Today's cannabis isn't yesterday's cannabis. It's not what the hippies smoked in the 1960s and '70s, and it's not what was going around barely over a decade ago in the final years before legalization here in Washington.
Today's cannabis is strong. Maybe too strong.
Last week, I walked into two Spokane dispensaries and, with a simple budget of $10 for each store, asked for something low-THC.
I walked out of one dispensary with a gram labeled as 18.5% THC. I walked out of the other with a more reasonable preroll listed at 15.8% THC.
Neither of those should be considered "low-THC."
In 1995, decades after the hippies brought cannabis into the mainstream, the Drug Enforcement Administration listed the average THC content of cannabis in the United States at 4%, according to research from Yale. By 2017, Yale reported the average had risen to 17% THC.
Rounding to whole numbers, the 19% and 16% products that I was recommended are about as low as our local dispensaries are selling. At the very least, they're as low as I was sold.
Is there not a market for something lower?
How does someone without a massive tolerance catch just a mild buzz?
It seems almost impossible, and keep in mind that I have been writing about cannabis weekly for five years now. If I don't have the answer, then who does?
Since legalization in 2012, the cannabis industry has leaned heavily into a more-is-better approach to how it produces the products we consume. Whether it's flower or dabs or concentrates, potency has become king.
Last year, Washington lawmakers considered raising the tax level on high-potency cannabis. They did not, but maybe they should have.
For now, Washington will allow cannabis to be grown with as high of a level of THC as the grower can produce, whether it's good for the consumer or not. Regular or decent potency cannabis will continue to be allowed but not necessarily encouraged by the market.
Is high-THC cannabis the only future of the market?
We don't know, but it's clearly the current state of the market, and that's a shame. Because there's a lot more to cannabis than its ability to get someone incredibly stoned.
For now, though, best of luck if you're looking for anything short of that. ♦
