Marijuana (Drugs The Straight Facts)

Marijuana is the flowering part of the Indian hempplant Cannabis sativa, a weed-like species that grows wild and is also cultivated in many tropical and temperate parts of the world. Cannabis means “hemp” in Latin and is derived from the Greek word kannabis. Marijuana probably comes from the Mexican Spanish marijuana/marihuana (Mary’s leaf or plant) or from Maria and Juan (Mary and John). Among its many names, marijuana is commonly known as weed, ganja, mary jane, and pot.For thousands of years, cannabis has enjoyed historical significance as a recreational drug, a useful fiber, an oil, an edible seed, and a medicine. It has been used to aid religious practices, alter mood (psychoactive effect), stimulate creativity, treat disease, relieve anxiety and boredom, enhance sensory experience and pleasure, rebel against authority, and go along with peer influence. That is a lot of work for one plant to do. This probably explains why cannabis has always been an important cultivated crop and is currently a cornerstone of controversial debate in all sectors of U.S. and international society.