The Straight Toke - THE Marijuana Blog

Is Dutch weed really that much stronger than what's available elsewhere? If so, why?

Marijuana's strength is measured in terms of the available concentration of THC. The strongest commonly-available strain of Cannabis contains 22.1% THC -- quite a lot, considering that naturally occurring Marijuana only contains somewhere between two and five percent THC.

Dutch Cannabis typically contains more than 15% THC, but that figure fluctuates from year to year as demonstrated in a report by the Trimbos Institute:

The average level tested in 2007 is 16% compared to 17.5% in 2006.

Now that's not to say that Dutch weed is getting significantly weaker. There are probably only a handful of Cannabis users in the world who'd be able to tell the difference between lighting up a joint with some 16% THC weed and puffing on a spliff rolled with Cannabis containing 17.5% THC. Even 16% THC is a substantial amount -- more than enough to cause heavy effects.

But what about hash? According to the same source:

Even more dramatic was the drop in THC content in the imported hash the Trimbos Institute tested – from 18.7% in 2006 down to 13.3% in 2007

According to the boys at Amsterdam Logue, this drop is due to a change in production conditions in Morocco, the source of most Dutch hash. Personally, I wouldn't put too much stock in that -- street hash tends to have a high (but more varied) THC content to begin with, so these numbers may not tell the whole story.

While people in the Netherlands have to worry about smoking dud pot just yet, if the study is any indication, there has been a recent drop in THC content in both buds and hash. Still, the 16% THC content of Dutch buds puts the average THC content of North American buds (8.5% on average, as of 2007) to shame.

To our Dutch readers: light up, and rest assured -- you've still got some of the most potent pot!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Health/Medicine, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.