Cannabis potency has doubled across Europe over past 11 years, study finds

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Cannabis resin and herbal cannabis have significantly increased in potency and price&comma; according to the first study to track changes in the drug across Europe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The research&comma; published in the journal Addiction&comma; drew on data collected from across 28 EU member states as well as Norway and Turkey&comma; for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It found that over the past 11 years&comma; cannabis potency has doubled across Europe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Concentrations of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC – the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis – in herbal cannabis increased from 5&percnt; in 2006 to 10&percnt; in 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For cannabis resin&comma; THC concentration rose from 8&percnt; in 2006 to 10&percnt; in 2011&comma; but jumped to 17&percnt; by 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>192 million&Tab;Estimated number of cannabis users worldwide<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The price of herbal cannabis increased from 7&period;36 euro per gram to 12&period;22 euro between 2006 and 2016&comma; while cannabis resin rose from 8&period;21 euro per gram to 12&period;27 euro over the same period&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dr Tom Freeman&comma; from the Addiction and Mental Health Group within the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath&comma; was lead author on the study&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These findings show that cannabis resin has changed rapidly across Europe&comma; resulting in a more potent and better value product&comma;” Dr Freeman said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cannabis resin typically contains cannabidiol &lpar;CBD&rpar; in addition to THC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When present in cannabis&comma; CBD may offset some of the harmful effects of THC such as paranoia and memory impairment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; new resin production techniques in Morocco and Europe have increased levels of THC but not CBD&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dr Freeman said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;CBD has the potential to make cannabis safer&comma; without limiting the positive effects users seek&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What we are seeing in Europe is an increase in THC and either stable or decreasing levels of CBD&comma; potentially making cannabis more harmful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These changes in the illicit market are largely hidden from scientific investigation and are difficult to target by policy-makers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;An alternative option could be to attempt to control THC and CBD content through regulation&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is estimated that 7&period;2&percnt; of European adults – 24 million people – used cannabis in the past year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Across the world&comma; 192 million people use the drug in a variety of markets ranging from heavily sanctioned prohibition to commercialised legal sale&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Recreational use is legalised in Canada and several US states&comma; with medical use permitted in many more countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd368b416b8">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd368b416b8'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;format&colon; 'belowpost'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; document&period;readyState &equals;&equals;&equals; 'loading' &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;document&period;addEventListener&lpar; 'DOMContentLoaded'&comma; window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; else &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback&lpar;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;script>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>


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