When marijuana was still illegal in my state I was just glad to buy whatever I could get my hands on.
- Sometimes this meant paying for Mexican granite weed that is full of stems and seeds, while other times we would get marijuana referred to as “hydro,” “chronic,” and “crippy.” Anything that resembles top shelf cannabis sold in legal states would fall under this category, but in my day it was usually local growers doing indoor marijuana cultivation.
I was lucky to have a buddy who knew a few growers in the area. Obviously I was never introduced to these people, but I saw a wide variety of cannabis quality over those years. Honestly, the THC content in the buds was never the first thought on my mind, only because we never knew. But now that marijuana is legal in my state and lab testing is required by law, most people fixate on the THC content of the marijuana flower that they purchase. Recently the THC content in the marijuana flower products available at various dispensaries has dropped below 17%. There are some weed stores that are pumping out batches of flower jars that are entirely below 15%. At that point I might as well go out and buy black market weed and avoid the frustration of finding quality legal marijuana. I think that THC is not everything—in fact, it’s more about the terpene percentage and the dominant terpenes that determine how the particular batch of marijuana will affect someone. I tell people to find the strains that work for them and to stick with those if they’re unsure about something new.