The cannabis sold on Danish streets is stronger than ever. The concentration of its psychoactive substance, THC, has tripled in just 20 years.
According to an analysis prepared by the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Aarhus University and published by Sundhedsstyrelsen, the health authority, cannabis is stronger than it has ever been before.
“Marijuana as a product has changed significantly,” said Christian Lindholst, the head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Aarhus University. “It is a trend we are seeing across Europe.”
The researchers analysed cannabis seized by police in Denmark’s three largest cities and found that the amount of THC in the samples measured 28 percent. In 1992, THC showed up at just 8 percent.
Growing at home
Lindholst said that better and more local growing methods are contributing to the high-quality yields, and also increasingly more pot/weed and less hash, the solid brown variety of the drug.
“A large proportion of cannabis on the Danish market 20 years ago was grown and harvested under the open sky in places like Lebanon and Morocco,” said Lindholst. “The outdoor growing conditions resulted in lower quality and less potent cannabis.”
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Lindholst said that much of today’s cannabis production is done in Europe using artificial light, heat and fertiliser, which results in extra large plants packed with THC.
