Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis
A dried flowered bud of the Cannabis sativa plant. Note
the visible trichomes (commonly referred to as crystals),
which carry a large portion of the drug content.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division:
Magnoliophyta
Class:
Magnoliopsida
Order:
Rosales
Family:
Cannabaceae
Genus:
Cannabis
Species:
C. sativa
Binomial name
Cannabis sativa
Linnaeus
Subspecies
C. sativa L. subsp. sativa
C. sativa L. subsp. indica
Cannabis, also known as marijuana[1],
marihuana,[2]
or
ganja
(from Ne-
pali/Urdu/Hindi/Sanskrit: ?????/گانجا gañjā,
hemp) refers to any number of preparations
of the cannabis plant intended for human
consumption as a drug, the most common of
which being the natural herbal form.
The herbal form of the drug consists of
mature
female
flowers and sub-tending
leaves of pistillate
(female) plants. The
resinous form, known as hashish,[3] consists
primarily of glandular trichomes collected
from the same plant material. The major bio-
logically active chemical compound in can-
nabis is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tet-
rahydrocannabinol), commonly referred to as
THC.
Humans’ consumption of cannabis pre-
dates history.[4] In the 20th century there
was a considerable increase in its use for re-
creational, religious or spiritual, and medicin-
al purposes. It is estimated that about four
percent of the world’s adult population (162
million) use cannabis annually and 0.6 per-
cent (22.5 million) daily.[5] 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 enforce-
ment of cannabis prohibition while others
have reduced the priority of enforcement.
Forms
Flowers
Cannabis flower
• Cannabis, Marijuana or ganja: the
flowering tops of female plants,[6] from
less than 1% THC to 22% THC; the wide
range is probably one of the reasons for
the conflicting results from different
studies.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cannabis (drug)
1
Psychoactive potency by