*Since the 1990s, drug-bust seizures of street cannabis have consistently contained higher levels of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot.
The Daily Mail reports that concentrates such as ‘dabs’ have close to 100 percent purity. In America, the potency of street cannabis has jumped from 4 percent to more than 15 percent in recent years, according to the outlet, citing a leaked report from Washington state.
Pot’s potency in the state has increased due to its commoditization by a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry where it is legalized, per the Daily Mail report citing researchers.
“The market made cannabis a commodity like the iPhone or your jeans, and manufacturers want to make the product better, more efficient — which in the case of nonmedical cannabis means stronger,’ said Beatriz Carlini, who leads cannabis research at the University of Washington and worked on the Washington state report.
READ MORE: High-Potency Cannabis Linked to Psychosis and Addiction | Video
“They are trying to make a profit, so they want loyal patrons who depend on this high-potency cannabis just like they depend on their cell phones,” Carlini said.
We reported previously that a new study suggests people who use high-potency cannabis may be at high risk of both psychosis and addiction.
“With the increasing strength of cannabis available in the U.S. and around the globe, it’s important to understand the long-term health outcomes that might be associated with using these types of products as compared to what has traditionally been available,” said Ziva Cooper, the director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
A recent report published in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that “people who use high-potency cannabis are more likely to experience addiction and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia,” per Axios.
Per NIH: “Recent research suggests that smoking high-potency marijuana every day could increase the chances of developing psychosis by nearly five times compared to people who have never used marijuana. The amount of drug used, the age at first use, and genetic vulnerability have all been shown to influence this relationship.”
“We know from animal studies that higher doses of THC are more likely to cause addiction than lower doses,” said the study’s lead author, Kat Petrilli, a doctoral student in the department of psychology at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, NBC News reports. “As people are exposed to higher doses of THC through the use of higher-potency cannabis, this may increase the likelihood that it can cause long-term changes, such as to cannabinoid receptors in the brain which are associated with psychosis risk.”
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