For me, considering it’s not a refined product, I don’t consider it a problem with respect to heavy drugs. This includes pharmaceuticals which are truly narcotics.
Fact is, the decades of hybridization has diluted the best parts of cannabis use and paranoia is a direct side effect of the accelerated THC levels and reduced CBD levels. I’ve been a grower for many years and simply don’t like the effects of the ramped up strains. This year I popped some old school seeds from years past and produced a much more pleasurable weed to smoke. It quashed the idea that long term use leads to specific side effects. Fact is, the weed has been bred in a negative manner, IMO. The stuff I cranked out this year is far more usable for recreational use and has that “let’s take another hit” effect instead of the “Jesus fucking Christ how much longer until it wears off?”
Bottom line, smoking cannabis can absolutely give you a head change that makes things seem ok when they in fact are not. It’s the only thing I worry, people will gloss over the worst atrocities with respect to government control because they simply don’t sense the reality due to the side effects of using weed.
Thank you for providing a grower's perspective, that is extremely interesting! So if I understand you correctly, the CBD/THC ratio makes a substantive difference in the type of high one experiences? That makes sense. I am not generally a fan of extensive hybridization of anything really, at least not in terms of food or flowers. Heirloom or minimally hybridized flowers and food tend to taste better and smell better to me. Thus I tend to avoid most big ag produced fruits, veggies and flowers when budget permits.
As a grower, would you see a market for what one would call "heirloom" weed being a big thing? Or do you think the new generation of smokers that would get involved would be more attracted to these ramped up strains?
Your last point is my biggest worry when it comes to drugs in general, be it the over prescribing of psych meds at earlier and earlier ages, or legalizing weed and other things. I have taken psych meds in the past, and they tend to "unplug" you from reality, in some cases quite profoundly. The pot smokers I know have remarked weed does essentially the same thing to greater or lesser degrees. So especially now when our government is utterly untrustworthy, I don't see this as a good thing.
Just like GMO’s cross pollinate with every other plant, the cannabis industry is essentially fucked for similar reasons. The idea behind hybridization was to take the best qualities of multiple plants and cross them together, thereby creating better weed. Unfortunately, the result was the most dominant traits simply weeded out (no pun intended) the best qualities of the weaker strain. What’s left is pretty sounding names, but plants that have a similar high across the board. Very heavy, very strong and nearly the same smell. Now that so many growers have played with cross pollinating, the guarantee of what you’re actually smoking is long gone. Pure strains of sativa which produce a more cerebral effect have dominated the pure indica strains which produced a body high. Combined, they simply don’t give you the best of both worlds and now it’s nearly impossible to find seeds that are from original, pure strains of either genetics. Old school growers, like myself, have a stash of seeds from a different time, but eventually even those will be gone. The work behind growing males to produce pollen is fruitless because they don’t carry the psychoactive properties. The game is to produce smokable buds and wasting pistils on female plants to produce seeds would be a fiduciary loss. Sinsemilla is weed without seed which means no lineage. Sometimes the best shit is gone with each batch as there’s no incentive to produce seeds. There are seed companies, but whether or not you’re actually getting what they’re purporting to sell is questionable. I’m not sure most newbies would know either way. The alternative is cloning, but even that begins to weaken over time as genetic malformation usually ramps up in short order. For example, if 1 in 100 show a non welcomed trait, such as hermaphroditism and you clone that plant, you are stuck with a mother that isn’t of value. This is why many grandaddy strains are long gone. Long term growers have been forced to take what they can get for this reason or use up their seed stash from buds that were grown outdoor in an “heirloom” setting with natural, open pollination. Before weed was legal, growing outdoor meant less tending to plants as to stay away from possibly being caught. Male plants would grow right next to females and pollinate naturally which produced buds with seeds. This is not a desirable outcome in the current state of selling cannabis and is the major reason why the plant's traits have funneled into high strength, paranoia inducing buds.
The flip side is buds being grown for only the CBD which doesn’t get you high at all. These strains, dubbed Charlotte’s web, have been produced for pain relief and seizure control. The amount one needs to ingest is ridiculously high so refined oils of nearly pure CBD have to be produced in order to make it feasible. They do work when used early and properly, but only for the most severe cases and in huge daily dosing.
Thank you for the extremely informative reply! It sounds like legalizing cannabis and making it a major industry might not have been a good thing in terms of a reduction in biodiversity and killing the incentive to preserve granddaddy strains. One would like to think a balance could be found, but I am not sure if that is a practical goal at this point.
I suppose it would be possible to get old school seeds from elsewhere in the world where weed still either grows wild or isn't grown with the same commercial goals, maybe.
Thank you again for taking time to explain something of the science to me :-). It's actually very interesting. my only experience with deliberate selective breeding involved heirloom tomato plants and carnations.
