One of the most common symptoms of marijuana use is the “munchies.” However, many people believe that eating a bunch of junk food after smoking weed is a surefire way to get fat. For the most part, it’s not. In fact, there are a few THC-influenced foods that actually help you lose weight, such as fat-free dairy products. Here are six myths about THC that you should stop believing:
There’s a lot of misinformation about how cannabis can affect your health. For example, it’s not true that “you’re going to get high” if you smoke or vape. THC is the compound, or chemical, that causes the intoxicating effects of marijuana. But you don’t get high; THC binds to receptors in your brain, so that you feel the “high” effects. It’s not a medication; it doesn’t treat the symptoms of anything because it can’t. The one way that THC can do good is by treating cancer, but this will only work for specific types of cancer.
As the legal cannabis business gains traction throughout the country, more states are delving further into regulatory issues. THC Caps, which would restrict the strength of THC in different goods based on state standards, are the most recent legislative effort.
Legislators think that restricting the potency of marijuana would protect the public, which sounds like a reasonable argument. When you consider how altering the strength of THC would affect our bodies and society, it’s obvious that they’re not the way to go when it comes to sensible cannabis regulation.
The Blinc Group published a white paper titled “Six Reasons Why THC Caps Are a Bad Idea,” which looked at the effects of THC caps on the vaping business. THC Caps will harm the public, lead to hazardous goods entering the market, and keep essential medications out of the hands of patients, according to current studies.
To satisfy the lower requirements, producers would have to dilute their concentrates with additives. While state laws vary, the hazardous chemicals will offer a higher health risk to consumers, perhaps leading to an increase in EVALI instances.
THC Caps, according to the Colorado Cannabis Manufacturers Association (CCMA), are neither in the industry’s or customers’ best interests.
“Restricting THC levels encourages the illegal market, giving adolescents more access to the drug. Such a harsh approach jeopardizes the health of law-abiding patients and adults. The CCMA supports sensible legislation that promotes product quality and safety while also encouraging youth education and prevention “Executive Director of the CCMA, Kevin Gallagher.
Here are some popular THC cap arguments that aren’t accurate.
1. Limiting THC levels won’t stop kids from getting marijuana concentrates.
Some fear that legalizing marijuana would make it easier for teenagers to get the substance. However, even in areas where marijuana is banned, teenagers say that it is simple to acquire, implying that restrictions will have little to no effect on teen use. Since 2000, the proportion of adolescents who say they have easy access to marijuana has dropped.
2. Limiting THC levels will not result in more marijuana arrests.
Despite the fact that authorities are taking aggressive measures to prohibit hazardous chemicals present in marijuana products, illegal producers will not follow the same set of regulations. Prohibition in the early twentieth century had a similar impact on yearly alcohol expenditure; annual spending on alcohol during Prohibition was greater than pre-Prohibition levels. People would resort to illegal alcohol distillers to satisfy the demand for high-potency vape goods, just as they did with bootleg alcohol distillers.
Arrest rates have decreased in states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana. Restricting THC concentration limits would increase marijuana-related arrests by creating a bigger illegal market. Communities of color would be disproportionately impacted if current patterns continue.
3. Limiting THC levels will not put young people in danger.
Young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are more than twice as likely to vape as those between the ages of 30 and 64, and younger persons are less likely to believe that vaping is harmful to their health. The number of college-aged individuals (19 to 22 years old) who reported vaping marijuana products doubled in only two years, from 2017 to 2019. Vaping is becoming more popular among other young age groups, placing these young people at more danger than their non-vaping peers if legislators impose THC limits.
4. Restricting THC levels will not put all marijuana users at danger.
Authorities confiscated 10,000 vape cartridges during a search on an illegal vendor in California in 2020. Testing showed that 75% of the goods included unknown chemicals such as vitamin E acetate and polyethylene glycol. These items were also labeled incorrectly. According to studies, vape cartridges claiming to be extremely powerful, with THC concentrations of 80 to 85 percent, actually contained 33 percent THC. This, along with the fact that 77% of EVALI patients purchased vape cartridges from unlicensed or unregulated sources, emphasizes the significance of preserving access to high-potency, regulated vape goods. THC caps would force them to be diluted with chemicals even if they were legal and controlled, raising health hazards beyond what would be found in a naturally produced product. This may trigger a similar reaction, resulting in vaping-related lung diseases and possibly mortality among users.
5. Limiting THC levels in the regulated market puts public safety at jeopardy.
Concentrated THC products accounted for a third of all legal marijuana sales in the United States in 2018, totaling $10.3 billion. Users will be forced to seek out alternatives if they do not have access to controlled, extremely powerful THC concentrates. While buying and consuming THC concentrates from illegal sources may put the consumer’s health at danger, other alternatives put public safety at risk. Some users may resort to manufacturing their own THC concentrates in order to locate the extremely powerful THC concentrates, which can be a dangerous procedure.
6. Limiting THC levels in the regulated market will send conflicting messages to customers and teenagers.
Restricting THC levels will simply serve to confuse and mislead customers and adolescents. Despite the fact that there is no evidence that high-potency THC concentrates damage legal adult users, THC caps would incorrectly suggest that greater amounts are harmful and have negative health consequences. Instead of imposing limits, legal adult users should be allowed to choose the quantity of THC they want in their products on their own. THC caps, on the other hand, suggest to adolescents that they may take little quantities of THC in a safe manner. Setting an artificial THC restriction based on perceived safety levels would simply encourage more young people to think that certain amounts are safe.
While the idea of THC Caps has excellent intentions, authorities have not considered how they would impact patients and consumers. THC Caps will put the public in risk and keep the black market flourishing. Imposing THC limits, rather than establishing a safe market, would increase demand for unregulated, inferior marijuana concentrates.
Before establishing rules that they don’t understand, regulators should collaborate with cannabis industry researchers and experts to better understand the effects of THC on the body.
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