3 ms·

> We keep selling the idea that bud is natural but ask anyone older than 60 who smokes and they will tell you 'modern' cannabis is absolutely wild compared with

> We keep selling the idea that bud is natural but ask anyone older than 60 who smokes and they will tell you 'modern' cannabis is absolutely wild compared with what existed a few decades ago. To be fair, this is true of all drugs across the board, most notably alcohol.

johnea 3y ago
As a daily weed smoker, over 60, who's not a fan of alcohol, I still have to disagree with this. The strain selection that's gone on since cannabis was legalized has led to massively more potent strains. But alcohol products, measured in "proof" equal to 2x the percentage of alcohol in the product, has been stable since before my lifetime. Alcohol hasn't changed it's potency at all. However to support your point (maybe), then and now, alcohol causes MUCH more social and medical harm than cannabis.
- thedaly 3y ago
  I should be more clear, I mostly mean alcohol in the time since the industrial revolution, after breakthroughs were made in the yeast technology. Prior to the developments, there was a limit to how potent we could brew alcohol before it poisoned the yeast. Although, IPAs are one example of alcohol potency increasing over the last few decades. Perhaps the better comparison to cannabis is nicotine, which has also exploded in potency over the last 50 years. Anecdotally, this trend seems to be ingrained in human nature. We like are drugs and we like them as strong as we can make them.
  - flextheruler 3y ago
    We’ve had liquor for nearly as long as we’ve had alcohol. How has the potency of alcohol products increased? Yes there are stronger IPAs but they’re a small minority of alcohol products who are still well below the alcohol percentages of liquor or wine. Also I don’t see how nicotine product potency has increased either. There’s just salt nicotine vapes now and they often still pale in comparison to strong tobacco in terms of nicotine concentration. And trust me the tobacco are ancestors had was just as strong if not stronger as what we have. We figured out selective breeding of plants a long time ago and tobacco has been openly grown for centuries.

johnea 3y ago

As a daily weed smoker, over 60, who's not a fan of alcohol, I still have to disagree with this. The strain selection that's gone on since cannabis was legalized has led to massively more potent strains. But alcohol products, measured in "proof" equal to 2x the percentage of alcohol in the product, has been stable since before my lifetime. Alcohol hasn't changed it's potency at all. However to support your point (maybe), then and now, alcohol causes MUCH more social and medical harm than cannabis.

thedaly 3y ago
I should be more clear, I mostly mean alcohol in the time since the industrial revolution, after breakthroughs were made in the yeast technology. Prior to the developments, there was a limit to how potent we could brew alcohol before it poisoned the yeast. Although, IPAs are one example of alcohol potency increasing over the last few decades. Perhaps the better comparison to cannabis is nicotine, which has also exploded in potency over the last 50 years. Anecdotally, this trend seems to be ingrained in human nature. We like are drugs and we like them as strong as we can make them.
- flextheruler 3y ago
  We’ve had liquor for nearly as long as we’ve had alcohol. How has the potency of alcohol products increased? Yes there are stronger IPAs but they’re a small minority of alcohol products who are still well below the alcohol percentages of liquor or wine. Also I don’t see how nicotine product potency has increased either. There’s just salt nicotine vapes now and they often still pale in comparison to strong tobacco in terms of nicotine concentration. And trust me the tobacco are ancestors had was just as strong if not stronger as what we have. We figured out selective breeding of plants a long time ago and tobacco has been openly grown for centuries.