Science

Ever Wonder How They Test Marijuana For Safety? (VIDEO)

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As marijuana goes mainstream in the U.S., people are asking new questions about weed. What makes some marijuana especially potent, for example, and how can marijuana be regulated to make sure legal weed doesn't send them on a bad trip?

For answers to those and other burning questions about the chemistry of cannabis, have a look at the new video (above) issued by the American Chemistry Society as part of its Reactions You Tube channel. The video explains how marijuana's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), affects the brain, and how the marijuana-testing labs now springing up across the country test pot for safety and quality control.

To learn all the tricks of the trade in marijuana labs, check out the video.

50: Snoop Lion
Koen van Weel/AFP/Getty Images
“It makes me feel the way I need to feel.”
49: Rick Steves
AP
"I have used cannabis all over the world."
48: Oliver Stone
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images
“I went to Vietnam, and I was there for a long time. [Using marijuana] made the difference between staying human or, as Michael Douglas said, becoming a beast.”
47: Rihanna
VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images
"Kush rolled, glass full... I prefer the better things!"
46: Hugh Hefner
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy
“Smoking helped put me in touch with the realm of the senses.”
45: Miley Cyrus
AP Photo/MTV, John Shearer
"You know you're a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake."
44: Bryan Cranston
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
"Pot always just made me sleepy.”
43: Robert Downey Jr
Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, file
“Robert Downey Jr. said he started smoking weed at age 8.”
42: Madonna
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
"It [my behavior on the show in 1994] wasn't because I was excited about you [David Letterman]. I think it may have had something to do with the joint I smoked before I came on."
41: Johnny Depp
AP
"I'm not a great pothead or anything like that… but weed is much, much less dangerous than alcohol."
40: Phil Jackson
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
In 1975 he wrote “Maverick,” a memoir about his days playing in the NBA. Among other things, Jackson spoke frankly about marijuana use. -- Salon
39: Sarah Palin
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
"I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled.”
38: Justin Bieber
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
"Bieber both confirmed that he'd been caught smoking weed and apologized for it." -- Huffington Post
37: Maya Angelou
AP Photo/Nell Redmond, file
“Angelou settled into a job as a waitress and began smoking marijuana with abandon.”
36: Lincoln Chafee
AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith
"In 1999, then-Warwick Mayor Lincoln D. Chafee won accolades for his honesty in acknowledging he used marijuana and cocaine as a 1970s student at Brown University."
35: Matt Damon
AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)
“The first time I smoked was at home with my mother and step-father.”
34: Conan O'Brien
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
“I’ve tried pot, but it doesn’t do much for me.”
33: Susan Sarandon
Larry Busacca/Getty Images
"Cocaine didn't interest me. Not at all. I'm way way back in the early pot…"
32: Andrew Sullivan
Peter Kramer/Getty Images for TFF)
"The blogger and commentator Andrew Sullivan was busted in July for possessing a small amount of marijuana within the Cape Cod National Seashore."
31: John Hickenlooper
David Cannon/Getty Images
"As I've already been open about in the past -- and as I assume many would expect -- I made personal choices when I was younger that I neither support nor condone for others and certainly wouldn't encourage through public policy."
30: Seth MacFarlane
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
"I don't smoke much pot anymore."
29: Martha Stewart
Getty Images
"Of course I know how to roll a joint."
28: Angelina Jolie
TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images
“… the one that has the worst effect for me was pot. I felt silly and giggly - I hate feeling like that.”
27: Morgan Freeman
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for AFI
"Never give up the ganja."
26: David Letterman
AP Photo/CBS, John Paul Filo
“I went through one period when I smoked a surprising, a really breath-taking, amount of grass almost every night.”
25: Jennifer Aniston
Arthur Mola/Invision/AP
“I enjoy it once in a while. There is nothing wrong with that. Everything in moderation. I wouldn't call myself a pot-head.”
24: Michael Phelps
Al Bello/Getty Images
“[Phelps] firmly denies that he takes drugs, suggesting that the notorious photo of him smoking from a bong was a one-time lapse of judgment.”
23: Tom Brokaw
Kris Connor/Getty Images
“…what I did was experiment with a little marijuana like a lot of other people and walked away…”
22: Ted Turner
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
"CNN anchor Gwen Scott claimed it is common knowledge that Turner sits in his office and smokes marijuana."
21: Brad Pitt
Todd Williamson/Invision for Fox Searchlight/AP Images
“I was hiding out from the celebrity thing, I was smoking way too much [marijuana].”
20: Lady Gaga
D Dipasupil/Getty Images for The Daily Front Row
"I smoke a lot of pot when I write music."
19: Michael Bloomberg
Andy Kropa/Invision/AP
"You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.''
18: George Clooney
AP Photo/David Azia
“The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there.”
17: Rush Limbaugh
AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file
"I wouldn’t have been able to make it through hundreds of shows if it weren’t for the benefits of medical marijuana"
16: LeBron James
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File
“James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.”
15: Sanjay Gupta
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File
"I have tried it."
14: Rand Paul
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
"According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot."
13: Andrew Cuomo
Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
"I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth."
12: George W. Bush
AP Photo/LM Otero
"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
11: Bill Gates
AP Photo / Jonathan Brady
“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice…”
10: Bill Maher
AP Photo/HBO, Janet Van Ham
"Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana... About 50,000 times."
9: George Soros
ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images
"He said he had tried marijuana, enjoyed it, 'but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years.'"
8: John Kerry
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
"Yes." [In response to the question: "Which of you are ready to admit to having used marijuana in the past?"]
7: Jay Z
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File
"I smoked some weed, and that’s how I finished ‘Izzo.’"
6: Jon Stewart
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File
“Do you know how many movies I wrote when I was high?”
5: Stephen Colbert
AP Photo/Comedy Central, Scott Gries
"First, [in high school], I smoked a lot of pot...and that’s how I got to know the people ‘half in’ the society of my high school and we waved at each other over the bong. Then I got to know people by making jokes.”
4: Clarence Thomas
AP Photo/Tribune Review, Sidney Davis
"The White House said today that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, had smoked marijuana while in college."
3: Bill Clinton
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
"I experimented with marijuana a time or two."
2: Oprah Winfrey
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File
"To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked marijuana. 'Uh … 1982,' Winfrey replied. 'Let's hang out after the show,' Cohen joked. 'Okay,' Winfrey laughed. 'I hear it's gotten better.'"
1: Barack Obama
Alex Wong/Getty Images
"When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point."

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