Issue In Focus
The new Monitoring the Future Survey results for 2013 were released recently.
In discussing the new data in
a video released on YouTube,
Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
said this: “If we compare the numbers that were, for example, in 2000
regular users, and now in 2013, we have seen increases in those numbers.
But in 2000, at the 2000 level of 9 THC was at least half of the levels
that we observe now, at least half. So that means that not just were
there less kids taking the drug regularly, but even those that were
taking it regularly were taking a much less potent drug.”
It
almost sounded like she was asserting that THC levels have doubled but
that's not what she said. She did definitely assert that in 2000,
cannabis was much less potent.
The short version of this report
is, she was wrong. This isn't just some political hack, or an uninformed
blogger. She's the director of the government's National Institute on
Drug Abuse, she's supposed to be the government's science person on
drugs. That's not acceptable.
Let's look at what's known. These data are available through drugwarfacts.org, in the marijuana section, where you can find a
table of average THC levels of seized samples of cannabis as reported by the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project.
These
are the only data on this, they're the same data Nora Volkow has. The
Project stopped testing domestic samples a few years ago, the last
domestic cannabis data are from 2010. Samples of non-domestic cannabis –
imports from Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, and so many other countries –
continue to be tested, but only preliminary data for 2012 are currently
available.
Average THC potencies are given for two grades of
cannabis: low-end commercial grade – what they call simply “marijuana” -
and high-end sinsemilla-type cannabis. The overall combined average
they report includes a few samples of ditchweed, so we'll stick with
specific data for “marijuana” and “sinsemilla”, and since 2010 is the
last year with domestic data, we'll use it for comparison.
In
2000, non-domestic commercial grade marijuana averaged 5.10% THC. The
non-domestic sinsemilla type averaged 12.87%. Domestic commercial grade
marijuana averaged 3.96% THC, and domestic sinsemilla type averaged
12.72%.
In 2010, non-domestic commercial grade marijuana averaged
6.69% THC. Non-domestic sinsemilla type averaged 12.81% THC. Domestic
commercial grade marijuana averaged 2.79% THC, and domestic sinsemilla
type averaged 11.84%.
So only one category shows an increase in
average potency from 2000 to 2010 is for non-domestic commercial grade
cannabis – an increase of 31%, going from 5.1 to 6.69% THC. The others
all show decreases, in fact the average THC of domestic commercial grade
dropped by 29.5%.
There are fluctuations: In 2011, the average
THC in non-domestic commercial marijuana was down to 5.6%, the average
for non-domestic sinsemilla type was 13.47%. They stopped testing
domestic samples in 2010, remember, and for what it's worth those
numbers were much lower in 2009, when domestic commercial averaged 2.43%
THC and domestic sinsemilla type averaged only 7.37%.
So, Nora
Volkow's statement? Maybe not a flatout lie, but inaccurate and
misleading at best. The point is, don't just trust authority. Always
question, always check, and the fact-checker's best friend is Drug War
Facts. Eventually, hopefully, we'll get complete potency data for 2012,
and when that's available, you'll find it at drugwarfacts.org.
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More graphics will be available soon, including data tables from the pages of DWF!
Notable New Facts
(Drug Offenders in US Prisons 2012)
Federal: On Dec. 31, 2012, there were 196,574 sentenced prisoners under
federal jurisdiction. Of these, 99,426 were serving time for drug
offenses, 11,688 for violent offenses, 11,568 for property offenses, and
72,519 for "public order" offenses (of which 23,700 were sentenced for
immigration offenses, 30,046 for weapons offenses, and 17,633 for
"other").
State: On Dec. 31, 2011, there were 1,341,797 sentenced
prisoners under state jurisdiction. Of these, 222,738 were serving time
for drug offenses, of whom 55,013 were merely convicted for possession.
There were also 717,861 serving time for violent offenses, 249,574 for
property offenses, 142,230 for "public order" offenses (which include
weapons, drunk driving, court offenses, commercialized vice, morals and
decency offenses, liquor law violations, and other public-order
offenses), and 9,392 for "other/unspecified".
Source: E. Ann Carson
and Daniela Golinelli, "Prisoners in 2012: Trends in Admissions and
Releases, 1991-2012" (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of
Justice Statistics, Dec. 2013), NCJ243920, Table 5, p. 3, and Appendix
Table 10, p. 43.
(US Population Under Community Supervision
Declining) "During 2012, the number of adults under community
supervision declined for the fourth consecutive year. At yearend 2012,
an estimated 4,781,300 adults were under community supervision, down
40,500 offenders from the beginning of the year (figure 1). About 1 in
50 adults in the United States was under community supervision at
yearend 2012. The community supervision population includes adults on
probation, parole, or any other post-prison supervision. (See BJS
definition of probation and parole.)
