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Marijuana, or marihuana, is a name for the cannabis plant, and more specifically, a drug preparation from it. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] "Marijuana" as a term varies in usage, definition and legal application around the world. [ 4 ]
Cannabis (/ ˈ k æ n ə b ɪ s /), [2] commonly known as marijuana (/ ˌ m æ r ə ˈ w ɑː n ə /), [3] weed, and pot, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various ...
The plant name cannabis is a Scythian word, [1] [2] [3] which loaned into Persian as kanab, then into Greek as κάνναβις (kánnabis) and subsequently into Latin as cannabis. [4] The ancient Greeks learned of the use of cannabis by observing Scythian funerals, during which cannabis was consumed. [2]
Cannabis also has a long history of being used for medicinal purposes, and as a recreational drug known by several slang terms, such as marijuana, pot or weed. Various cannabis strains have been bred, often selectively to produce high or low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a cannabinoid and the plant's principal psychoactive constituent .
They called it qunabu and qunubu (which could signify "a way to produce smoke"), a potential origin of the modern word "cannabis". [ 17 ] : 305 Cannabis was introduced as well to the Scythians , Thracians and Dacians , whose shamans (the kapnobatai —"those who walk on smoke/clouds") burned cannabis flowers to induce trance . [ 18 ]
Cultural figureheads such as Bob Marley popularized Rastafari and ganja through reggae music. In 1976, Peter Tosh defended the use of ganja in the song "Legalize It". [14] The hip hop group Cypress Hill revived the term in the United States in 2004 in a song titled "Ganja Bus", followed by other artists, including rapper Eminem, in the 2009 song "Must Be the Ganja".
Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. [ 1 ] The specific epithet sativa means 'cultivated'.
Taxonomically, the term "weed" has no botanical significance, because a plant that is a weed in one context, is not a weed when growing in a situation where it is wanted. Some plants that are widely regarded as weeds are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings. For this reason, some plants are sometimes called beneficial weeds.