B.C. STRIKES GOLD WITH POTENT CROPS

BRITISH Columbia marijuana is prized through-out the world because of its
potency.

Run-of-the-mill marijuana contains only 2 to 3 per cent
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active mood-altering ingredient.

B.C. pot is stronger. Some hauls seized by the RCMP have contained as much
as 15 per cent THC. Two years ago, marijuana from Surrey, B.C., won an
intemational pot award, according to RCMP Constable Vince Arsenault.

But is high-potency dope more dangerous to the health?

To find out, The Star contacted Robin Room, a scientist affiliated with the
Addiction Research Foundation division of Toronto's Addiction and Mental
Health Service Corp.

Room co-authored a recent study done for the World Health Organization on
the relative risks of marijuana use.

This study concluded that marijuana - while harmful to the health - is less
so under current use panems than either tobacco or alcohol.

The study received some notoriety when WHO refused to publish it. Critics
charged that WHO was worried the findings might be seen to contradict
Washington's war on drugs.

The study will be published instead by the Addiction Research Foundarion in
a book due out this fall.

On the question of marijuana potency, Room said the answer depends on how
people smoke. Most users, he said, smoke only enough to reach the desired
level of high.

In that case, he said, the higher the THC content in the marijuana, the
less users smoke.

Since much of the damage from marijuana comes from inhaling the tars in the
weed, high-potency pot should actually be safer than traditional low-THC
brands, he says.

"Naive or first-time smokers might smoke too much," he said. "But I would
expect experienced users to smoke less." -- Dave Haans Graduate Student,
University of Toronto WWW: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~haans/

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski