|
A Realistic Perspective of So-Called
“Super-Pot”
Why high-grade indoor cannabis is the healthiest cannabis yet
By Jade Kine
Jah Bless the indoor cannabis growers of the world. I mean it.
Indoor pot growers are the icons of freedom to an entire generation
of counter culture and the unsung heroes of countless medical
marijuana patients around the globe. They have been dealt assault
and slander from every angle, yet have persevered and continued
humankind’s symbiosis with cannabis to such an extent that
they have actually accelerated the advancement of horticultural
science world-wide in the process. Indoor growing methods have
made it possible not only to grow more cannabis and better cannabis,
but cleaner cannabis that is free of the impurities of bush-grown
weed. But before we look at how current production methods grow
better, more wholesome cannabis actually fit to be deemed medicine,
I want to put an end to this ridiculous “super-pot”
panic, because we’ll be unable to talk about the benefits
of stronger cannabis with all this nonsense clouding people’s
thoughts. First, let’s look at how this misconception got
started, and then I’ll get into why stronger, indoor cannabis
is healthier cannabis than ever before.
If you listen to Prime Minister Howard long enough and you might
get the obscene notion that indoor cannabis is some kind of scourge
to society; yet bug infested, mold tainted, dirt covered weed
grown outdoors that still has plenty of THC for people to get
high on, that’s ok. Because that’s what the hippies
of the 1960’s smoked. And they hardly got high at all, right?
Mister Howard's party would have you believe that back then marijuana
was a safe, innocuous drug, and only in the last 30 years has
it turned into an entirely different plant fraught with psychosis-inducing,
youth-corrupting properties. All this talk about hydroponic “super-pot”
and the hysteria that it’s ruining the present generation
of young people is the biggest hoax that modern anti-cannabis
propaganda has yet invented.
The truly sinister aspect of this hype is that
it was invented strictly as a way for some of the current generation
of parents to get out of their accountability for having smoked
marijuana themselves back in the day. Now these ex-hippie
parents don’t have a good answer for why they smoked pot
in their youth, and despite having inhaled, still went to go on
to lead productive lives and raise a family. So when the school
principal tells Mom and Dad that Johnny is smoking weed and Johnny
knows that his parents were hippies back in the day, it puts Mom
and Dad in an awkward place.
Mom and Dad are now left with two options. They can either begin
an extensive dialogue with their child to honestly discuss all
of the facets of marijuana, such as when it is inappropriate for
immature youths, people with addictive personalities and people
with histories of mental illness. They’d also have to discuss
how they used marijuana and that, in moderation, cannabis use
by adults is generally harmless to the vast majority of users,
that it is a much safer recreational drug than alcohol or nicotine,
and that it has been used for thousands of years as one of humankind’s
most valuable medicines. However, if the parent’s chose
this option of honesty and the school principal finds out; they’ll
call the cops, claim the parents are corrupting the child by advocating
drug use and the child will be put into protective custody, thereby
making this first option of honesty illegal. So let me rephrase
my prior statement. Mom and Dad have one option. Lie. Lie through
their teeth. The upside is, even though the government has just
forced them into lying to their own children, they won’t
need to think quick on their feet. The anti-cannabis marketing
department has already invented all sorts of ridiculous propaganda
to help Mom and Dad with their story.
“You see, Johnny, when we smoked marijuana, it hardly had
any THC in it at all and we didn’t even get high. In fact,
we didn’t even inhale. But this super weed on the streets
today is full of bad stuff that wasn’t in the plant 30 years
ago when we smoked it. We were able to lead successful lives because
we smoked dirt-poor weed. If you smoke this “good weed”,
you’ll go crazy and be in a mental institution forever huddled
in a corner in a straight jacket believing that you have become
a glass of orange juice. It’s not that marijuana’s
bad, it’s just that your generation’s marijuana is
bad, do you understand?”
And even though kids are smarter than ever at earlier ages than
ever, there is no underestimating the ability of parents, schools
and policymakers to talk down to them as though they were stupid
and incapable of understanding the truth that will inevitably
become self-evident later in life anyhow. So this is how this
myth has spiraled out of control and an entire generation has
reached a point in it’s social perspective where the common
person actually believes marijuana’s concentration of THC
determines how intoxicated the smoker gets; i.e. people who smoked
30 years ago didn’t get very high because the pot was weak,
but people who smoke today get really, really, high because the
pot is stronger. And that belief is absolutely one of the most
absurd things I’ve ever heard. Let me put it to you this
way:
If you drink two cups of mild coffee every morning, then go out
to eat one day and get served a cup of extra bold coffee –
Do you have a second glass simply because you’re used to
it or do you stop drinking at whatever level of wakefulness is
comfortable for you? What about cigarettes? If you smoke a pack
a day of ultra lights, then run out and only extra strong cigarettes
are available to smoke – Are you gonna smoke a whole pack
in a day? If you’re used to drinking a pint of beer after
work, but then one day the beer runs out and there’s only
liquor – Are you going to fill a pint glass with your favorite
liquor? Just because liquor is more concentrated than beer, that
doesn’t mean that you get any more drunk on it when you
drink. When people drink liquor, they drink a much lower volume
of liquid obviously and maintain whatever level of intoxication
they feel is appropriate for them. That’s the key point
here: any time people use intoxicants or medicines, they regulate
they’re level of intoxication and adjust their intake according
to their judgment.
