By Steven Voser


Potency is a huge topic in the world of cannabis. In recent years, one of the main discussions surrounding cannabis potency has focused on the difference in strength between the weed of today and the seemingly seedy, gritty stuff that the hippies of the 60s and 70s smoked. But just how different was hippie weed to the stuff you can buy from legal dispensaries, coffeeshops, and cannabis clubs today? Read on to find out.

Is Marijuana Stronger Than It Used To Be?

Yes, today’s cannabis is definitely a lot stronger than the weed your parents and grandparents were smoking. While prohibition has obviously forced the entire cannabis movement underground for decades, that hasn’t stopped cannabis geneticists and cultivators from making major advances in boosting the potency of weed.

As we’ll soon explore in more detail, the potency of cannabis has increased exceptionally (over 300%) over the last 40–50 years. Some major factors that influenced this massive increase in potency include consumer demand, new growing techniques and technologies, and more.

  • How Cannabis Potency Changed From 1995 to 2018

In September 2019, the US National Centre for Natural Products Research published a detailed review of the potency of cannabis as part of its quarterly Potency Monitoring Program. The review was conducted by the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi, and analised a total of 486 cannabis specimens; 477 of the specimens were of dried and cured cannabis flower, and 9 were of more potent cannabis hash oil.

Each specimen was analised by gas chromatography (GC) for its THC potency as well as for secondary cannabinoids that contribute to its chemical profile. This includes CBD, CBC, delta-8-THC, CBN, CBG, and THCV. The study then examined the potency of these samples and compared them to the total number of samples being tested since 1995 (which included 56,949 samples of cannabis flower, 888 samples of hashish, and 468 samples of hash oil).

The study shows that the potency of cannabis has clearly been increasing since the mid-1990s. In 1995, the average THC percentage of all the samples averaged around 3.5%. By 2005, average THC concentration sat at around 7%, and by 2018, levels were at just above 15%.

Is Marijuana Stronger Than It Used To Be?
  • Changing THC:CBD Ratios

Cannabis has changed drastically over the last 40 years, and not just in regard to how much THC it contains. Luckily, the legalization movement and our changing perceptions of cannabis have paved the way for studies and reports that have greatly nourished our understanding of this ancient plant.

And as we began to learn more about cannabis and the unique and complex ways in which it interacts with our bodies, we quickly understood that there’s more to weed than just THC. Hence, cannabis hasn’t just changed in the amount of THC it contains, but also its concentration of other compounds and cannabinoids, particularly CBD.

As a result, the market has seen a steady increase in cultivars expressing diverse CBD:THC ratios, particularly those with a 1:1 split.

  • A Note on Cannabis Testing and How It Might Contribute to Changing Potency

While we don’t deny that modern cannabis is much more potent than cannabis from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s, we also think it’s important to point out that cannabis testing has also changed quite dramatically.

Today, cannabis is grown domestically across the US thanks to the booming legal recreational and medical markets in places like California, Colorado, Nevada, etc. This means that samples are much fresher today than they may have been 30–40 years ago when most of the world’s cannabis was grown in Colombia and Mexico. THC degrades gradually over time, and faster if exposed to air, heat, or light. Thus, it is very likely that cannabis samples from the 80s and 90s tested less potent as they were being analised months or even years after they were harvested.

What Has Caused Cannabis Potency To Increase Over Time?

At RQS, we firmly believe that cannabis potency has increased notably over the last 50 years; not only thanks to data from the US National Centre for Natural Products Research Potency Monitoring Program, and similar studies, but also because we know how much cannabis breeding and cultivation have changed since the 1960s and 1970s.

At the same time, we believe it's important to understand the variables that may affect the data being presented on the matter.

  • A Note on the “Iron Law of Prohibition”

In the countless debates surrounding cannabis potency, one thing that always comes up is the Iron Law of Prohibition. This theory, first coined by Richard Cowan in 1986, basically states that the prohibition of cannabis, or any substance for that matter, paves the way for those substances to become more potent and concentrated.

Cowan argued that prohibition was one of the biggest reasons for the increasing potency of cannabis, as it naturally encourages cannabis producers to create more potent products that fetch a higher price and help avoid detection by the authorities.

Cowan also expanded his theory to cocaine and heroin, which he says gained popularity as they were easier to smuggle than their less-potent counterparts (coca leaves and opium) and obviously fetched a higher price due to their more elaborate production and higher potency.

What Has Caused Cannabis Potency To Increase Over Time?
  • How Sinsemilla Growing Changed the Game

While Cowan’s Iron Law theory is definitely interesting, there are other factors that we believe are more likely to have affected the considerable change in cannabis potency over the last 4–5 decades.

Fifty years ago, cannabis cultivation was nothing like it is today. Most of the weed consumed by the hippies in the 1960s and 1970s would, by today’s standards, be considered pretty low quality; the buds were small, with little resin, and likely packed with a good amount of seeds, leaves, and stems. That’s because sinsemilla—seedless cannabis grown for smoking—didn’t exist back then, nor did the type of high-end indoor installations we’re used to seeing today.

Instead, most of the cannabis your parents and grandparents smoked was likely grown outdoors in Colombia, Mexico, or Morocco (which were some of the biggest cannabis-producing countries back then).

In order to facilitate shipping and avoid detection, the harvested plant material was often pressed into bricks, and was usually already several months old by the time it got into the hands of the end user. The combination of a lack of knowledge about sinsemilla growing and poor transportation undoubtedly contributed to the lower potency of the finished product that hit the streets in the US and Europe.

The Indoor Cannabis Boom

Cannabis cultivation started moving indoors in the 1980s, and the technology needed to run indoor grow rooms and tents hasn’t stopped improving since. While we don’t know who invented sinsemilla growing, we do know that it became increasingly popular from the 80s onward, and has had an immeasurable impact on the way we cultivate weed today.

Today, we’re living in the “golden age” of cannabis. Walk into a legal dispensary, coffeeshop, or cannabis club, and you’ll have access to cannabis that’s fresh, seedless, and packed with cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, as well as a wide variety of edibles, extracts, waxes, tinctures, and more.

If you’re a home grower, you now have access to thousands of strains from different seed banks (whereas a hippie grower in the 1960s likely only had bagseed to work with). You also have access to all the equipment you could ever need to set up an exceptional grow room or tent, for little more than a few hundred euro.

The nutrients used to grow cannabis have also improved dramatically, and thanks to the internet, today’s growers have access to all kinds of information to help them grow bigger, healthier, and more potent cannabis plants; a thing the hippies of the 60s and 70s could only dream of.

The Indoor Cannabis Boom

The Times They Are a Changin': Where We See Modern Cannabis Heading

For a long time, THC has been considered the main component of importance in cannabis. As a result, most of the cannabis strains brought onto the market over the last 30 years have been predominantly rich in this cannabinoid. However, that is beginning to change as our understanding of cannabis grows and matures.

Thanks to new research, we’re starting to rebuild our profound collective knowledge of cannabis, the compounds it contains, and the way they interact with our bodies. With that, we’re seeing a huge shift in consumer preferences toward strains that are more balanced in cannabinoids and terpenes.

We’re learning, for example, that while THC is an extremely powerful and beneficial compound, it can be overwhelming in high doses, and may be best paired with higher concentrations of secondary compounds like CBD, CBG, CBN, and more.

We’ve only started scratching the surface of cannabis knowledge. More studies into this unique plant are needed in order for us to really understand its potential, and how to best bring it into our lives, be it for recreational, holistic, or spiritual purposes. Luckily, we’re closer than ever before to uncovering the important role cannabis can play in human life.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: