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MARIJUANA
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Below is specific information on marijuana:
Street terms for Marijuana: Pot, ganga, weed, grass, and many others.
What is Marijuana? Are there different kinds?
Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Before the 1960s, many Americans had never heard of marijuana, but today it is the most often used illegal drug in this country.
Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant. Strong forms of cannabis include sinse-milla (sin-seh-me-yah), hashish ("hash” for short), and hash oil.
All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs; they all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals.
Marijuana’s effect on the user depends on the strength or potency of the THC it contains(6). THC potency has increased since the 1970s and continues to increase still. The strength of the drug is measured by the average amount of THC in test samples confiscated by law enforcement agencies. For the year 2003:
- Most ordinary marijuana contained, on average, 5 percent THC.
- Sinsemilla (made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants) contained, on average, 12 percent THC, ranging from less than one percent to 27 percent.
- Hashish (the sticky resin from the female plant flowers) had an average of 10 percent, ranging from one percent to 26 percent.
How is marijuana used?
Most users roll loose marijuana into a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or smoke it in a pipe. One well-known type of water pipe is the bong. Some users mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew a tea. Another method is to slice open a cigar and replace the tobacco with marijuana, making what's called a blunt. When the blunt is smoked with a 40 oz. bottle of malt liquor, it is called a "B-40."
Lately, marijuana cigarettes or blunts often include crack cocaine, a combination known by various street names, such as "primos" or "woolies." Joints and blunts often are dipped in PCP and are called "happy sticks," "wicky sticks," "love boat," or "tical."
How many people smoke marijuana? At what age do children generally start?
A recent government survey tells us:
- Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in the United States. Nearly 95 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once.
- Over 14 million had used the drug in the month before the survey.
The Monitoring the Future Survey, which is conducted yearly, includes students from 8th, 10th, and 12th grades. In 2003, the survey showed that 18 percent of 8th-graders have tried marijuana at least once, and by 10th grade, 17 percent are “current” users (that is, used within the past month) (19). Among 12th-graders, 46 percent have tried marijuana/hash at least once, and about 21 percent were current users (19).
Other researchers have found that use of marijuana and other drugs usually peaks in the late teens and early twenties, then declines in later years.
More Information
Read the most recent articles about marijuana
Read what Addiction Help Services has to say about marijuana
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