"The decline in the total
number of adults under community supervision is attributed to the drop
in the probation population as probationers accounted for the majority
(82%) of adults under community supervision. The decline of 38,300
offenders in the probation population (from an estimated 3,981,000 to
3,942,800) accounted for about 95% of the decline in the overall
community supervision population. The parole population declined by
about 500 offenders during 2012, falling from an estimated 851,700 to
851,200."
Source: Laura M. Maruschak and Thomas P. Bonczar,
"Probation and Parole in the United States, 2012" (Washington, DC: US
Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2012),
NCJ243826, p. 1.
"Any Illicit Drug. The index of any illicit drug
use tends to be driven by marijuana, which is by far the most prevalent
of the many illicitly used drugs. In 2013, the proportions of students
indicating any use of an illicit drug in the prior 12 months are 15
percent, 32 percent, and 40 percent in grades 8, 10 and 12,
respectively—higher than a year ago by 1.5, 1.6 and 0.6 percentage
points for the same grades (only the change at 8th grade is
statistically significant). For the three grades combined, the rate is
up by 1.3 percentage points, also a statistically significant increase.
The percentages indicating any use in their lifetime are 20 percent, 39
percent and 50 percent. In other words, half of America's high school
seniors have tried an illicit drug by the time they graduate and four in
10 have used it in just the past year.
"But it should also be noted
that fully half of today's seniors have not tried an illicit drug by
the end of high school," said Lloyd Johnston, the principal investigator
of the study.
Source: Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J.
G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (December 18, 2013). "American teens more
cautious about using synthetic drugs." University of Michigan News
Service: Ann Arbor, MI, p. 2.
"Originally approved for use in the
treatment of opioid dependence by the United States Food and Drug
administration (FDA) in 1984, naltrexone is a competitive μ-opioid
receptor antagonist with negligible agonist effects, blocking euphoric
and physiological effects of opioid agonists.11,12 Naltrexone does not
cause the development of dependence or tolerance over time, and dosing
cessation does not result in withdrawal.13
"Orally dosed naltrexone
is subject to first pass metabolism, where it is converted to active
(6-β naltrexol) and inactive metabolites.14 First-pass metabolism of
orally dosed naltrexone is high, evidenced by the peak dose of
naltrexone and its metabolites 1 hour after oral dosing.15 Serum
half-life for chronic oral administration is approximately 10 hours.15
The half-life, when compared to naloxone, another μ-opioid antagonist,
is longer, and naltrexone is able to block the agonist effects of other
opioids for 48 hours.16 Oral dosing is accomplished by either 50 mg
daily dosing or three times weekly dosing with two 100 mg doses and one
150 mg dose."
Source: Kjome, Kimberly L. and Moeller, F. Gerard,
"Long-Acting Injectable Naltrexone for the Management of Patients with
Opioid Dependence," Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment 2011:5 1–9,
doi: 10.4137/SART.S5452.
Notable New Sources
E. Ann Carson
and Daniela Golinelli, "Prisoners in 2012: Trends in Admissions and
Releases, 1991-2012" (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of
Justice Statistics, Dec. 2013), NCJ243920, Table 5, p. 3, and Appendix
Table 10, p. 43.
Laura M. Maruschak and Thomas P. Bonczar,
"Probation and Parole in the United States, 2012" (Washington, DC: US
Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2012),
NCJ243826, p. 1.
Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G.,
& Schulenberg, J. E. (December 18, 2013). "American teens more
cautious about using synthetic drugs." University of Michigan News
Service: Ann Arbor, MI, p. 2.
Kjome, Kimberly L. and Moeller, F.
Gerard, "Long-Acting Injectable Naltrexone for the Management of
Patients with Opioid Dependence," Substance Abuse: Research and
Treatment 2011:5 1–9, doi: 10.4137/SART.S5452.
Walmsley, Roy,
"World Prison Population List (Tenth Edition)" (Kings College, London,
England: International Centre for Prison Studies, 2013), p. 1.
Media
Check out the new Drug Policy Facts podcast! You can download and subscribe from
http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/drugwarfacts.
Drug Truth Network Radio segments:
Full half-hour news programs:
Century Of Lies, 12/15/13, White House drug policy conference
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4647 3-minute news segments:
420 News, 12/1/13, Interviews with Ethan Nadelmann and Neill Franklin:
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4627 420 News, 12/7/13, MDMA, Emergency Room Visits, and Young People:
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4640 420 News, 12/27/13, New Monitoring the Future survey
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4662 420 News, 12/30/13, Correcting NIDA Director Nora Volkow
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4667
Doug McVay is also a regular blogger at CelebStoner dot com.
