Is marijuana today more potent / dangerous than in the past?

[Atticus_Finch]

In a Washington Post article (subscription) arguing for increased policing of the use of marijuana, an important part of the author’s argument is that “the drug available today is far more potent than what [parents of today’s users] might have smoked in the 1970s.”

Without going into GD territory about the author’s arguments (I don’t agree, FWIW), can anyone tell me about the factual veracity of this statement? Cites would be appreciated.

[El_Zagna]

I can only give you my own observation based on the rare occasions that I’ve sampled any in the past ten years, and that is there is no difference. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s so I have a pretty good baseline, but who knows, maybe I’m not getting the good stuff these days.

[BMax]

I remember hearing the same thing in the 80s–that the mairjuana then had a much higher THC content on average than the pot from the 60s.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

I would be surprised if it were not more potent. Breeders around the world have been trying to improve potency and so on for over thirty years. There is a prize given each year in The Netherlands for the best strain.

I cannot say how much these improved varieties have gotten down to the local junior high school, but I presume at least some have.

[Whack-a-Mole]

More “dangerous”? Not likely. For marijuana to be more dangerous it would need to get weaker…not stronger. The most dangerous part of marijuana is inhaling the smoke. If it is weaker a person will smoke more in order to obtain whatever level of intoxication they are seeking. Smoking more = worse for you.

Here a pretty good FAQ I found talking about this. Perhaps not authoritative so take it FWIW.

But … isn’t today’s marijuana much more potent than it
was in the Sixties?
(Or, more often … Marijuana is 10 times more powerful than
it was in the Sixties!)

GOOD!  Actually, this is not true, but if it were, it
would mean that marijuana is safer to smoke today than it
was in the Sixties.  (More potent cannabis means less
smoking means less lung damage.)  People who use this
statistic just plain do not know what they are talking
about.  Sometimes they will even claim that marijuana is now
twenty to thirty times stronger, which is physically
impossible because it would have to be *over* 100%
Delta-9-THC.  The truth is, marijuana has not really changed
potency all that much, if at all, in the last several
hundred years.  Growing potent cannabis is an ancient art
which has not improved in centuries, despite all our modern
technology.

SOURCE: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/drugs/hemp-marijuana/

[Larry_Borgia]

While what Paul in Saudi says is true, the attempt to develop better, stronger, faster pot does not mean that plain old street weed isn’t still out there. There’s still plenty of ordinary pot.

Or, uh, so I’ve heard.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Here’s another article that seems worth reading. Again the site itself is obviosusly a fan of cannabis but the article looks well written including citing information. Too much to quote here so visit the link below:

http://www.devilsharvest.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=39