Another attempt to show that skunk is causing the entire population to go nuts.
Skunk, the powerful form of cannabis dominating the street drug market, is seven times more likely to cause psychosis than ordinary cannabis, scientists say.
Someone else will have to dig into that particular story but I do note this:
Most cannabis users remain healthy, he said, but he pointed to the growing takeover in the street markets of skunk, which contain 18% THC, the substance thought to trigger psychosis, compared with about 4% in cannabis resin (hash).
That simply doesn\’t look right at all. Hash has a lower THC content than regular buds? Seriously?
Um yes that’s correct. Hash, otherwise known as “solids” is the black hard stuff you get, its usually mixed with lots of other crap and not as strong as “skunk” which is the green buds you get straight from the plant and much cleaner and nicer.
Tim adds: OK, well, I knew I was a few decades behind the times on the minutiae of drug taking…..
yes, hash is well known to be much milder than skunk. It really is vicious stuff you know; lots of people who aren’t teenagers with glue-sniffing mentality won’t touch it.
Air + time + heat are not friends of THC.
I’m surprised Gordon isn’t on the TV claiming “British Drugs For British Junkies” or some such thing and claiming that British Skunk is a world leader ……..
Since when does resin=hash? Here in the US, resin is that black sticky residue you get when you burn marijuana. It’s the stuff you scrape out of your pipe when it gets clogged and it’s a lot more potent then the weed you smoked through the pipe.
Ben Goldacre destroyed the whole “skunk is ten times stronger than ordinary dope” myth in his book Bad Science.
For those without a Waterstones to hand, try this link to the relevant pages on his Bad Science website:
http://www.badscience.net/category/drurgs/
Ben might work for the Grauniad and have some funny ideas about business but on bad science he’s one of the good guys.