TODAY'S MARIJUANA IS FAR MORE POTENT

I have spoken to a number of people recently - most of them baby
boomer age - who did not know there is a difference between the
marijuana of the 1960s and 1970s and what is being cultivated today.

In the 1960s and '70s all they used was the leaves of the marijuana
plant. Today they use the buds of the plant. In the '60s and '70s they
didn't even know the plant made buds as the plant never grew long
enough to produce them. The level of THC, the drug in marijuana, is
concentrated many times over in the buds from what the potency is in
the leaves. Also, the smell of the buds is far more potent. It is only
seasonal, but it is the summer season when everyone wants to enjoy
their yards, and it is called "skunk weed" for a reason.

I don't know what the cost of marijuana is now, but it is a drug and I
would guess it makes cigarettes look like a dime a dozen. I am for
marijuana being used as a true medicine, but now anyone can get a
prescription for it and to grow it. Marijuana is mostly smoked and the
smoke is very, very harsh. There will be an increase in emphysema and
other lung-related illnesses and the medical costs of them. That is
not even touching on other physical, mental/emotional and social
problems we will surely acquire.

Christine Mathews, Redding