Weed (marijuana,
pot,
dope,
green, bud, reefer, etc...) is the bud of the
female Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica plants. It is smoked for medicinal and recreational purposes. Unlike alcohol, which causes thousands of fatal accidents per day, as said before, weed has never been directly attributed to any deaths resulting from the consumption of it. Most people who choose to use it know its health risks, and feel that the enlightenment that it brings is much more rewarding than not using it.
A new device called a vaporizer can now be used to consume only THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. Rather than burning the weed, vaporizers heat it up to a certain point, where only the THC is released, thus eliminating all health risks. The only problem is that they are very expensive.
Written account of its use dates back to 28 B.C in Chinese records, according to the
book "Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy." However, the
book's authors point out that the plant was likely used long before then. They recount the discovery of a nearly 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy containing traces of THC.
Cannabis sativa is believed to be a native plant of
India, where it possibly originated in a region just north of the Himalayan Mountains. It is an herbaceous annual that can grow to a height of between
13 and 18 feet (4 to
5.4 meters). The plant has flowers that bloom from late-summer to
mid-fall. Cannabis plants usually have one of two types of flowers, male or
female, and some plants have both. Male flowers grow in elongated clusters along the leaves and turn
yellow and die after blossoming.
Female flowers grow in
spike-like clusters and remain dark
green for a month after blossoming, until the seed ripens. Hashish, which is more powerful than marijuana, is made from the resin of the cannabis flowers.
The seeds and stems of the plant can be used to make clothing, paper and many more. This is called hemp.