Bronze-level articleMarijuana

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Cannabis is a plant (Cannabis spp.) that contains a complex of psychoactive substances, the most notable of these being tetrahydrocannabinol (usually shortened to THC). 'Marijuana', however, is a term which was popularised in the 1930s by Harry Anslinger, as part of his propaganda campaign[1] against the plant. As such, any right-thinking stoner (or is that left?) smokes cannabis, not marijuana. Despite its pejorative introduction into the American lexicon, the term annoyingly persists.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Cannabis predates humanity's appearance on Earth by a long time, and was legal for at least 34 million years before being made illegal in America in 1937[3] and the rest of the world shortly thereafter. Evolutionary theory supports the notion that it evolved, whereas Christians believe that God made it on the third day. And that it was Good Shit. Ironically, as a direct result of its prohibition, cannabis has been selectively bred to increase its overall potency. (Good work war on drugs!) Although not all strains are as potent as each other, most are considerably more potent than that of the pre-prohibition era, leading one UK cannabis-reform campaigner to refer to it as the chronic 'moonshine weed'.[4] The parallels with alcohol prohibition are uncanny.

[edit] Usage

Whilst usually smoked in hand-rolled cigarettes, called 'joints' or various kinds of pipes, or 'bongs', the active ingredients of cannabis can also be decarboxylated and added to food items, (cookies, brownies, or more accurately, 'space cakes'). The essential oils of cannabis can be butane-extracted and taken in pill, wax or 'dab' form, thus massively increasing its psychoactivity and paradoxically leading some to call it the 'crack of cannabis'.[5]

Another (healthier) way to partake is by means of a vaporizer. This device heats the plant material to a precise temperature at which the psychoactive component sublimates/evaporates, thereby releasing it from the plant material itself without releasing the potentially carcinogenic compounds. This allows one to enjoy the high without risking lung cancer. Alas, cheap vaporizers tend to release a few of the carcinogens (not as many as smoking the stuff, but still more than a quality vaporizer would release) and a good vaporizer is very, very expensive.

[edit] Bio-neurological effects

THC, the active ingredient of pot

[edit] Low dosage effects

In low doses, cannabis induces mild euphoria followed by a sense of general relaxation and well-being. Users often report heightened perceptions of music, colours and taste. Its effects at these doses are best likened to those of moderate alcohol consumption, but without the same degree of motor impairment and with much lower rates of dis-inhibition towards aggression.

[edit] High dosage effects

In higher doses, cannabis can induce mild to moderate hallucinations, but will more than likely lead the user to getting hungry and perhaps a little sleepy. There is a small risk of adverse side-effects and their likelihood increases with the dosage. They range from the merely inconvenient (short-term memory loss), through to the somewhat unnerving (paranoia/anxiety) and finally to the downright unpleasant (overwhelming fear or disorientation/vomiting). There is however, an even greater risk of laughing your ass off and going about your day,[6] with a spring in your step and an overwhelming sense of the awe of nature. Upon seriously high doses, an individual may encounter mystical experiences (see below) which, in case you are worried, are all completely explicable by science without any relapse into infinite regress and complete loss of autonomy whatsoever.

[edit] "Chronic"

The Lancet's assessment of the harmfulness of various drugs.

Have you ever looked at your hand? I mean really looked at your hand? ...oh, yeah. Sorry, man...

Chronic misuse of cannabis has been widely identified as a significant risk factor for those with a predisposition towards developing various mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. However, it should be noted that people with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar mood disorder often "self-medicate" to relieve the symptoms of their disorders. Some scientific studies of cannabis use[7] rarely take into account that the mental disorders of habitual users often go undiagnosed until after the patient has become a habitual cannabis user. It's possible that studies like the one mentioned above are politically-motivated. People with pre-existing mental disorders also tend to abuse alcohol and tobacco. Yet, similar studies linking booze and cigarettes - both legal and heavily taxed - to mental illnesses are less common than those that focus just on cannabis. Therefore, the link between cannabis use and mental illness may be an instance when correlation does not equal causation. This notion may be contradicted by research that suggests adolescents affected by psychosis who don't use cannabis recover significantly greater degrees of social functioning than those who do over the following 30 months, suggesting a possible causative relationship[8].

Recent studies also indicated that brain structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus may shrink due to extremely chronic use, on the order of five "cannabis cigarettes" a day for upwards of twenty years, in the case of one study. Preliminary research also suggests that regular cannabis use may lower IQ especially in teenagers who use regularly while their brains are developing. Further research is needed.[9]

While cannabis is not physiologically addictive in the way of many other drugs, it can be psychologically addictive, similarly to activities like gambling.

The term "chronic" is also used colloquially to describe cannabis of unusually high quality.

[edit] North American status (not that this article is American-centric or anything)

[edit] Canada

After the appeal of R v Mernagh, cannabis laws can be generously described as "confusing". Licensed growing for personal use is still permitted.[10]

Also, one notable politician has singlehandedly made it a 2015 election issue.[11]

[edit] Sam's ditchweed

In the United States, research into such issues as cannabis for medical use is restricted to the supply of government-grown plants,[12] which are of poor quality (potency), a sore point with many researchers in the field.

