Skunk Becomes Drug Of Choice For Cannabis Users

[Herb Fellow]

Cannabis users are smoking more of the stronger stuff as skunk marijuana pushes traditional pot to the sidelines of the British drugs market, a government advisory panel heard today. The highly potent sinsemilla, or "skunk" as it's known on the street, is now used by up to 70% of cannabis users, jumping from just 15% six years ago.

The evidence marked the beginning of a two-day fact-finding mission by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The information presented will form the basis of the council's recommendations to the government about whether or not cannabis should be reclassified as a class B drug, after being bumped down to class C four years ago.

Marjorie Wallace, the chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said she believed cannabis should be returned to class B to combat what she said were mixed messages on its harmfulness.

Rawlins asked: "Are you really wanting people to go to prison for five years for possession? Bear in mind that 3.5 million took cannabis last year - there aren't enough prison spaces to deal with them all."

The national director for mental health at the Department of Health, Louis Appleby, told the committee that attitudes towards cannabis had become complacent.

He said health professionals had been "guilty of complacency" on the issue.

Pointing to evidence that implicates marijuana use in the development of severe mental illness, Appleby called cannabis a "harmful drug" that contributed to a cycle of relapse and risk in mentally disordered patients.

Cindy Barnett of the Magistrates Association told the hearing that downgrading "sent out the wrong message".

"An awful lot of people think cannabis is now legal," she said. "We feel very strongly it is a question of mixed messages, confusion and increasing harm that is being caused by reclassification to class C and we feel very strongly it should go back to class B."

Dr Les King, an adviser to the Home Office scientific development branch, told the ACMD several hundred samples seized by police on the streets in just the last weeks showed levels of skunk had rocketed, while cannabis resin, or hash, had slumped to being used by 20% of smokers, compared to over 60% previously.

Traditional herbal cannabis now accounts for just 5% of seizures, compared with 15% six years ago, he added.

"The large increase in the market share of sinsemilla appears to have come about in the last few years," said King. "It is now clearly the dominant product. It coincides with the rise of these large organised criminal concerns run by the Vietnamese. Traditional herbal cannabis has almost been squeezed out of the market."

The Vietnamese "concerns" King refers to is the sharp escalation of pot farms over the past couple of years. In the two years up to March 2007, police had raided 1,500 cannabis factories in London alone - triple the amount from the two years previous to that period, according to earlier figures from the drugs charity DrugScope.

David Potter, of GW Pharmaceuticals, who has conducted a separate survey of samples from a number of police forces, told the ACMD he had found a similar swing towards stronger cannabis.

"It's like a wave moving towards the more potent end," he said. "People are moving towards sinsemilla, which is a much, much more potent product. This has the potential to change the cannabis scene quite a lot."

The ACMD heard that skunk contains higher levels of the active ingredient in cannabis, known as THC. But it also contains much lower levels of another ingredient, cannabidiol or CBD, an anti-psychotic substance which may moderate effects of THC on the mental health of users.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has said she would keep an open mind on the issue of reclassification in the face of calls for tougher penalties for possession from the police and the opposition.

Source: Guardian Unlimited
Copyright: 2008 Guardian Unlimited
Contact: Roxanne Escobales
Website: Skunk becomes drug of choice for cannabis users | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics

[Midwestsmoker]

I wonder if they even consider the fact that "traditional herbal marijuana" users just have to smoke more to have the same effects. In this way, the stronger stuff could be considered better for you because you only have to smoke a small amount to get high.

[Herb Fellow]

Truth be told, they don't really give a damn what is better.

[Medical Cannabis]

5% or seizures? Hrm...

[Herb Fellow]

Originally Posted by WestCoastToke

5% or seizures? Hrm...

Fiction, Reefer Madness, Scar Tactics, Propaganda, Government

[Boss]

If you give somthing a name, it exists.

It's not the sun, it's a burning star.
It's not coc***ne it's cr%^
It's not hemp, it's Marijuana.
It's not weed, it's Skunk.

Play on words. People make money making things spin like this.

[Herb Fellow]

I wonder how the cops determine that the pot is skunk?

[alienpornopot]

if you know anything about how north american and european cannabis breading evolved ... it's almost all skunk! most of the good shit has been weened out of the skunks.

[1classclown1]

Mr. Potter of GW Pharma sure sounds delighted about the way "pot will be seen differently" He seems Extremely worried about his profits in the smelly world of corp. medicine. Had his own private survey done, and keeps personal tabs on his bloody money. Gotta smoke Now. See if he's right, you know.

[sicntired]

I live in Vansterdam and sometimes it smells like skunk everywhere you go here.You can't miss it when some body's venting their grow late at night.It smells like....Victory!

[wdziak]

I Got Mine.

[Midwestsmoker]

Originally Posted by Herb Fellow

I wonder how the cops determine that the pot is skunk?

I'm guessing they heard some 15 yr old informant facing charges say it lol.

[BadBradBlu]

As I have been smoking cannabis for 15 years now (more than half the time I have been alive), I have gone through the stages of indian hemp equivalent to the the skunk equivalent - I have to say it is much less demotivating and easier to participate in society having 2-3 pulls of high quality, potent cannabis than a Bob Marley sized joint of weaker "herbal" grade. A drag of something powerful is less damaging to the respitory system than holding in lung full after lungful of poor quality cannabis smoke trying to achive the same relief. As for the mental concern of the lower CBD levels contributing to psychosis - that is a responsibilty of the smoker and peers to regulate. In South Africa we have a drink called Straw Rum which hav the highest vol. of alcohol of all that is available, no one is trying to ban alcohol despite its potency increasing and deaths due to alcohol poisoning - I have not heard of the increased THC levels of modern cannabis causing death, and even psychosis does naturally subside after a few days when an irresponible smoker have induced it in themself. I have never experienced psychosis from cannabis and I SMOKE SKUNK HEAVILY!

[Herb Fellow]

Welcome to the 420 family! Good to hear that the cannabis in Zimbabwe is of such a potent quality. Smoke on!

[Boss]

I have a problem with everyone telling me that pot smoke is bad for my lungs, and it have never been proven. It seems people refer to it like it's fact, when the truth is, we don't know if it's any more or less harmful then leaning over steaks on the grill.