The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Changes in Cannabis Potency Over the Last 2 Decades (1995–2014): Analysis of Current Data in the United States
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States and all over the world. Reports indicate that the potency of cannabis preparation has been increasing. This report examines the concentration of cannabinoids in illicit cannabis products seized by DEA (drug and enforcement administration) over the last two decades, with particular emphasis on Δ9-THC and cannabidiol (CBD). METHODS Samples in this report are received over time from DEA confiscated materials and processed for analysis using a validated ‘gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector (GC/FID)’ method. RESULTS A total of 38,681samples of cannabis preparations were received and analyzed between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2014. The data showed that, while the number of marijuana samples seized over the last four years has declined, the number of sinsemilla samples has increased. Overall, the potency of illicit cannabis plant material has consistently risen over time since 1995 from approximately 4% in 1995 to approximately 12% in 2014. On the other hand, the CBD content has fallen on average from approximately 0.28% in 2001 to <0.15% in 2014, resulting in a change in the ratio of THC to CBD from 14 times in 1995 to approximately 80 times in 2014. CONCLUSION It is concluded that there is a shift in the production of illicit cannabis plant material from regular marijuana to sinsemilla. This increase in potency poses higher risk of cannabis use, particularly among adolescents.
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Cites
Mehmedic, Z., Chandra, S., Slade, D., Denham, H., Foster, S., Patel, A. S., Ross, S. A., Khan, I. A., & ElSohly, M. A. (2010) · Journal of Forensic Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01441.x · Cited by 475
Self-citation
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Cited by
Gobbi, G., Atkin, T., Zytynski, T., Wang, S., Askari, S., Boruff, J., Ware, M., Marmorstein, N., Cipriani, A., Dendukuri, N., et al. (2019) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500 · Cited by 914
US epidemiology of cannabis use and associated problems
Hasin, D. S. (2018) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2017.198 · Cited by 578
Spanagel, R. (2020) · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.31887/dcns.2020.22.3/rspanagel · Cited by 127
Effects of increasing cannabis potency on adolescent health
Wilson, J., Freeman, T. P., & Mackie, C. J. (2019) · The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/s2352-4642(18)30342-0 · Cited by 113
Castellanos-Ryan, N., Pingault, J.-B., Parent, S., Vitaro, F., Tremblay, R. E., & Séguin, J. R. (2017) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579416001280 · Cited by 111
Metadata
- Authors
- ElSohly, M. A., Mehmedic, Z., Foster, S., Gon, C., Chandra, S., & Church, J. C.
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 613-619
- ISSN
- 0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2253496291
- Cited by
- 995
- References
- 1
- FWCI
- 71.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (N01DA-10-7773)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (N01DA-10-7773)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (N01DA-10-7773)
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- ElSohly, M. A., Mehmedic, Z., Foster, S., Gon, C., Chandra, S., & Church, J. C. (2016). Changes in Cannabis Potency Over the Last 2 Decades (1995–2014): Analysis of Current Data in the United States. Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.01.004
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
