Is Cannabis (its strength/properties ) different in the US than in the UK?

[neighbour]

Just asking for my own education, really. (I think I've smoked pot 3 times in my life, if that.)

It's just that someone was telling me today that it's MUCH stronger here than in the US, and that it can be laced with PCP. Sounds a little melodramatic!

Does anyone know?

i imagine it's mixed with all sorts of crap here.

i was watching newsnight last night, they showed the cannabis making factories in amsterdam, the stuff they grow is very pure.

surely it's better to grow it like that, rather than import it and support organised crime where it contains god knows what else.

There's a lot of scare stories in the media over here about increase of cannabis strength - fortunately, it appears to be mostly bollocks due to bad reporting.

Haven't got recent first hand experience about current strengths, but agree with you it sounds more like a dose of melodrama than reality

Rest assured, there is no way it would be laced with PCP. I am not sure why anyone would lace it with PCP ?!

I think it sounds like a case of Chinese whispers, where someone originally said that there was a greater THC content (THC being the psychoactive substance in all cannabis). This is my guess anyway.

But you can't generalise whether it is stronger in the UK or elsewhere, it depends on the plant strain, how well it is grown and whether you are smoking the head of the plant or not, or indeed resin made from the plant.

It's true that there has been a shift in the last decade to much more skunk being grown under lights in the UK and all of northern europe and this can produce a plant that is high in THC content, but beyond that I dont think you can generalise.