Cannabis Stronger Now Than In The '70s

By: Ian Morgan

An increase in intensive indoor cannabis cultivation in the UK since David Cameron's schooldays is widely believed to have increased the availability of more potent varieties. Some high-profile reports have said that modern cannabis is now 10 or even 20 times stronger than that available in the 1970s. But, as with any illegal drug, finding reliable and complete information on what is on the streets is difficult.

A report by the European Monitoring Centre For Drugs and Addiction in 2004 rejected the idea that cannabis had become significantly stronger in most of Europe since the 1970s, with only "modest" overall increases. The strength of cannabis is measured by the percentage of a component called Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). A briefing paper by the UK charity DrugScope estimates that the THC content of most cannabis available in the UK has remained relatively constant at 6-8%.

The European study found that only in the Netherlands, where more than half of all cannabis is produced through indoor cultivation, was this significantly higher at 16%. While the potency of standard imported cannabis has remained relatively unchanged, indoor cultivation is known to boost THC concentrations two or threefold. This is because of both growing techniques themselves as well as the practice of cross-fertilisation to produce much stronger hybrid varieties such as skunk.

Last year 55-year-old David Wyler from Nottingham was jailed for five years after Derby Crown Court heard that plants with a THC content as high as 29% had been found at a house in Ilkeston, Derbyshire - thought to be among the strongest ever found in the UK. Although the indoor propagation is believed to be on the rise in the UK, recent estimates suggest it may still only account for around a quarter of cannabis in Britain. DrugScope spokesman Harry Shapiro said: "I would say that the fact that indoor cannabis growing on a commercial basis has definitely increased since the 1970s means there is the potential for stronger varieties of cannabis to be more widely available."

"Nobody knows exactly what the percentage of THC out there is in any given moment."

But he added: "What I don't want to be saying is that cannabis in general is a lot more strong than it was."

"However you could say the increase in indoor cannabis growth in the UK on a commercial basis has the potential for increasing the amount of strong cannabis in circulation."

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