This Bud's for 15M of You

I just read this CNN story about pot. I learned many interesting things beyond the fact that there's a government weed lab akin to the Ft. Knox of dope or, since that was used in the story, I'll come up with my own: The Garden of Weed'n. Take this:

Although street marijuana in the early 1980s had an average strength of 4 percent tetrahydrocannabinol -- the drug's primary psychoactive ingredient -- the average was 10.1 percent last year, the government announced.

That sounds a lot like beer. When Prohibition was repealed, beer was mandated to be 3.2% alcohol by weight. Some states still restrict sales to "three-two beer." But 3.2% alc. by weight equals 4% alc. by volume (ABV). In the early '80s, when there were fewer than 4 dozen brewing companies in the US, beer had very little flavor, so it's no wonder Americans started drinking beer with fewer calories and less flavor, ie: Lite beer.

So whereas Bud Light is 4% ABV, it's increasingly popular to find beers brewed to 10% ABV or over such as Pliny the Younger, an uber-hoppy Imperial IPA. It is perhaps no small coincidence that cannabis (pot) and humulus (hop) are cousins within the cannabaceae family.

The article also mentioned that the DEA believes almost 15 million Americans toke up. Frankly, I think that's a low-ball number, but maybe because I walk around in San Francisco. It also stated that some confiscated weed clocked in at over 30% THC, (that tetrahydrocannib-something-or-other). Sam Adams Utopias boasts an impressive 25% ABV. Coincidence?