Today’s concentrates can be more than 90% THC. Legalization has also helped open the door to products that are extracted from marijuana but look nothing like it: oily, waxy, or crystalline THC concentrates that are heated and inhaled through vaping or dabbing, which can involve a bong-like device and a blowtorch. Today many varieties of cannabis flower - plant matter that can be smoked in a joint - are listed as more than 30% THC.Īt one California dispensary, the menu recently included a strain posted as 41% THC. In 1980, the THC content of confiscated marijuana was less than 1.5%. Pot has changed profoundly since generations of Americans were first exposed to it.Ĭannabis has been cultivated to deliver much higher doses of THC. The FDA “has basically sat on its hands and failed to honor its duty to protect the public health,” said Eric Lindblom, a scholar at Georgetown University’s law school who previously worked at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. But when it comes to cannabis sales, which many states have legalized, the federal government does not regulate attributes like purity or potency. It still bans marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance - as a drug with no accepted medical use and a high chance of abuse - under the Controlled Substances Act. The federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach.

“In many states the products come with a warning label and potentially no other activity by regulators,” said Cassin Coleman, vice chair of the scientific advisory committee of the National Cannabis Industry Association. On 'weed day,' our medical analyst urges caution on recreational marijuana use Man placing desiccated marijuana leaves inside rolling paper. Close-up of a young adult rolling a marijuana joint against a blurred background.

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