This is a deep dive into the word "marijuana" and other terms for our favorite plant and its history. Easy reading and covers a lot of theories on just where the name "marijuana" originated. (Mexico? Africa? China?) I've always found the stories behind words to be fascinating. I hope you enjoy this, too. The link leads to a page with a link to the PDF of the full study (and I corrected a small typo in the abstract- they missed the "y' in "by" in the last sentence). A Weed by Any Other Name: Culture, Context, and the Terminology Shift from Marijuana to Cannabis. (USA) (link to PDF – 2023) A Weed by Any Other Name: Culture, Context, and the Terminology Shift from Marijuana to Cannabis by Taylor MacDonald :: SSRN ABSTRACT In the midst of state legalization and continued federal prohibition, advocates of cannabis legalization are mired in a different debate: should we call it marijuana or cannabis? While the origins of the drug’s illegality are clear and their effects omnipresent, the word marijuana remains shrouded in mystery. This paper examines the historical, etymological, and cultural roots of the terms surrounding the cannabis plant and explain why the shift to the term cannabis is appropriate. Drawing on the history of racism, xenophobia, propaganda, and linguistic manipulation in relation to cannabis in the United States over the past century, this paper argues for a renaming of marijuana as cannabis in legal (and other) contexts. By closely examining the origins and trajectory of the words surrounding the cannabis plant, this paper explains why shifting our terminology from marijuana to cannabis is an appropriate and necessary step in the movement to legalize cannabis at the national level and contend with the harms perpetrated by the War on Drugs. Granny
Thank You Granny for a most enlightening thread, please allow me to point out my own attempts at persuading the admins of this site to change from that horrid word The Normalization of Marijuana on GC back in August last year, but as yet very little has been or expected to be done
We’ve been using the term cannabis for awhile now. Over the summer I did a done if activist work in a battle to keep recreational laws from getting revoked in my county. What I saw was that some people are just absolutely triggered by the word “ marijuana “. I mean, when they see it in print they or hear it in a speech they just see red and start acting irrationally. The word alone can bring out the lanterns and pitchforks.
The problem is that cannabis covers industrial hemp and our "smoking cannabis". All hemp is cannabis, but not all cannabis is hemp! So the problem is, what word do we use for our "smoking cannabis"? "Marijuana" is racist and antiquated. "Cannabis" is way too broad. All the other words for "smoking cannabis" are just street slang - pot, weed, grass, etc. The Italians are currently branding "hot" hemp (hemp with over .3% THC) for smoking as "Light cannabis". I think we need a new term for cannabis that you smoke! "Sticky-icky" just isn't going to make it! "Heavy" cannabis? "Hot' cannabis? Smari (Smoking marijuana)? We gotta come up with something! Granny
“Alcohol”,,, given there are drinkable and non drinkable sorts of it, is actually not definitive enough… Whiskey/whisky, beer, ale, wine, vodka, etcetera, etcetera, yadda yadda, ad infinitum, ad nauseum… Most all sorts of drinking alcohol is called by what it is, rather than simply “booze”, though it is called that at times too… Why can’t the herb in question here simply be referred to as “indica” or “sativa”,,, according to the choice of the moment?
IMO… Indica and Sativa should only be used to describe the physical characteristics of a plant and not to describe the uplifting vs couch lock effects. Terpenes are directly responsible for the variability of effects one can experience with different phenotypes of each strain. This is a good paper on the subject Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects And an easy to absorb podcast https://www.periodiceffects.com/episodes/e050
over here in Europe I've heard 'Hot' cannabis or weed, being over the legal limit, but often coming from the CBD community, the rest who smoke go mostly by the strain name, the next question 90% of the time... where's it from, meaning breeder ?? not the grower or dealer/retailer, but the source of the seeds, like we are buying wine or some such Spoiler Like I'm high now on Desfran by Dutch Passion, not Destroyer-Sativa by Herbie's ...lol ..speaking which I do know of a couple of vinter's now growing weed ...lol
One time I got caught with some weed. the judge told to learn more about it and to write a paper for him or her I can’t remember, explaining why I should not consume it. So I did, i actually put some effort into it and learned about it. I wrote a three page paper and submitted it to my po. He read it and told me I had to rewrite it bc the judge won’t like it. Without realizing it, I had written a pro marijuawana paper and why you should consume it lol that lesson taught me about biases in articles that are written in articles thanks judge!! I learned two things
Put the word "organic" in front of whatever word you want to call it. Add "homeopathic" or "holistic" or "non-pharmaceutical" (all three words are fairly interchangeable, but dazzle them with bs). Organic non-pharmaceutical pain reliever. Organic homeopathic non-benzodiazepine anxiety reliever. Slip cannabinoid in there somewhere and you have a #1 hit on America's top forty.