Extroverting

Category: THC

  • New Strains of Potent Pot Cause Memory Loss and Addiction, Study Finds

    High-potency pot is causing psychiatric issues, including addiction and memory problems. New strains of the recreational drug have higher levels of the active chemical and not enough of another compound that keeps the drug safe.

    And as a new study this week documents, the riskiest pot is coming from the black market—which could be an argument for expanding legalization, according to Newsweek.

    The new report, published this week by Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K., tested 50 samples of cannabis in the city of Manchester. The study was conducted by Volteface, a London-based policy think tank seeking reform for marijuana laws to improve safety of the drug by making it legal, and thus limiting demand on the local black market.

    All of the samples had high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of the drug that produces the “high,” and inconsequential amounts of cannabidiols (CBDs), the protective compound of the drug that prevents marijuana from becoming unsafe.

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  • Cannabis Potency Numbers Can Be Misleading

    THC numbers on specific strains of marijuana only tell part of the story, according to a report in the Colorado Springs Independent.

    Ingrid Henderson, manager at MiNDFUL dispensary and a certified herbalist, says, “THC testing isn’t a universal key to how [cannabis] is going to affect your body; it’s simply a parameter.”

    There are a lot of variables in the growing process, she notes, and, despite scientists’ and regulators’ best intentions, in the testing process. That’s because every bud has its own unique properties. And everybody has their own response to those properties. “My dispensary is fortunate enough to have most strains above 20 percent,” Henderson says, “but I swear to God some of the lower percentages get me higher.”

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  • Marijuana and ‘Spice’ Could Trigger Seizures, Study Says

    While a number of studies have suggested that marijuana may be effective for reducing seizures, new research cautions that potent and synthetic forms of the drug have the opposite effect.

    Researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan found that both natural tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the psychoactive chemical in marijuana — and the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 known as “spice” caused seizures in mice.

    There has been increasing research for the use of marijuana – particularly a cannabinoid in the drug called cannabidiol (CBD) – in the treatment of seizures in patients with epilepsy. However, the new study from Malyshevskaya and team suggests that general use of high-potency marijuana may actually trigger seizures.

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  • Activists Plan Marijuana Ceremony in D.C. Church During Eclipse

    Activists Plan Marijuana Ceremony in D.C. Church During Eclipse

    A group that believes there is an ancient and little-known connection between Christianity and cannabis plans to burn oil full of psychoactive cannabinoids inside the nation’s largest Roman Catholic church during the solar eclipse on August 21.

    Anne Armstrong, a longtime cannabis activist and leader of Rhode Island’s Healing Church, says infused olive oil will be put at the bottom of a metal censer and topped with incense for use during a prayer service.

    “We’re timing it to coincide with the eclipse, there’s a lot of interesting astrological things going on,” she says.

    Read the full story.