Portal:Cannabis

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Introduction

Common hemp

Cannabis (/ˈkænəbɪs/) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis; C. ruderalis may be included within C. sativa; or all three may be treated as subspecies of a single species, C. sativa. The genus is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from Central Asia, with some researchers also including upper South Asia in its origin.

The plant is also known as hemp, although this term is often used to refer only to varieties of Cannabis cultivated for non-drug use. Cannabis has long been used for hemp fibre, for hemp oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a recreational drug. Industrial hemp products are made from cannabis plants selected to produce an abundance of fiber. To satisfy the UN Narcotics Convention, some cannabis strains have been bred to produce minimal levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive constituent. Some strains have been selectively bred to produce a maximum of THC (a cannabinoid), the strength of which is enhanced by curing the flowers. Various compounds, including hashish and hash oil, are extracted from the plant.

Selected general articles

A Cannabis Social Club, sometimes called a Teapad, is a model of legal regulation of the cannabis market organised as non-profit organizations in which cannabis is cultivated and enjoyed collectively, usually for the purpose of relaxing or for social communion. These places differ from Cannabis coffee shops in that those are also operating coffee shops and where cannabis is openly sold, usually found in the Netherlands, while social clubs are usually not selling cannabis, and only accessible to members. Read more...
The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to educating physicians about the medical use of cannabis. Its mission is to unite into one association members of the various medical specialties and allied professionals with this common purpose. The goals of the Society are as follows:
- Expansion of knowledge on the medical use of cannabis
- Facilitation of best practice standards for cannabis consultations
- To study, discuss and make recommendations relating to research, practice and policy in the medical use of cannabis
- To further the recruitment of medical graduates and able physicians willing to recommend cannabis to patients
- To maintain and advance the highest possible ideals and service standards in the education, practice and research in the medical use of cannabis
The group was established in 2004 by Tod Mikuriya, MD as a project of the California Cannabis Research Medical Group to facilitate voluntary medical standards for physician-approved cannabis under California law (HSC §11362.5). Read more...
Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana, is cannabis and cannabinoids that are recommended by doctors for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production restrictions and other governmental regulations. Limited evidence suggests that cannabis can reduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, improve appetite in people with HIV/AIDS, and reduce chronic pain and muscle spasms.

Short-term use increases the risk of minor and major adverse effects. Common side effects include dizziness, feeling tired, vomiting, and hallucinations. Long-term effects of cannabis are not clear. Concerns include memory and cognition problems, risk of addiction, schizophrenia in young people, and the risk of children taking it by accident.

The Cannabis plant has a history of medicinal use dating back thousands of years in many cultures. A number of medical organizations have requested removal of cannabis from the list of Schedule I controlled substances, followed by regulatory and scientific review. Others oppose its legalization, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. Read more...
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City-based non-profit organization, led by executive director Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, with the principal goal of ending the American "War on Drugs". The stated priorities of the organization are the decriminalization of responsible drug use, the promotion of harm reduction and treatment in response to drug misuse, and the facilitation of open dialog about drugs between youth, parents, and educators. Read more...
The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, also known as California Assembly Bill 390 (A.B. 390) and later Assembly Bill 2254 (A.B. 2254), is the first bill ever introduced to regulate the sale and use of marijuana in the U.S. state of California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly to adults age 21 and older in California. Tom Ammiano, a Democrat representing California's 13th State Assembly district, introduced this piece of legislation on February 23, 2009, arguing that the bill will "tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol." As introduced, this proposal is estimated to raise over $1 billion in annual revenue by taxing the retail production and sale of marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older. To obtain a commercial grow license one would pay an initial $5,000 fee, then a $2,500 fee each year after that. A tariff of $50 per ounce would also be placed on all sold and grown marijuana. The bill has gained much media attention, statewide and nationally.

The bill was not approved by the Health Committee before a January 15 deadline, effectively killing the bill until it was reintroduced in 2010 as A.B. 2254 and the process continued.

Recent polls say 56% of Californians favor taxing and regulating marijuana. In November 2010, the failed Proposition 19 was posed to Californian voters, and would have effectively made possession and cultivation of marijuana legal for citizens over the age of 21. The bill was reintroduced as Marijuana Control and Regulation Act of 2010 in slightly different form as Assembly Bill x6 9 Read more...
The removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the most tightly restricted category reserved for drugs that have "no currently accepted medical use," has been proposed repeatedly since 1972.

Rescheduling proponents argue that cannabis does not meet the Controlled Substances Act's strict criteria for placement in Schedule I and so the government is required by law to permit medical use or to remove the drug from federal control altogether. The US government, on the other hand, maintains that cannabis is dangerous enough to merit Schedule I status. The dispute is based on differing views on both how the Act should be interpreted and what kinds of scientific evidence are most relevant to the rescheduling decision.

