NIDA Report Exposes DEA's Falsehood: Marijuana Potency Has NOT Increased

Feb. 17, 1994

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A report published by the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) shows that the average potency of marijuana has not increased
in more than a decade. These findings destroy the Drug Enforcement
Administration's current argument that marijuana is so much more potent
today than in the 1960s that is is a "different drug." The purpose of this
DEA falsehood is to discredit the last 100 years of government studies, all
of which have found no basis for criminalizing cannabis users.

The report is published by the Potency Monitoring Project at the
University of Mississippi, home of the United States' sole legal marijuana
farm, which is controlled and monitored by the federal government. The
report is authored by Mahmoud A. ElSohly, Ph. D., and Samir A. Ross, Ph.
D., who oversee the NIDA Marijuana Project.

Marijuana's potency is measured as the percentage of the dry weight
of delta-9-THC in a sample. Delta-9-THC is the principal psychoactive
ingredient of the marijuana plant, otherwise known as Cannabis sativa L.

The report shows that domestic marijuana seizures began to
constitute a significant percentage of the samples tested after 1980.
(51.6% of the 250 samples tested in 1981 were grown domestically. The
report shows there has been no increase in the delta-9-THC content of
seized domestic marijuana since 1981.

"The potency panderers have been using the myth of potent pot to
justify the use of the military in domestic marijuana eradication," says
Richard Cowan, National Director of NORML, "They're claiming that domestic
growers are producing super-powerful marijuana."

In addition to undermining the DEA's current argument for
prolonging Marijuana Prohibition ("marijuana is a different drug today"),
these findings are important because:
* they demonstrate that the potency of marijuana wasn't measured
in the 1960s
* they show the DEA and other government officials are lying about
marijuana's supposedly increased potency. Either they haven't read the
reports and are fabricating potency data, or they have read the reports and
are suppressing them.

"The government is quite aware that marijuana's potency has not
increased," says Cowan. "Why else would they not publish and disseminate
the potency report as they do any government reports that bolster the
prohibitionist case?"

The potency falsehood has become the cornerstone of the
government's claims about the harmfulness of marijuana:

* In May of 1980, Jane Brody of the "New York Times" wrote that
Dr. Sidney Cohen and Dr. Robert DuPont (both former heads of NIDA) were
"disturbed about the rapidly increasing potency of the marijuana generally
available to Americans. In 1975, the average sample of confiscated
marijuana contained 0.4% of the mind altering chemical, THC. By last year,
because of improved cultivation practices, the average was 4% of the active
drug -- a tenfold increase in potency." (If marijuana potency had really
increased to 4% by 1980, then potency has decreased from 1980 to 1992.)

* Earlier this month, the Office of Drug Control Policy of the
State of Michigan issued a media advisory entitled, "The Marijuana as
Medicine Scam," which claimed: "The THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) -- the
high in pot -- content in today's marijuana can be 30%. In the 1970's the
THC content averaged only 3% -- a 1000% potency increase."

Consequently, the potency falsehood has been reported widely:
* In a February 6, 1994, "New York Times" article entitled "Pot
Surges Back, but It's, Like a Whole New World," Melinda Henneberger wrote:
"More efficient agriculture -- new methods of harvesting and processing
marijuana plants -- has made pot about 20 times more potent than the
marijuana on the street in the '60s and '70s, drug treatment experts and
law enforcement officials say."

* In a November 1, 1993, "Newsweek" article entitled "Just Say
Maybe," John Leland wrote: "Back inthe '70s and '80s, average marijuana
was about 1.5 to 2 percent THC, the main psychoactive ingredient; now it's
twice as high and can even reach 30 percent THC, according to NIDA."

* On April 14, 1991, Ann Landers wrote in her column: "In a
series called 'Pot, Inc.,' Paul Weingarten and Jamer Coates of "The
Chicago Tribune" reported that a potent and expensive form of marijuana
called sinsemilla is up to 18 times more powerful than the marijuana of the
'60s."

* It would be good news if marijuana were stronger, because people
would need to smoke less to achieve the desired effect. (It is not
possible to overdose on marijuana.)

* Even if marijuana were stronger, it still wouldn't be a
"different drug" -- it would just be a more concentrated form of the same
drug. A shot of whiskey isn't a "different drug" from beer.


"...in any war, the first casualty is common sense, and the second is free
and open discussion." James Reston, New York Times, 1965


"Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the
street but also to protect the public from HARMFUL IDEAS."
James Ingersoll, 1972, first Director of the DEA


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