[edit] Two US states legalize cannabis

On November 7th, 2012 two US states, Colorado and Washington, decriminalized cannabis through voter approval. On November 4, 2014, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. also decriminalized cannabis. Other municipalities (the first being Breckenridge, Colorado) have previously decriminalized cannabis. The immediate actions taken by state officials after decriminalization were to dismiss any pending cannabis related court cases, such as possession. Amnesty for those already convicted of cannabis crimes may be forthcoming, and regulations to license and tax cannabis sales are soon to be in the works.

By an odd coincidence, the first legal sales of pot in the US took place a few blocks from the site of the first federal arrest for pot, which occurred about a month after it was criminalized in August, 1937. Samuel R. Caldwell, a 58-year-old unemployed farmhand sold three joints out of his Denver apartment to 26-year-old Moses Baca. The feds raided the apartment and found about three pounds (about 1.4 kilos) of weed. Caldwell was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary and fined $1000. Baca was sentenced to eighteen months at Leavenworth.[13]

Although recreational use of cannabis is legal under the State laws of Colorado and Washington, and medical use of cannabis is legal under the laws of several other U.S. states, cannabis is still completely illegal at the Federal level; it is still on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act as of January 2014. Federal drug enforcement agents are currently turning a blind eye to these pot-legal states, but that could change on the whim of whoever's in power.

There is a campaign to free a Missouri man in prison over 20 years for cannabis offenses. 21 similar cases exist nationwide. [14]

[edit] Reasons to visit Zearing, Iowa

During the 1970s, to distract Americans from the Vietnam War and Watergate, President Richard Nixon declared cannabis a 'gateway drug' and instituted a program to eradicate the plant where it grew wild, especially in the Midwest and more particularly in the fertile farmland in central Iowa. Between Clemons and Zearing, near Marshalltown, Iowa, this became known as The Great Bonfire of 1971.[15]

[edit] Traveling

When traveling, carrying any illegal drugs is ill-advised, especially if traveling by airplane or if crossing international borders. While some sensibly refuse to travel with cannabis, traveling to cannabis is a different matter.

[edit] Reasons to visit the Netherlands

Even Yoda smokes cannabis.

Cannabis, and its more concentrated cousin hashish, while still technically illegal in the Netherlands, are available in local coffeshops. As long as you don't actually blow hash smoke in a police officer's face, the policy is one of non-enforcement. Recently, the Dutch government announced that tourists would be banned from these shops;[16] Bummer! but these laws were subsequently not implemented[17] after the city of Amsterdam refused to comply and early projects with the law failed spectacularly, leading to sharp rises in crime and drug dealing within a few weeks. [18] Go legal weed!

[edit] Reasons to visit Uruguay

It's been legal there since 2013 and, although its not legal to buy if you're not native, you can easily get a Uruguayan to do it for you. Also, everyone has plants in their own home.

[edit] Things to do in Denver when you're alive

Get higgggghhhhh.[19] It is the Mile High City after all.

[edit] Religion

THCrot.gif

In Hinduism, the 'holy men' (referred to as Sadhus) ritually consume cannabis as their sacrament.

It is also believed by some rabbinical scholars that when the Jews still had a temple in Jerusalem, the "holy anointing oil" used there for religious rituals had some cannabis content.

There are also a handful of First Nations (people native to what are now the United States and Canada) traditions in which cannabis is part of religious ritual. The United States government made it legal for these religions on First Amendment grounds until a bunch of non-native people converted to that religion.[20]

In Rastafari, ganja is a sacrament. 'Ganga' is a term of Sanskrit origin, and is the name given to the goddess who personifies of the River Ganges. Why would diasporic Africans 'relocated' to the Caribbean use an ancient Sanskrit term for cannabis? Most probably because cannabis was introduced to the Caribbean by East Indian indentured labourers.[21] Funny how, when exposed to cannabis for a few centuries or millenia, people tend to make a sacrament of it, and yet when it is not used for a few decades because it is demonised and forbidden, it's considered a bore or a nuisance.

[edit] Slang

Like most "street drugs," marijuana cannabis has a proliferation of slang terms surrounding it.

This is but a sample:

  • Blunt (for a cannabis cigar)
  • Bud(s)
  • Bunk (rubbish hash)
  • Bushweed/Ditchweed (another name for low quality cannabis)
  • Chronic
  • Dank (The good stuff, also used as an adjective.)
  • The Devil's Lettuce (see poisoning the well)
  • Doobie
  • Dope
  • 'erb (American pronunciation)
  • 4-20, 4/20, 4:20
  • Grass
  • Ganja (see above)
  • Green
  • Hash (hand rubbed resin, mesh-sifted pollen heads, or ice-extracted 'bubble hash')
  • Herb (English pronunciation)
  • High grade
  • Joint (for a cannabis cigarette)
  • Kush (another name for the good stuff.)
  • Leaf ("flying on leaves")
  • Loud (another name for some good stuff, perhaps a reference to synaesthesia?)
  • Marijuana (see above)
  • Mary Jane (the personification of 'marijuana')
  • Mid (supposedly medium quality cannabis, but more often than not is not much better than reggie.)
  • MJ or Mary Jane
  • Peng (UK street slang, orig. pen and ink = stink, then just add a 'g', obviously)
  • Pot
  • Reefer[22]
  • Reggie (low quality cannabis)
  • Shake (leftover dust and crumbs)
  • Skunk (the strong stuff)
  • Trees
  • Weed