The Act provides a process for rescheduling controlled substances by petitioning the Drug Enforcement Administration. The first petition under this process was filed in 1972 to allow cannabis to be legally prescribed by physicians. The petition was ultimately denied after 22 years of court challenges, but a synthetic pill form of cannabis's psychoactive ingredient, THC, was rescheduled in 1986 to allow prescription under schedule II. In 1999, it was again rescheduled to allow prescription under schedule III. Read more...
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is one of at least 113 cannabinoids identified in cannabis. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis. With chemical name (−)-trans-Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol, the term THC also refers to cannabinoid isomers.

Like most pharmacologically-active secondary metabolites of plants, THC is a lipid found in cannabis, assumed to be involved in the plant's self-defense, putatively against insect predation, ultraviolet light, and environmental stress.

THC, along with its double bond isomers and their stereoisomers, is one of only three cannabinoids scheduled by the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances (the other two are dimethylheptylpyran and parahexyl). It was listed under Schedule I in 1971, but reclassified to Schedule II in 1991 following a recommendation from the WHO. Based on subsequent studies, the WHO has recommended the reclassification to the less-stringent Schedule III. Cannabis as a plant is scheduled by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Schedule I and IV). It is specifically still listed under Schedule I by US federal law under the Controlled Substances Act for having "no accepted medical use" and "lack of accepted safety". However, Dronabinol is a synthetic form of THC approved by the FDA as an appetite stimulant for people with AIDS and antiemetic for people receiving chemotherapy. The pharmaceutical formulation dronabinol is an oily resin provided in capsules available by prescription in the United States, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand. Read more...
One form of hash oil

Hash oil or cannabis oil is an oleoresin obtained by the extraction of cannabis or hashish. It is a concentrated form of the plant containing many of its resins and terpenes – in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and other cannabinoids. There are a variety of extraction methods, but most involve a solvent such as butane or ethanol. Hash oil is usually consumed by smoking, vaporizing or eating but sometimes other methods are employed. Hash oil is sometimes sold in cartridges to be used with pen vaporizers.

Hash oil is an extracted cannabis product that may utilize any part of the plant. Ideally, the final product will not contain any residual traces of solvents. It is generally thought to be indistinct from traditional hashish according to the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Schedule I and IV) as it is "the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant".

Preparations of hash oil may be solid or colloidal depending on both production method and temperature and are usually referred to by their appearance or characteristics. Range of color, most commonly golden to light brown, can vary from transparent to yellow, tan, to black. Read more...
This is a list of cannabis competitions. Many are part of a larger cannabis festival and two are part of a state fair. Read more...
A man smoking cannabis in Kolkata, India.

Cannabis has been used in an entheogenic context—a chemical substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context—in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period dating back to approximately 1500 BCE, but perhaps as far back as 2000 BCE. Cannabis has been used by shamanic and pagan cultures to ponder deeply religious and philosophical subjects related to their tribe or society, to achieve a form of enlightenment, to unravel unknown facts and realms of the human mind and subconscious, and also as an aphrodisiac during rituals or orgies. There are several references in Greek mythology to a powerful drug that eliminated anguish and sorrow. Herodotus wrote about early ceremonial practices by the Scythians, thought to have occurred from the 5th to 2nd century BCE. Itinerant Hindu saints have used it in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Over the last few decades hundreds of archaeological and anthropological items of evidence have come out of Mexican, Mayan and Aztec cultures that suggest cannabis, along with magic mushrooms (psilocybin), peyote (mescaline) and other psychoactive plants were used in cultural shamanic and religious rituals. Mexican-Indian communities occasionally use cannabis in religious ceremonies by leaving bundles of it on church altars to be consumed by the attendees. Read more...
The Finnish Cannabis Association (FCA; Finnish: Suomen kannabisyhdistys; Swedish: Finlands Cannabisförening, commonly referred to by the acronym SKY) is a Finnish non-governmental organisation whose purpose is to advocate legalisation or decriminalisation of cannabis.

The FCA started operating in 1990 and was officially established in 1991. According its mission statement, the purpose of the association is to influence the Finnish legislation so that adults could legally use, obtain and cultivate cannabis for personal use. The FCA also studies the use of cannabis in different cultures during different times.

The association had 36 members in 1991, and about 650 in 2000. Read more...
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff. Its stated aims are to: (1) increase public support for non-punitive, non-coercive marijuana policies; (2) identify and activate supporters of non-punitive, non-coercive marijuana policies; (3) change state laws to reduce or eliminate penalties for the medical and non-medical use of marijuana; and (4) gain influence in Congress. MPP advocates taxing and regulating the possession and sale of marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol, envisions a nation where marijuana education is honest and realistic, and believes treatment for problem marijuana users should be non-coercive and geared toward reducing harm. Read more...
Cannabis drug testing describes various drug test methodologies for the use of cannabis in medicine, sport, and law. Cannabis use is highly detectable and can be detected by urinalysis, hair analysis, as well as saliva tests for days or weeks.

