# Is it true that marijuana is stronger today than in the past? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162 "2019-04-28T04:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/41 "2019-05-01T15:30:57Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I smoked in the 60’s. Smoking pot then would give you a distinct tight head feeling where it felt like a band was wrapped tightly around the top of your head. By the early 70’s this was almost gone and I haven’t seen or heard of it since. It took about 1/2 joint to get a good buzz going but in my opinion it was a much better buzz that what is out there today. Decidedly different. Déjà vu? [There is a strain called "headband.](https://www.leafly.com/hybrid/headband) I’ve no personal experience with it. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/42 "2019-05-01T17:28:00Z")
Also piss poorly cured weed (usually notable for being more brown than green) will give you a serious headache–to the point we call it “headache weed.” Similar issue with strains that need a longer flowering time that are harvested prematurely, those will put the hurt on ya. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/43 "2019-05-01T18:17:14Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Nobody I knew back in the day /ever/ got hallucinations from pot. I wish I knew what breed it was but I’ll prolly never know because we don’t go through much and there’s always something different at the candy store. But I’ve only ever hallucinated once on the stuff, and it was hysterical (I mean, it still gives me the giggs). I remember playing Call of Duty and every time I’d shoot, I’d see this rainbow zigzaggy box pop up around the muzzle of whatever gun I was using. It was subtle but it amused the heck out of me. The cat seemed pleased about it as well, but he was trying to be cool about it. But yeah, video games today are WAY better than they were in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/44 "2019-05-02T05:04:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Wrong timeline. What does that mean? ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/45 "2019-05-02T06:35:59Z")
I smoked a lot of pot in high school and early college. Stopped because it made me paranoid and I hated it. Smoked or ate edibles perhaps once every two years since then until it recently became legal in CA. I have tried edibles since and they sure do get you high, at first over-high, but I’ve found them enjoyable. I have settled in at about 1/4 of the recommended dose of the particular gummy I bought–pleasant but not overwhelming. No paranoia. As for hallucinations–I have experienced those from smoking marijuana, and my experience was horrible–menacing creatures flying around the room. I dragged myself from bed to ask my friends if maybe this was PCP-laced weed. The three guys I had smoked with said no, you’re just over-stoned. I was indeed, and I think this goes to show that like alcohol or any other drug, strength of experience is not based solely on the chemical composition of one dose–as I had smoked in equal or lesser amounts than my friends. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/46 "2019-05-02T10:53:53Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > What does that mean? You said “Medical marijuana only got legalized in the US in 96”. That statement is not true in this timeline. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/47 "2019-05-02T13:24:12Z")
I thought California was the first in '96. From wiki: > [@](#): > > The first state to effectively legalize medical cannabis was California in 1996, when voters approved Proposition 215 by a 56–44 margin. Several states followed with successful ballot initiatives in 1998, and in 2000 Hawaii became the first to legalize through an act of state legislature.[3] By 2016, legalization of medical cannabis had spread to a majority of states. > **[Medical cannabis in the United States](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis_in_the_United_States)** > > In the United States, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is legal in 38 states, four out of five permanently inhabited U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, as of March 2023. Ten other states have more restrictive laws limiting THC content, for the purpose of allowing access to products that are rich in cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive component of cannabis. There is significant variation in medical cannabis laws from state to state, including how it is produced and d The... When did it happen in your timeline? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/48 "2019-05-02T13:30:18Z")
Eta: maybe you thought I meant federally? No, I was just trying to frame when the “business […] gained legitimacy, people with degrees in botany and horticulture […] used better science to grow stronger stuff” happened like hajario was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/49 "2019-05-02T14:14:07Z")
Yeah, CK, you used “US” there. It’s never been federally legal. Yea, I’m being a pedant, but I’m also celebrating becoming legal for MMJ in Pennsylvania!!! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/50 "2019-05-02T14:18:10Z")
[Eddy Lepp did eight years of a ten year sentence for growing cannabis in California.](https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/07/cannabis-convict-eddy-lepp-free-after-long-prison-term/) > [@](#): > > Charles “Eddy” Lepp, a defiant 64-year-old Vietnam vet and ordained Rastafarian minister, was convicted on federal felony charges in 2007 for doing something that California now considers legal because of last month’s passage of Proposition 64: growing marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/51 "2019-05-02T14:55:16Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Nobody I knew back in the day /ever/ got hallucinations from pot. I had a friend in the early 1970’s who wouldn’t use pot because, she said, it made her trip (as if on LSD), and she didn’t like tripping. Individual reactions vary wildly. On the strength issue: I also knew people at that time who would routinely keep smoking until they couldn’t pass the joint any longer. Or stand up, for that matter. Stronger dope? that didn’t take as long. Weaker dope? just smoke more of it. So I’ve always been unconvinced by the ‘but it’s stronger now’ argument against legalization (which is how I’ve frequently seen that claim used.) The information earlier in this thread about increased THC also affecting other components, however, is interesting. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/52 "2019-05-02T16:07:17Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yeah, CK, you used “US” there. It’s never been federally legal. > > Yea, I’m being a pedant, but I’m also celebrating becoming legal for MMJ in Pennsylvania!!! Well, the FBI is forbidden from interfering with medical marijuana so it’s presently de facto legal. > **[Rohrabacher–Farr amendment](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amendment)** > > The Rohrabacher–Farr amendment (also known as the Rohrabacher–Blumenauer amendment) is legislation introduced by U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey in 2001, prohibiting the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws. It passed the House in May 2014 after six previously failed attempts, becoming law in December 2014 as part of an omnibus spending bill. The passage of the amendment was the first time either chamber of Congress had vot... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/53 "2019-05-02T16:46:07Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well, the FBI is forbidden from interfering with medical marijuana so it’s presently de facto legal. > > [Rohrabacher–Farr amendment - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amendment) And that’s wonderful. But I worry about people like my nephew, a professor of Mathematics in Colorado, who last xmas was stopped by TSA bringing his state-legal cannabis aboard a flight in his carry-on. He argued with the TSA agent that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was allowed to throw it in the garbage ☹ and continue with his travels, but he argued about that! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162/54 "2019-05-02T17:01:21Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > And that’s wonderful. But I worry about people like my nephew, a professor of Mathematics in Colorado, who last xmas was stopped by TSA bringing his state-legal cannabis aboard a flight in his carry-on. He argued with the TSA agent that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was allowed to throw it in the garbage ☹ and continue with his travels, but he argued about that! OMG, they treated him like he was trying to bring a bottle of water through security! Eta: sorry to make light of it, I’m sure that sucked. But as far as scare stories go, that’s not super scary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-marijuana-is-stronger-today-than-in-the-past/833162.md?page=2)