Cannabis
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Cannabis is a plant. It is also called Cannabis Sativa, Cannabis Indica, or Marijuana. Cannabis contains a drug known as THC-(delta-9-tetra-hydro-canibinol) which gives the user a feeling of euphoria (makes the user feel good). Cannabis can be smoked, eaten, or ingested in a number of other ways.
Because people can use it as a drug, it is illegal (against the law) in most places, but is sometimes legal to use for medical purposes with a prescription from a doctor. Contrary to popular belief, It is not legal in the Netherlands, but decriminalized. Some other countries are starting to decriminalize marijuana as well(make using it no longer be a crime).
When cannabis (marijuana) is used, the user gets 'high'. The most common effects of the drug include happiness, feeling relaxed, being able to think clearly (or not being able to remember anything at all), and getting hungry.
Marijuana can make other things happen to the body and mind. These include not being able to remember things as easily, making your perception (how you see and feel) different, and making it harder to think and solve problems.
There are many ways cannabis is taken. The most common is smoking it. This is done by rolling it in paper like a cigarette, or using a pipe or a water bong and also making hashish. Hashish is processed marijuana. Smoking anything is bad for the lungs, because the smoke has carbon monoxide in it and contains other things that can cause cancer. Carbon monoxide is a poison. Cannabis can also be eaten if it is cooked into a food.
There are more than 200 slang terms for cannabis (pot, weed, grass, Mary Jane, gangster), cannabis smoking, and cannabis intoxication (high, stoned).
Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States.
Marijuana was grown in plantations (very big farms) in the eastern United States from around 1775 to the mid 1860s. When the plantations disappeared by 1870, marijuana grew wild along the east coast and New England.
Like many plants with a lot of fibre in them, cannabis can be used to make clothes, rope, and paper. When grown for these purposes it is often called hemp or industrial hemp. Cannabis that is used for making rope or paper has a very low amount of THC in it. You cannot get high from hemp rope or paper. Most rope used to be made from hemp. During World War II, the United States government made a movie to get farmers to grow more hemp so that there would be enough to make rope and cloth for the war effort. This movie was called Hemp For Victory.
Marijuana is one of the least dangerous drugs that are commonly used. It would require a user to smoke or ingest over three pounds in a time period of 15 minutes to be classified as potentially fatal. There have been no known death attributed to smoking cannabis alone. In 2005, a death was reported in England allegedly caused by a synthetic THC oral spray prescribed to seriously ill patients. However, it is highly unlikely that anyone could die from smoking cannabis, despite years of anti-drug propaganda claiming otherwise.
