Pot potency climbing rapidly: US officials

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Marijuana sold in the United States today is on average more than twice as strong as it was 25 years ago, increasing the threat of serious mental impairment in users, US drug policy officials said Thursday.

The average level of THC -- marijuana's psychoactive ingredient -- in seized drug samples is 9.6 percent, compared to just under four percent in 1983, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

And the highest THC level found in a sample of pot measured in recent months was an astounding 37.2 percent, according to the research from the University of Mississippi's 32-year-old Potency Monitoring Project.

"The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental...