuana researchers.