[edit] Some (notable) potheads cannabis-users

[edit] Stoners in popular culture

Stoners might seem to the uninitiated to become a bit of a bore about their new found friend, but only to the extent that alcohol users can be smug and obnoxious about their preferred vice being legal. If there was a war between alcohol and cannabis, cannabis would win because it is non-lethal, and less addictive, so there. It just happens to make you think outside the box and rebel, which is perhaps why visionaries of all fields have benefitted from using it. (See above)

Rap group Cypress Hill have a particular fondness for "Mary Jane", and did the world a favour by introducing many people to her ways (like many a rock, or reggae act before them - notice the distinct lack of genuinely good pop music?). The inlay sleeve for their 1993 album 'Black Sunday' featured a list of 19 reasons why cannabis should be made legal.[28]

Pineapple Express, a story about two perpetual stoners caught up in a murder.

Shel Silverstein performed a song named "Smoke Off", about a competition between the world's fastest joint smoker and the world's fastest roller of said joints. The contest ended when they ran out of pot to roll. It gave us several euphemisms for various varieties of weed, such as "Maui wowie," "Panama red," "Acapulco gold," etc..

The Big Lebowski, a story about a stoner caught up in a kidnapping. The film spawned a religion, "Dudeism" involving pot, bowling and White Russians.

Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke, a story about more perpetual stoners, this time smuggling pot from Mexico to the US. Cheech and Chong's other movies feature similar positive views on cannabis. Tommy Chong has been a long-time advocate of cannabis, and is often typecast as a hippie or stoner in other films and television shows, such as That 70's Show and Cars.

The 2014 Emmy Awards was referred to as the first to be 'sponsered by marijuana [sic]', as cannabis takes centre stage. *Warning* fox news clip[29]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azf320JDdqU
  2. http://mashable.com/2014/08/03/new-york-times-marijuana-ad/
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana_Tax_Act_of_1937
  4. http://www.clear-uk.org/is-norman-baker-the-man-who-will-finally-make-sense-of-uk-drugs-policy/
  5. http://www.dailypaul.com/300088/dabbing-dangerous-new-drug-seized-in-maryland-dun-dun-dunnnnn
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFHU1X1PED4
  7. "Smoking Marijuana Ups Risk of Schizophrenia: Study", Reuters Website, 26 June 2007.
  8. Social Functioning Trajectories of Young First-Episode Psychosis Patients with and without Cannabis Misuse: A 30-Month Follow-Up Study César González-Blanch, John F. Gleeson, Peter Koval, Sue M. Cotton, Patrick D. McGorry, Mario Alvarez-Jimenez. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122404
  9. Young cannabis smokers run risk of lower IQ, report claims
  10. "Medical marijuana: New rules and a 'ton of confusion'" Janet Davison, CBC News. Mar 31, 2014
  11. Majority of Canadians want to loosen marijuana laws: polls, The Globe and Mail
  12. The plants are grown in a carefully concealed, undisclosed location.
  13. Marijuana Prohibition Began With An Arrest In Denver, Ends Here With Long Lines And High Hopes, Huffington Post, 6 January 2014
  14. [1][2][3]
  15. Granny and the Great Smoke-out
  16. "Holland's Pot Tourism Set to Go Up in Smoke
  17. http://www.amsterdamstay.com/smokingnban.html
  18. http://nieuws.thepostonline.nl/2013/01/18/gewobt-feitelijke-resultaten-van-het-wietpasbeleid/
  19. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24828236/worlds-first-legal-recreational-marijuana-sales-begin-colorado
  20. Native American Church Wants its Marijuana Back,Opposing Views
  21. http://www.nriinternet.com/Trinidad/History/1_Hostory_East_Indians_in_Trinidad.htm
  22. attributed to Nixon as 'roofers' in Firesign Theatre skit
  23. The Collected Controversies of William F. Buckley
  24. Barack Obama, asked about drug history, admits he inhaled, The New York Times
  25. 7 Ways The Obama Administration Has Accelerated Police Militarization, The Huffington Post
  26. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/9085638/Sir-Paul-McCartney-gives-up-cannabis-for-daughter-Beatrice.html
  27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/9085638/Sir-Paul-McCartney-gives-up-cannabis-for-daughter-Beatrice.html
  28. http://www.freecovers.net/view/5/7d6afa7e171e02f88dd27e2ee43679fc/Cypress_Hill_-_Black_Sunday_%281993%29-cd4.html
  29. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/08/26/2014-emmys-marijuana-takes-center-stage/
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