Introduction
The first recorded use of marijuana as medicine was in a Chinese pharmacopoeia in 2727 BC. The drug was legal in the United States until 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of the drug in America. Marijuana's medicinal uses were re discovered as a result of the tremendous increase in the number of recreational users in the late 1970s. Now, people with ailments from multiple sclerosis to glaucoma are clamoring for pot on prescription.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. A dry, shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, it usually is smoked as a cigarette joint, nail, or in a pipe (bong). It also is smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug. Use also might include mixing marijuana in food or brewing it as a tea. As a more concentrated, resinous form it is called hashish and, as a sticky black liquid, hash oil. Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive, usually sweet-and-sour odor. There are countless street terms for marijuana including pot, herb, weed, grass, widow, ganja, and hash, as well as terms derived from trademarked varieties of cannabis, such as Bubble Gum®, Northern Lights®, Juicy Fruit®, Afghani #1®, and a number of Skunk varieties.
Active Chemical on Marijuana
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors that bind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana. THC in marijuana is strongly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs.
