Botanical background Marijuana ( Cannabis spp.) is a strong plant with stems that grow easily from three to 20 feet in nearly every climatic condition. The leaves are palmate (they look like the palm of a human hand), each with five to seven lanceolate (long and pointed) leaflets. The plant is native to Northern India and Southern Siberia and is a member of the small Cannabaceae family of plants. One other medicinal plant in the Cannabaceae family is hops ( Humulus lupulus ), a plant employed in the brewing of beer. Carl Linnaeus, the 18th-century Swedish botanist and physician who created a system for naming plants (The Linnean Society, n.d.), named marijuana Cannabis sativa in 1753 (Pollio, 2016). Marijuana that is cultivated in a dry, hot climate produces resin in greater quantities, along with fiber that is poor for commercial purposes. In countries with milder, humid weather, the hemp fiber is stronger and more durable, and less resin is produced (Abel, 1980). Because of the historical emphasis on hemp cultivation for quality fiber, the intoxicating effects of marijuana were largely unknown in America until the 19th century. Today, however, the leaves, seeds, flowers, and stems, along with the resin that oozes from the stems and leaves of the plant, are used medicinally, recreationally, and in ritual. (See Table 1.) When marijuana is harvested for fiber or its leaf, it is cut close to the ground with a special sickle. Harvesting resin is more painstaking. The resin is known as “hashish.” Cannabis indica is the species typically grown for its higher resin content for the hashish market. A late 19th-century analysis described the leaves as containing chlorophyll, a volatile oil, gummy extractive, a bitter body, albumen, lignin, sugar, and salts such as potassium nitrate, silica, and phosphates (Felter & Lloyd, 1898/1983). More than 100 cannabinoids have been identified in marijuana (UCLA Health, n.d.), but delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or “THC,” is the main psychoactive component (NIDA, 2019h). Smoking marijuana has a paradoxical effect on mood: It can be stimulating or sedating. This type of effect is not typical of central nervous system stimulants or depressants, but it is Is there a difference between marijuana and hemp? Marijuana is the most used common name for Cannabis sativa in the West; however, there are numerous others. As Terence McKenna (1992) comments, “The thousands of names by which cannabis is known in hundreds of languages are testament to its cultural history and ubiquity” (p. 150). However, “hemp” is not a synonym for “marijuana.” There is a significant difference between plants known by these common names. Although they are both Cannabis sativa , hemp is a different strain of marijuana that is low in THC (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], 2016). Marijuana (and hemp) seeds contain no THC and can thus be sold in the market as food. During processing, however, it is possible for trace amounts of THC from the leaf to stick to the outer husk of the seed in an amount that is measurable upon analysis. Hemp products on the market cannot contain THC. Hemp seed, which is used in producing soap, lamp oil, and paint as well as food products such as oil and “hemp butter,” or “hemp seed butter,” is 31% protein after the husk is removed. Cultural history of marijuana use Marijuana has a rich history that runs the gamut from high social acclaim as a plant of great spiritual power to intense suspicion. The plant has been associated with ritual, religious, social, and medical customs in India for thousands of years. Marijuana is referred to as one of the five sacred plants suggested for freedom from anxiety in the Atharva Veda (circa 1400 B.C.), an ancient Indian text on healing (Abel, 1980). In Tibetan tantric tradition, marijuana is burned to drive out evil forces. Gautama Buddha is said to have subsisted on one hemp seed each day for 6 years preceding his enlightenment.
more consistent with the effects of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD; Block et al., 1998). Marijuana plants are dioecious, which means that there are distinctly male and female plants. Growers focus on the identification, care, and propagation of female plants because females produce more resin and flower later (Abel, 1980). According to McKenna (1992), “Not only do males not produce a usable drug, but if pollen from male plants reaches females, the females will begin to ‘set’ seed and will cease their production of resin” (p. 154). The intoxicating resin is secreted by glandular hairs located around the flowers. Table 1: Marijuana Plant Preparations Preparations Description Marijuana Dried plant product consisting of leaves, stems, and flowers; typically smoked as a rolled cigarette or vaporized.
Hashish
Concentrated plant resin often cooked into pastry such as cake that can be ingested; also, can be smoked. Oil obtained from the cannabis plant by solvent extraction; usually smoked or inhaled; butane hash oil (sometimes referred to as “dabs”). Cannabinoid liquid extracted from the plant; consumed sublingually. Plant material mixed with nonvolatile solvents such as butter or cooking oil and ingested.
Hashish oil
Alcohol extract/ Tincture*
Oil infusion*
*These preparations are available from state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries. Note . Source: From Western Schools, © 2022.
It is rich in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, such as linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid) and tocopherols (vitamin E), and the concentration of unsaturated fatty acids can exceed 90%, higher than most vegetable oils on the market, particularly the Yunma No. 1 and Bama Huoma varieties (Chen et al., 2010). Hemp seed oil is high in flavonoids, such as flavanones, flavanols, and isoflavones, which are known antioxidants (Smeriglio et al., 2016; Zhou et al., 2018). A common recipe for the use of hemp seed is hemp porridge. The hemp plant is best known, however, for its use in fiber production, primarily of cordage for weaving and rope making. Hemp fiber, along with mulberry tree bark pulverized into pulp, was also the basis for the invention of paper traditionally ascribed to a Chinese court official, Ts’ai Lun, in A.D. 105. However, fragments of paper containing hemp fiber have been found in Chinese graves dating back to the first century B.C. (Abel, 1980). On the other hand, the term “assassin” used in the English language has been widely believed to come from the word hashishin , which was applied to a murderous sect that supposedly used hashish for intoxication (American Heritage Dictionary, 2019; Felter & Lloyd, 1898/1983; Merriam- Webster, n.d.). There is reason to believe, however, that the sect did not use hashish, and that the accusation of such use was meant as propaganda against them (American Heritage Dictionary, 2019). The etymology of “hashishin” may not even arise from “hashish,” but from an Egyptian Arabic word for “troublemakers” (Nahas, 1982; Szczepanski, 2019).
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