Marijuana? What’S That!?

MARIJUANA? WHAT’S THAT!?

by: Jon Willig

Mr. Jay

per. 6

1-18-08

There is a special plant that seems to have stolen the spot light of the world, a plant which has mesmerized, intrigued, confused, angered, and obsessed thousands of people through out the globe, and through out history. This plant is called the Cannabis Sativa, or otherwise known as Marijuana. Marijuana has been used for medicinal, spiritual, and of course recreational uses almost everywhere; and has been used in a plethora of forms. But how is it used exactly? How long has it been used for? Why is it used, and who uses it? What is Marijuana!?

The History

Man kind has been using marijuana for about 5,000 years. The earliest known use of Marijuana happened in China and Central Asia in about 3,000 B.C.E., and it was there in India that it acquired its name “The Indian Hemp Plant”, or Cannabis Sativa, and also its reputation as a recreational tool and pleasure drug. However, contrary to the thousands of years of marijuana use by man, it just became illegal in the United States in 1937. It was the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930 that marked the legal end of Marijuana; for with the end of the National Prohibition of alcohol for the United States nearing an end, and state after state adopting some sort of anti-marijuana laws, it was then that Prohibitionists, specifically the head of FBN Henry Anslinger, set their sights on the Cannabis plant. We well cover what legal actions occurred in the 1930’s and 40’s later, but socially what happened then was just as extreme as the laws. Strict, intense anti-Marijuana propaganda was everywhere. Flyers and supposed “official” test results were everywhere saying that if you smoked Marijuana you would become and insane, murdering rapist! Even though this all is obviously false now a days, back then those who had used Marijuana before dared not speak only about it due to the strict laws surrounding the matter. So the vox populi didn’t really know any better. Needless to say, this quelled Marijuana use until about the 1960’s. It was then that the “hippies” of the counter culture started experimenting with drugs such as Marijuana and LSD, in another way to rebel. Since the counter culture became so popular eventually, and everyone knew about them/what they did. America seemed to have “re-discovered” Marijuana. Due to the fact it was a while after Anslinger and his eccentric ways had been forgotten, people accepted Marijuana and were using it as never before! However, it was this that also brought harder drugs into mainstream use, such as the cocaine fad in the 1980’s. Thus prompting the “re-invigoration” of the Anti-drug organizations in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Today however, Marijuana is a tricky subject; it’s used more than ever before, and by a wider audience, there are legal battles everywhere over it. Sometime even between country and state! But anyone can see that the decriminalization of Marijuana is closer than ever.

What It Is, And What It’s Used For.

Marijuana is a usually, green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, and flowers of the Hemp Plant. Marijuana itself if a “mind altering substance”, similar to alcohol, thanks to a chemical naturally excreted by the Hemp Plant called tetrahydrocannabinol, or otherwise knows as THC. THC affects certain areas of the brain to create the side effects of Marijuana use. These effects are different for each time. For when Marijuana is used by a person, it’s a different combination each time. So many different variables effect how the user will be affected. For example, the age of the user, the experience of the user, the size/weight of the user, the time of day, what mood the user is in, the amount used, how it was used, and the amount of THC in the Marijuana are all important factors on just how Marijuana will affect a person. Marijuana is used primarily by smoking; however in the past it has been used as a serum, pill, and other forms for medicinal purposes mainly before the 1920’s. After the 1920’s however Marijuana is now almost always inhaled by smoking. Glass pipes, hand rolled Marijuana cigarettes called “joints”, hookahs, and bongs are the main way of smoking marijuana. However other, more potent forms of Marijuana are also used, such as Hashish. Hashish (or more commonly referred to as Hash) is a crystallized form of concentrated THC, with little parts of the plant left. North Africa is a large global supplying area of Hashish, and it is still smoked. Marijuana has about as many different names as it does ways of using it. Some of them are: weed, pot, grass, bomb, ganja, reefer, chronic, mary jane, cheeba, haze, and 420.. However there are still many, many more. Marijuana is used mainly by people between the ages of 15-35 in the United States. However you really can find anyone from any age group who smokes Marijuana on a regular basis. People who use Marijuana on a regular basis are commonly referred to as: stoner, reefer, burnout, burner, pot head, and druggie. Marijuana is mainly used as a pleasure, similar to how alcohol is used, but can be used for many other things. Such as medicinal and spiritual uses, as will be covered later. Marijuana is also about 60% more powerful than it was half a century ago.

The Legal Aspect

In the 1930’s Henry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, tried desperately to create a nation wide ban on Marijuana, but this would require a change of the Constitution, for it would conflict with the Fifth Amendment; and this just would not be. So being the sly dog that he was, Anslinger created the Marihuana Tax Act, a law that made it illegal to either possess or sell/buy Marijuana without a stamp issued by the government. However, this unofficially made Marijuana illegal due to the fact that the government would not sell any of these stamps! Apart from certain farmers so they could grow hemp for the war effort in WWII. Since this time the majority of the world’s countries have criminalized the use of Marijuana. However, in the United States some states such as California, Nevada, Oregon, New York, and others have started the decriminalization of Marijuana; making the drug essentially legal for certain uses and for certain cases, as well as made