Stoner beware: Marijuana is one million percent more potent than your father's weed!
The simplest takeaway from the science on weed is that it's obviously not for everyone. But the New York Times once again swerves into drug war panic.
There’s a new health crisis among U.S. teens: they’re getting way too fucking high. At least according to the New York Times, which warns that new higher-level THC can cause kids to develop “cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome” (sounds real!), addiction, and psychosis.
The story profiles two teenagers who apparently fell prey to the devil weed. One, a young girl was diagnosed with the aforementioned “cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome,” that caused her to vomit 20 times over the course of two hours.
I’m no doctor but if I had a teen daughter who vomited a lot I’d be more worried about an eating disorder.
The second, far more tragic case the article cites is a boy who had a psychotic break, went in and out of teen rehabs, threatened to kill the family dog, and eventually killed himself jumping out of a building. His symptoms sound like standard young adult onset schizophrenia. Also, teen rehabs are notoriously abusive and linked to kids picking up far worse drugs than highly potent weed. The Times then makes the “this isn’t your father’s weed” argument.
Although recreational cannabis is illegal in the United States for those under 21, it has become more accessible as many states have legalized it. But experts say today’s high-THC cannabis products — vastly different than the joints smoked decades ago — are poisoning some heavy users, including teenagers.
"Most marijuana now being sold throughout the United States is three to 10 times more potent than the marijuana that was sold two years ago," the New York Times wrote in … 1978.
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