Where did the word `Marijuana' come from? The word marijuana is a Mexican slang term which became popular in the late 1930's in America, during a series of media and government programs which we now refer to as the Reefer Madness Movement. It refers specifically to the medicine part of cannabis. Today in the U.S., hemp (meaning the roots, stalk, and stems of the cannabis plant) is legal to possess. No one can arrest you for wearing a hemp shirt, or using hemp paper. Marijuana (The flowers, buds, or leaves of the cannabis plant) is not legal to possess, and there are stiff fines and possible jail terms for having any marijuana in your possession. The seeds are legal to possess and eat, but only if they are sterilized (will not sprout.) Since it is not possible to grow the hemp plant without being in possession of marijuana, the United States does not produce any industrial hemp products, and must import them or, more often, substitute others. Is marijuana addictive? Marijuana produces no withdrawal symptoms no matter how heavy it is used. It is habit forming (psychologically addictive), but not physically addictive. 400 chemicals?????? I heard that there are over 400 chemicals in marijuana... Wellllll...? True, but so what? There are also over 400 chemicals in many foods, [including coffee, which contains 800 chemicals and many rat carcinogens] and I don't see police arresting people in McDonald's, or giving Driving while Eating citations. Only THC is very psycho-active, a few other cannabinoids also have small degrees of psycho-activity. People who use marijuana do not get sick more, or die earlier, or lose their jobs [except to drug tests], or have mutant kids... so what's your point? Doesn't Marijuana cause brain damage? The short answer: No. The long answer: The reason why you ask this is because you probably heard or read somewhere that marijuana damages brain cells, or makes you stupid. These claims are untrue. The first one -- marijuana kills brain cells -- is based on research done during the second Reefer Madness Movement. A study attempted to show that marijuana smoking damaged brain structures in monkeys. However, the study was poorly performed and it was severely criticized by a medical review board. Studies done afterwards failed to show any brain damage. But this was Reefer Madness II, and the prohibitionists were looking for anything to keep the marijuana legalization movement in check, so this study was widely used in anti-marijuana propaganda, until it was recanted later. (To this day, the anti-drug groups will sometimes slip up and use it -- In fact, America's most popular drug `education' program, Drug Abuse Resistance Education uses it. The D.A.R.E. officer's training manual contains a fact sheet from the National Institute on Drug Abuse which says that marijuana ``can impair memory perception & judgement by destroying brain cells.'' When police and teachers read this and believe it, our job gets really tough, since it takes a long time to explain to children how Ms. Jones and Officer Bob were wrong.) The truth is, no study has ever demonstrated cellular damage, stupidity, mental impairment, or insanity brought on specifically by marijuana use -- even heavy marijuana use. This is not to say that it cannot be abused, however. So you must be wondering if it doesn't kill brain cells, how does it get you `high'? Killing brain cells is not a pre-requisite for getting `high.' Marijuana contains a chemical which substitutes for a natural brain chemical, with a few differences. This chemical touches special `buttons' on brain cells called `receptors.' Essentially, marijuana `tickles' brain cells. The legal drug alcohol also tickles brain cells, but it will damage and kill them by producing toxins (poisons) and sometimes mini-seizures. Isn't smoking marijuana worse for you than smoking cigarettes? There are many reasons why it is not. The first is that marijuana smokers generally don't chain smoke, and so they smoke less. (Marijuana is not physically addictive.) The second is that tobacco contains nicotine, and marijuana doesn't. Nicotine hardens the arteries and is responsible for much of the heart disease caused by tobacco. The third is that marijuana contains THC. THC is a bronchial dilator, which means it works like a Hall's cough drop and opens up your lungs, which aids clearance of smoke and dirt. Nicotine does just the opposite; it makes your lungs bunch up and makes it harder to cough anything up. The fourth is that there are benefits from marijuana (besides bronchial dilation) that you don't get from tobacco. Mainly, marijuana makes you relax, which improves your health and well-being. The fifth is that scientists do not really know what it is that causes malignant lung cancer in tobacco. Some think it may be a substance known as Lead 210. Of course, there are many other theories as to what does cause cancer, but if this is true, it is easy to see why NO CASE OF LUNG CANCER RESULTING FROM MARIJUANA USE ALONE HAS EVER BEEN DOCUMENTED, because tobacco contains much more of this substance than marijuana. You may have heard that `one joint is equal to 10 cigarettes' This is based on studies which measured the tar content of cannabis and tobacco leaves. Marijuana smokers prefer the bud, though, which is much cleaner. What is Hemp? For our purposes, hemp is the plant called cannabis sativa. There are other plants that are called hemp, but cannabis hemp is the most useful of these plants. In fact, cannabis sativa means useful (sativa) hemp (cannabis). Hemp is any durable plant that has been used since pre-history for many purposes. Fiber is the most well known product, and the word `hemp' can mean the rope or twine which is made from the hemp plant, as well as just the stalk of the plant that produced it. What is Cannabis? Cannabis is the most durable of the hemp plants, and it produces the toughest cloth, called canvass. (Canvass was widely used as sails in the early shipping industry, as it was the only cloth which would not rot on contact with sea spray) The cannabis plant also produces three other very important products which the other hemp plants do not (in usable form, that is): pulp, seed, and medicine. The pulp is used as fuel, and to make paper. The seed is suitable for both human and animal foods. The oil from the seed can be used in as a base for paints and varnishes. The medicine is a tincture or admixture of the sticky resin in the blossoms and leaves of the hemp plant, and is used for a variety of purposes.