For me, considering it’s not a refined product, I don’t consider it a problem with respect to heavy drugs. This includes pharmaceuticals which are truly narcotics.
Fact is, the decades of hybridization has diluted the best parts of cannabis use and paranoia is a direct side effect of the accelerated THC levels and reduced CBD levels. I’ve been a grower for many years and simply don’t like the effects of the ramped up strains. This year I popped some old school seeds from years past and produced a much more pleasurable weed to smoke. It quashed the idea that long term use leads to specific side effects. Fact is, the weed has been bred in a negative manner, IMO. The stuff I cranked out this year is far more usable for recreational use and has that “let’s take another hit” effect instead of the “Jesus fucking Christ how much longer until it wears off?”
Bottom line, smoking cannabis can absolutely give you a head change that makes things seem ok when they in fact are not. It’s the only thing I worry, people will gloss over the worst atrocities with respect to government control because they simply don’t sense the reality due to the side effects of using weed.
Thank you for providing a grower's perspective, that is extremely interesting! So if I understand you correctly, the CBD/THC ratio makes a substantive difference in the type of high one experiences? That makes sense. I am not generally a fan of extensive hybridization of anything really, at least not in terms of food or flowers. Heirloom or minimally hybridized flowers and food tend to taste better and smell better to me. Thus I tend to avoid most big ag produced fruits, veggies and flowers when budget permits.
As a grower, would you see a market for what one would call "heirloom" weed being a big thing? Or do you think the new generation of smokers that would get involved would be more attracted to these ramped up strains?
Your last point is my biggest worry when it comes to drugs in general, be it the over prescribing of psych meds at earlier and earlier ages, or legalizing weed and other things. I have taken psych meds in the past, and they tend to "unplug" you from reality, in some cases quite profoundly. The pot smokers I know have remarked weed does essentially the same thing to greater or lesser degrees. So especially now when our government is utterly untrustworthy, I don't see this as a good thing.
Just like GMO’s cross pollinate with every other plant, the cannabis industry is essentially fucked for similar reasons. The idea behind hybridization was to take the best qualities of multiple plants and cross them together, thereby creating better weed. Unfortunately, the result was the most dominant traits simply weeded out (no pun intended) the best qualities of the weaker strain. What’s left is pretty sounding names, but plants that have a similar high across the board. Very heavy, very strong and nearly the same smell. Now that so many growers have played with cross pollinating, the guarantee of what you’re actually smoking is long gone. Pure strains of sativa which produce a more cerebral effect have dominated the pure indica strains which produced a body high. Combined, they simply don’t give you the best of both worlds and now it’s nearly impossible to find seeds that are from original, pure strains of either genetics. Old school growers, like myself, have a stash of seeds from a different time, but eventually even those will be gone. The work behind growing males to produce pollen is fruitless because they don’t carry the psychoactive properties. The game is to produce smokable buds and wasting pistils on female plants to produce seeds would be a fiduciary loss. Sinsemilla is weed without seed which means no lineage. Sometimes the best shit is gone with each batch as there’s no incentive to produce seeds. There are seed companies, but whether or not you’re actually getting what they’re purporting to sell is questionable. I’m not sure most newbies would know either way. The alternative is cloning, but even that begins to weaken over time as genetic malformation usually ramps up in short order. For example, if 1 in 100 show a non welcomed trait, such as hermaphroditism and you clone that plant, you are stuck with a mother that isn’t of value. This is why many grandaddy strains are long gone. Long term growers have been forced to take what they can get for this reason or use up their seed stash from buds that were grown outdoor in an “heirloom” setting with natural, open pollination. Before weed was legal, growing outdoor meant less tending to plants as to stay away from possibly being caught. Male plants would grow right next to females and pollinate naturally which produced buds with seeds. This is not a desirable outcome in the current state of selling cannabis and is the major reason why the plant's traits have funneled into high strength, paranoia inducing buds.
The flip side is buds being grown for only the CBD which doesn’t get you high at all. These strains, dubbed Charlotte’s web, have been produced for pain relief and seizure control. The amount one needs to ingest is ridiculously high so refined oils of nearly pure CBD have to be produced in order to make it feasible. They do work when used early and properly, but only for the most severe cases and in huge daily dosing.
Thank you for the extremely informative reply! It sounds like legalizing cannabis and making it a major industry might not have been a good thing in terms of a reduction in biodiversity and killing the incentive to preserve granddaddy strains. One would like to think a balance could be found, but I am not sure if that is a practical goal at this point.
I suppose it would be possible to get old school seeds from elsewhere in the world where weed still either grows wild or isn't grown with the same commercial goals, maybe.
Thank you again for taking time to explain something of the science to me :-). It's actually very interesting. my only experience with deliberate selective breeding involved heirloom tomato plants and carnations.