I am writing in response to a reader in Georgetown who sees cannabis sales as a positive thing for the local community. She cites loss of revenue and crime reduction as benefits of legal sales. These legal shops are targeted regularly by criminal gangs and people who are dependent on drugs, just like robbers target banks because that’s where the money is. If anyone thinks the cannabis that is the new progressive name for pot, I guess, is the same stuff everyone who grew up in the ’70s smoked, including me, then they are in for a real surprise.
In the 1970s, Woodstock Weed contained roughly 1% to 3% THC. Since then, potency of marijuana plant material has increased to an average potency of 18% to 23% today. In 2017, THC concentrates had an average THC potency of 55.7%. Today, many retailers promote and profit from products containing up to 95% to 99% THC.
This level of THC can and will cause hallucinations. We do not need our youth, which is our future, smoking what amounts to LSD. These are not smiling stoners; these are kids who are losing their grip on reality by smoking pot this strong. A few weeks ago, on the beach, I found an empty vape vial marked 87% THC.
Some people might want to trade a generation of children in for a few tax dollars, but not me. Keep dangerous drugs illegal and stop pandering for votes on the souls of our children.
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