Marijuana (also known as Cannabis)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi / Sanskrit: ganja, hemp), or 'de herb' is a psychoactive product of the plant marijuana sativa, or more often, marijuana sativa subsp. indica. The herbal form of the drug consists of dried mature flowers and subtending leaves of pistillate (female) plants. The resinous form, known as hashish, consists primarily of glandular trichomes collected from the same plant material. The major biologically active chemical compound in marijuana is 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), commonly referred to as THC.

Humans have been consuming marijuana since prehistory, although in the 20th century there was a rise in its use for recreational, religious or spiritual, and medicinal purposes. It is estimated that about four percent of the world's adult population use cannabis annually and 0.6 percent daily. Marijuana is the world's most often used illegal drug. The possession, use, or sale of psychoactive cannabis products became illegal in most parts of the world in the early 20th century. Since then, some countries have intensified the enforcement of cannabis prohibition while others have reduced the priority of enforcement.

Different Forms of Marijuana

Marijuana or ganja: the flowering tops of female plants, from less than 1% THC to 22% THC; the wide range is probably one of the reasons for the conflicting results from different studies. Psychoactive potency by cannabis plant part is approximately as follows (descending order):

   1. Trichomes
   2. Female flowering buds
   3. Male flowering buds
   4. New shoots
   5. Leaves from flower buds
   6. Leaves in ascending order of size
   7. Stems of leaves (petioles) in ascending order of size
   8. Stems in ascending order of size
   9. Roots and seeds (Skunk)

Definitions

Hashish (pressed keif) or charas: a concentrated resin composed of heated glandular trichomes that have been physically extracted, usually by rubbing, sifting, or with ice.

Kief:

1. The sticky resin saturated bits of plant before pressed into hashish. It's chopped flowering tops of female cannabis plants, often mixed with tobacco;
2. Moroccan hashish produced in the Rif mountains;
3. sifted cannabis trichomes consisting of only the glandular "heads" (often incorrectly referred to as "crystals" or "pollen");
4. the crystal (trichomes) left at the bottom of a grinder after grinding marijuana, then smoked.

Hash oil: is an ethanol extract of cannabis that has had the ethanol evaporated from it, to leave hash oil.

Methods of consumption

Cannabis is consumed in myriad ways, most of which either involve inhaling smoke from ignited plant or administering orally. Various devices exist for smoking, most common are implements such as bongs, chillums and smoking pipes, joints or blunts. Local methods differ by the preparation of the cannabis plant before use, the parts of the cannabis plant which are used, and the treatment of the smoke before inhalation. Because large particles require a higher burning temperature, herb should be sifted through a 1/16-inch/1.6-mm. mesh screen strainer, and the smoking utensil crater should contain a snug-fitting screen to prevent drawing particles down the channel.

A vaporizer heats herbal cannabis to 365–410 F (185–210 C), which causes the active ingredients to evaporate into a gas without burning the plant material (the boiling point of THC is 392 F (200 C) at 0.02 mm Hg pressure, and somewhat higher at standard atmospheric pressure), A lower proportion of toxic chemicals are released than by smoking, although this may vary depending on the design of the vaporizer and the temperature at which it is set.

An e-cigarette has a rechargeable battery and a heating element which vaporizes (in most brands) liquid nicotine from an insertable cartridge. If THC is loaded into the cartridge instead of nicotine, cannabis users may receive the benefits of a vaporizer at lower initial cost.

As an alternative to smoking, cannabis may be consumed orally. However, the cannabis or its extract must be sufficiently heated or dehydrated to cause decarboxylation of its most abundant cannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, into psychoactive THC.

Cannabis material can be leached in high-proof spirits (often grain alcohol) to create a “Green Dragon”. This process is often employed to make use of low-potency stems and leaves.

Cannabis can also be consumed as a cannabis tea. Although THC is lipophilic and only slightly water soluble (with a solubility of 2800 mg per liter), enough THC can be dissolved to make a mildly psychoactive tea.

Effects of cannabis

Cannabis has psychoactive and physiological effects when consumed, usually by smoking or ingestion. The minimum amount of THC required to have a perceptible psychoactive effect is about 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (which, in practical terms, is a varying amount, dependent upon potency). A related compound, 9-tetrahydrocannabivarin, also known as THCV, is produced in appreciable amounts by certain drug strains. This cannabinoid has been described in the popular literature as having shorter-acting, flashier effects than THC, but recent studies suggest that it may actually inhibit the effects of THC. Relatively high levels of THCV are common in African dagga (marijuana), and in hashish from the northwest Himalayas.

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