Unlike alcohol, for which impairment can be reasonably measured using a breathalyser (and confirmed with a blood alcohol content measurement), valid detection for cannabis is time-consuming, and tests cannot determine an approximate degree of impairment. The lack of suitable tests and agreed-upon intoxication levels is an issue in the legality of cannabis , especially regarding intoxicated driving.

The concentrations obtained from such analyses can often be helpful in distinguishing active use from passive exposure, elapsed time since use, and extent or duration of use. Read more...
First President of the United States George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers known to have grown hemp prior to prohibition

Cannabis is a plant and, as hemp, a source for fibers, oil, and seed. Prior to its prohibition, U.S. politicians known for growing hemp include some of the nation's Founding Fathers and presidents. Politicians who have admitted to recreational use of the drug during prohibition include mayors, governors, members of the House of Representatives, Senators and presidents. Read more...
The plant name Cannabis is from Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis), via Latin cannabis, originally a Scythian or Thracian word, also loaned into Persian as kanab. English hemp (Old English hænep) may be an early loan (predating Grimm's Law) from the same Scythian source. Read more...
A vaporization heat wand and vaporization chamber bowl used to deliver vapor through a water pipe

A vaporizer or vaporiser, colloquially known as a vape, is a device used to vaporize substances for inhalation. Plant substances can be used, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or other herbs or blends. However, they can also be filled with a combination propylene glycol, glycerin, and drugs such as nicotine (e.g. extract from tobacco) or tetrahydrocannabinol as a liquid solution.

Vaporizers contain various forms of extraction chambers including straight bore, venturi, or sequential venturi, and are made of materials such as metal or glass. The extracted vapor may be collected in an inflatable bag, or inhaled directly through a hose or pipe. When used properly, cooler temperatures due to lack of combustion result in significantly more efficient extraction of the ingredients. Hence, the irritating and harmful effects of smoking are heavily reduced, as is its secondhand smoke. Read more...
Charas (Hindustani) is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is handmade in the Indian subcontinent and Jamaica. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica). The plant grows wild throughout Northern India along the stretch of the Himalayas (its putative origin) and is an important cash crop for the local people. The difference between charas and hashish is that hashish is made from a dead cannabis plant and charas is made from a live one. Read more...
The Colorado Badged Network (CBN) is a Colorado business that focuses on connecting the Colorado cannabis industry. It is the largest Colorado cannabis industry organization, with over 6100 members as of November 2018, and journalist Spencer J. Ward claimed that they could be the largest network of licensed cannabis professionals in the world. Read more...
Cannabis plant

Cannabis flower essential oil, also known as hemp essential oil, is an essential oil obtained by steam distillation from the flowers and upper leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa L.) Hemp essential oil is distinct from hemp seed oil, hemp oil and hash oil: the former is a vegetable oil that is pressed from the seeds of low-THC varieties of hemp, the latter is a THC-rich extract of dried female hemp flowers (marijuana) or resin (hashish).

A pale yellow liquid, cannabis flower essential oil is a volatile oil that is a mixture of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and other terpenoid compounds. The typical scent of hemp results from about 140 different terpenoids. The essential oil is manufactured from both low-THC ("fibre-type") and high-THC ("drug-type") varieties of hemp. As most of the phytocannabinoids are nearly insoluble in water, hemp essential oil contains only traces of cannabinoids. Even in "drug-type" hemp, the THC content of the essential oil does not exceed 0.08%.

Hemp essential oil is used as a scent in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps, and candles. It is also used as a flavoring in foods, primarily candy and beverages. Read more...
Gonzales v. Raich (previously Ashcroft v. Raich), 545 U.S. 1 (2005), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court ruling that under the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, Congress may criminalize the production and use of homegrown cannabis even if state law allows its use for medicinal purposes. Read more...
Budtender handling cannabis at a dispensary in Colorado in 2018

A budtender is a title of a staff member who works within a dispensary or store where medical or recreational cannabis is sold. Their job is to offer suggestions to customers, answer questions, handle products and showcase products being sold. Read more...
In the United States, the non-medical use of cannabis is decriminalized in 13 states (plus the U.S. Virgin Islands), and legalized in another 10 states (plus the District of Columbia and Northern Mariana Islands), as of November 2018. "Decriminalization" refers to a policy of reduced penalties for cannabis offenses, typically involving a civil penalty for possession of small amounts (similar to how a minor traffic violation is treated), instead of criminal prosecution or the threat of arrest. In jurisdictions without any penalties the policy is referred to as legalization, although the term decriminalization is sometimes broadly used for this purpose as well.

