[420 Girl]

Washington, DC: Data published this week by the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project indicating an increase in the strength of cannabis' primary psychoactive ingredient THC is further evidence of the failure of criminal pot prohibition, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said today.

"The federal government spends billions of dollars each year enforcing criminal marijuana laws and what does it have to show for it: more marijuana users, greater marijuana availability, and stronger pot," he said.

St. Pierre added, however, that more potent marijuana is not necessarily more dangerous. "Marijuana poses no risk of fatal overdose, regardless of THC content," he said. "In addition, studies indicate that cannabis consumers readily distinguish between high and low potency marijuana and moderate their use accordingly, just as an alcohol consumer would drink fewer ounces of (high potency) bourbon than they would ounces of (low potency) beer."

St. Pierre also denied claims that the availability of stronger cannabis was responsible for the rise in so-called "marijuana treatment" admissions. "The overwhelming majority of young people in the US referred to 'treatment' for marijuana are there because they violated state pot laws, not because they or their loved ones believed they were suffering ill effects from cannabis," he said. "In reality, this surge in treatment admissions is an outgrowth of enhanced marijuana law enforcement, not enhanced marijuana potency."

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at paul@norml.org.


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