Lisbon, Portugal: The overall strength of marijuana available in Europe has remained stable despite claims from US officials and others that it has increased significantly in recent years, according to a study released this week by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
The study, which analyzed the potency of marijuana seized by police between 1995 and 2002, is the first-ever European review of cannabis potency.
“There is no evidence of a significant increase in potency,” authors determined. “Today’s report shows that effective potency of cannabis in nearly all EU countries has remained quite stable for many years, at around 6-8 percent THC.”
Average pot potency in the Netherlands was higher than the EU average, authors noted, because domestically-produced, indoor cannabis is more widely available there than in other European nations.
Average potency of US pot is between 4 and 5 percent THC, according to federal statistics.
In recent years, US Drug Czar John Walters and other anti-drug officials have alleged that today’s marijuana is, on average, some “30 times” more potent than the pot available in the 1960s and 1970s.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of the NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study is available online at:
http://www.emcdda.eu.int/