Drug War Stupidity: The Cannabis Concentrate Double Standard
Every cannabis consumer knows that cannabis concentrate is nothing more than what its name implies. That is to say, it is concentrated cannabis. You may be wondering why I am explaining such a simple concept as this. I agree that this should go without saying but the laws in parts of the United States suggest otherwise. There are places in the U.S. where possessing cannabis flower is considered a minor crime but possessing hashish or hash oil is considered a major one. In Texas, for example, even possessing cannabutter (or the baked goods that you used it in) will get you charged with the same crime you would have been charged with if you were caught with the equivalent weight of heroin.
The effects of this ridiculous double standard can destroy lives. In 2014, a Texas teenager potentially faced life in prison for possessing pot brownies (I'll provide a link to the story below). Because the brownies were made with hash oil, they were treated as a "hard drug" and because the laws are nonsensical and unjust, the authorities were able to count not the hash oil itself but also the eggs, sugar, flour and baking pan and use their weight to seek a harsher penalty. Only after some public outcry took place, did the court reduce his charge. This was real no victory, however, because as the article (linked to below) states he could still face twenty years in prison.
The media plays a role in this double standard as well. We all know that they value sensationalism above all else and they have treated cannabis concentrate as a new "boogie man" to scare the ignorant. I constantly read stories about the "dangerous new trend" of making hash oil. They almost always over estimate its strength. I once read a laughable article that said it was 10,000 times stronger than flower which makes me wonder how weak they think weed really is. They also always to fail to mention that this "new" trend is rather old. I used to know some old hippies who told stories about making hash oil with petroleum ether filtered charcoal in the 1960's. Calling it "new" only serves to make it seem scary which in turn makes reforming unjust laws harder.
This is an issue that needs to be addressed. If you are knowledgeable about cannabis, I suggest trying to correct any misinformation when you see an opportunity to do so. Cannabis laws are getting better but we need to make sure cannabis concentrate isn't left out in the cold.
Peace.
This is the second in a continuing series of brief posts that are intended to highlight some of the more nonsensical aspects of the drug war. If you liked this, feel free check out my page for similar content.
All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.
You can read more about the case of the Texas teen here:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/36539/texas-teen-no-longer-faces-life-in-prison-for-pot-brownies/
Best part is that some of these states allow CBD concentrate for ptsd and epilepsy patients.. To throw another double standard in there.
FYI I used to be a sales rep for CO2 pharmaceutical, it was a medical marijuana concentrate company.
Thank you and very true. Also, in some states, CBD that is made from industrial hemp is legal but if it is made from weed it is illegal. I guess, all in all, that would make it a quadruple standard.
Great informative article. Resteemed.
Thanks.
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I appreciate you shining light into some of the darkest corners of an insane government. Here in Nevada the government finally decided to "legalize" weed, primarily because they knew they could cash in on it. The price tag to even apply for a license to grow or sell is over $250,000! The tax on legal weed purchases is 22%. If I recall correctly the cost of a med card is $475! My attitude: who in the fuck needs permission to use or consume any product! The only reason we do is because of fear of our benevolent government who grants the right. Insanity.
Thank you. I agree that that is ridiculous. I have always said that legalization really should appeal to both sides of the political spectrum. The points you raise here function as a great conservative argument (I am not assuming your politics, by the way, but your points can be very useful in that reguard) for total legalization and I think that is a great way to sell the idea to groups who sometimes, strangely, oppose it.
I would say, though, that anything that keeps people out of jail is a step in the right direction but the regulations on weed are terrible even in legal states. I plan to cover a few of those things in future installments of this series. The next one might on home grow restrictions or maybe about the unjust "drugged driving" laws.
Very good post. It is ridiculous how concentrates are seen as the "crack" version cannabis. Resteemed!
Thank you. That is a good way to put it when you make the crack analogy.
I have a couple of ideas in the pipe for more of these but as direct companion to this one I think I may write about how the strangth of weed is overblown by the media and that is sighted as reason to keep it illegal. I don't understand this idea that stronger means worse when, in reality, stronger usually means one smokes or eats less.
There is still much change to come and a long way to go.. to achieve a good world drug policy..
greets!
Indeed. There is still work to do. I look at the gay rights movement as a good model. It took more than just activism. They sold their cause to the culture and when society stoped fearing them they got the mass support they needed.
In my opinion there is hard work to do in educating the mass.
They think drugs are bad. And their friend died because of drugs or whatever.
But don't realise that he died because of extender substances or a overdose which appear because of the drug policy they defend.
greets :)
Truth. The idea of good and bad drugs needs to be diminished greatly. Most of the stuff that is considered to bad has some use. I don't use cocaine but if I was having a tooth pulled and my choice was cocaine or nothing to numb the pain, you better believe that I'm going to put a big gob of that stuff on my gums. The same is true of most drugs.
You are right. Education is key to success with drug law reform.
Yes!
That's again another point! It goes hand in hand with education..
PPl think legal drugs like alcohol are legal because they harm less or dont harm at all.. and illegal drugs are illegal because they make you addicted instantly or even kill you..
In fact alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs..
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61462-6/abstract
I wrote a big work about the international drug policy and liberalisation as possible problem solver :)
Thinking of getting active about the topic on steem..
but I don't have the power at the moment
greets from germany
I feel your pain there for sure. I am very new here so few people see my work on this subject but if we all work at it maybe we can help make some change.
So it is!
Looking forward to your projects and maybe a collaboration? :)
greets
Thank you. I haven't thought about that. I would be open to it, though.
This is less organized than that but I do encourage people who write about marijuana to post in the cannabis tag. The community there is pretty good about supporting and resteeming good content.
I am not sure which tag would be best for discussions of drugs in general or if one exists at all. I would like to see a community to grow around that type of content, though. Maybe some of us who have this interest can come together decide which tag is best or create a new one and we could all promote that tag to our followers who are already reading our own personal drug related content. It wouldn't take off over night but in time it might give us all a place where we can help support each other and easily find content that interests us. Plus it is something relatively easy that we can all do by simply writing or resteeming a few posts about the new tag. I may write a post on the subject and see how my followers respond. If we do create a new tag we need to pick one and stick with it so it can establish itself. it could be drugtruth or intoxi-nation or, hopefully, something more cleaver than those tag names lol.