So, in case you haven’t pieced it together yet, the hippies
actually did get stoned, exactly as stoned as their now-grown
kids do. The most common increment for buying cannabis in the
1960’s and 70’s was by the ounce, or “lid”
as Cheech called it, and they rolled as big and as many joints
as it took to get high. Nowadays, the standard increment for purchasing
cannabis is far less than the “lid” of the past. Most
smokers are buying only a few grams at a time, sometimes fractions
of a gram. Some smokers still roll joints, albeit small ones if
the herb is very strong, but pipes and bongs have allowed smokers
to efficiently consume small amounts of cannabis. The modern cannabis
smoker lucky enough to be smoking the so-called “Super-Pot”
inhales only a small fraction of the amount of cannabis that their
once hippie parents did back in the day. Pot today is stronger
than it was when it was first embraced by counter culture. Mind
you, it’s not the “30 times stronger” that some
conservative lunatics have claimed, but it is (at least as a trend)
decently stronger, ahem ….. which is the whole point. Pot
is supposed to be strong. The stronger it is, the less plant material
that people smoke. Medical marijuana patients in areas where cannabis
is some of the strongest in the world can now obtain the relief
they need for an entire day from less cannabis than it takes to
roll one small joint. The negative effect of the smoke on their
lungs is negligible due to the tiny amount of combusted plant
material and the comparatively high concentrations of naturally
occurring bronchial-dilating cannabinoids. That means that the
active ingredients in cannabis are actually good for your lungs,
even when smoked. Only the combusted plant material leads to unwanted
particulate matter in the lungs. With high-grade cannabis, the
amount of particulate matter inhaled in a day is less than the
amount of particulate matter inhaled on a daily basis in smoggy
urban areas.
The relatively higher concentrations of THC in today’s indoor
cannabis are one of the major benefits to cannabis smokers and
patients everywhere. As hydroponic and other indoor growing technologies
advance further, the production of cleaner, healthier cannabis
will advance as well to the point where fewer and fewer people
will have to smoke low-grade, bush weed cannabis full of mildew
and dust. These impurities are of far greater threat to a cannabis
user’s health than the cannabis itself. Thankfully, the
widespread dissemination of indoor growing information is allowing
modern growers in every climate to grow cannabis more efficiently,
of a higher quality and without impurities. Add to this the fact
that most hydroponic systems were developed specifically with
the intention of reducing horticultural impact to the environment
while improving crop quality and you can see that the benefits
of indoor growing affect both humans and the planet positively.
Many aspects of indoor horticulture allow for the production of
cleaner, healthier cannabis than could ever be possible when growing
outdoors. The ability to control every environmental variable
associated with plant health allows modern indoor growers to adapt
their environment to the exact needs of the varieties they grow.
When plants are grown in an ideal environment with abundant resources,
their vigor gives them an incredible immunity to pests and diseases.
In this way, the need for applying controls is greatly reduced.
Indoor growers also have the ability to operate a more sterile
environment than outdoor farmers. For instance, indoor growers
can source and filter the air leading into their grow spaces.
This drastically reduces the amount of fungus spores, pollen and
dust that lead to pest and disease issues when growing outdoors
further reducing the need for applying pest or disease controls.
Growers also have the ability to sterilize their grow spaces between
crops, so there is never an accumulation of even the smallest
amount of dust. Another extremely easy way that indoor growers
are keeping their grow rooms sterile is by making a “foot
bath” at the entranceway of the space by placing a folded
towel into a small pan or tray and keeping it constantly moistened
with a diluted bleach solution. Whenever the gardener goes into
the room, their feet are sterilized so they are not tracking in
problems.
Furthermore, if problems do arise, indoor cannabis growers tend
to be oriented toward natural, organic pest and disease controls
if they become necessary. Subsequently, the hydroponic/indoor
growing industries have specialized in creating and distributing
a myriad of safe, nontoxic forms of pest and disease control for
plants, such as botanical extracts and oils. The environmental
control of indoor growing allows growers to make these mild organic
controls work much more effectively than they would when growing
outdoors. Several gardeners I know need nothing other than the
occasional spray with a small amount of organic biodegradable
soap or a light horticultural oil to keep even problem pests away.
The key to bigger, stronger, cleaner cannabis is keeping the growing
environment as clean as possible at all times. This simply is
not possible when growing in the bush. Only in controlled environments
such as greenhouses and indoor gardens can truly high-cannabis,
suitable for use as medicine, be grown.
That’s why I cheer for the indoor cannabis growers of the
world and rightfully call them heroes. Despite the unfounded,
fanatical lies spread about them and their horticultural pastime,
they have pushed the potential of cannabis forward into a new
era. No longer does marijuana need to be perceived as a dirty
weed. Cannabis is now as refined as the finest wines. Smokers
are spending less time coughing on mold and dirt and more time
experiencing the benign, yet enjoyable effects of cannabis. Medical
cannabis patients are able to gain the relief they need without
fear of impurities in their medicine.
And yet, Prime Minister Howard is upset by these changes. He would
prefer people only had access to low-grade moldy dirt pot. I bet
that would make it easier for him to feel good about telling people
not to smoke it. With all this potent, clean, medical-grade cannabis
around allowing cannabis users to feel the effects of the most
benign plant on earth with only the inhaled smoke of one or two
puffs, it becomes much more difficult to justify telling people
to not do it and even more difficult to justify putting them in
jail for it. Perhaps this is why Mister Howard would prefer indoor
growers to give up the technology of the last 30 years and forget
about the harm reduction created by more potent cannabis. Good
luck trying to undo 30 years of horticultural advancement, Mister
Howard. Now that this technology is so widespread that it exists
in every nook and cranny of every country on the globe and thousands
of people are waking up every day to the realization that cannabis
is clearly safer than the alternative legal intoxicants of alcohol
and nicotine, I’m sure you’ll find the eradication
of indoor cannabis to be more challenging than the eradication
of every grain of sand from the Gold Coast.
|