The movement to decriminalize cannabis in the U.S. emerged during the 1970s, when a total of 11 states decriminalized (beginning with Oregon in 1973). The findings of the 1972 Shafer Commission helped provide momentum to these efforts, as did the 1976 election of President Jimmy Carter (who spoke in favor of decriminalization and endorsed legislation to federally decriminalize). By the end of the decade the tide had turned strongly in the other direction, however, and no state would decriminalize again until 2001.

Efforts to legalize cannabis in the U.S. included a number of ballot initiatives leading up to 2012, but none succeeded. In 2012, success was finally achieved when Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize. In 2014 and 2016 several more states followed, and in 2018 Vermont became the first to legalize through an act of state legislature. All jurisdictions that have legalized allow for the commercial distribution of cannabis, except Vermont and the District of Columbia. All allow for personal cultivation, except Washington state. Read more...
Different religions have varying stances on the use of cannabis, historically and presently. In ancient history some religions used cannabis as an entheogenic, particularly in the Indian subcontinent where the tradition continues on a more limited basis.

In the modern era, religions with prohibitions against intoxicants, such as Islam, Buddhism, Bahai, Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and others have opposed the use of cannabis by members, or in some cases opposed the liberalization of cannabis laws. Other groups, such as some Protestant and Jewish factions, have supported the use of medicinal cannabis. Read more...
A flowering cannabis plant

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical or recreational purposes. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids. Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food, or as an extract.

Cannabis has mental and physical effects such as creating a "high" or "stoned" feeling, a general change in perception, heightened mood, and an increase in appetite. Onset of effects is within minutes when smoked, and about 30 to 60 minutes when cooked and eaten. They last for between two and six hours. Short-term side effects may include a decrease in short-term memory, dry mouth, impaired motor skills, red eyes, and feelings of paranoia or anxiety. Long-term side effects may include addiction, decreased mental ability in those who started as teenagers, and behavioral problems in children whose mothers used cannabis during pregnancy. Studies have found a strong relation between cannabis use and the risk of psychosis, though the cause-and-effect relationship is debated.

Cannabis is mostly used for recreation or as a medicinal drug, although it may also be used for spiritual purposes. In 2013, between 128 and 232 million people used cannabis (2.7% to 4.9% of the global population between the ages of 15 and 65). It is the most commonly used illegal drug both in the world and the United States. The countries with the highest use among adults as of 2018 are Zambia, the United States, Canada, and Nigeria. In 2016, 51% of people in the United States had ever used cannabis. About 12% had used it in the past year, and 7.3% had used it in the past month. Read more...
Hashish (shown next to a U.S. penny for scale)

Hashish, or hash, is a drug made from cannabis. Hashish is cannabis resin. It is consumed by smoking a small piece, typically in a pipe, bong, vaporizer or joint, or via oral ingestion (after decarboxylation). As pure hashish will not burn if rolled alone in a joint, it is typically mixed with herbal cannabis, tobacco or another type of herb for this method of consumption.
Depending on region or country, multiple synonyms and alternative names exist.

Hash is an extracted cannabis product composed of compressed or purified preparations of stalked resin glands, called trichomes, from the plant. It is defined by the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Schedule I and IV) as "the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant". The resin contains ingredients such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids—but often in higher concentrations than the unsifted or unprocessed cannabis flower. Purities of confiscated hashish in Europe (2011) range between 4-15%. Between 2000 and 2005 the percentage of hashish in cannabis end product seizures was at 18%.

Hashish may be solid or resinous depending on both preparation and room temperature; pressed hashish is usually solid, whereas water-purified hashish—often called "bubble melt hash", or simply "bubble hash"—is often a paste-like substance with varying hardness and pliability; its color, most commonly light to dark brown, can vary from transparent to yellow, tan, black, or red. This all depends on the process and amount of leftover plant material (i.e. chlorophyl) Read more...
Cannabis flower with visible trichomes

The long-term effects of cannabis have been the subject of ongoing debate. Because cannabis is illegal in most countries, research presents a challenge; as such, there remains much to be concluded. Read more...
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a naturally occurring cannabinoid constituent of cannabis. It was discovered in 1940 and initially thought not to be pharmaceutically active. It is one of at least 113 cannabinoids identified in hemp plants, accounting for up to 40% of the plant's extract.

Cannabidiol can be taken into the body in multiple different ways, including by inhalation of cannabis smoke or vapor, as an aerosol spray into the cheek, and by mouth. It may be supplied as an oil containing only CBD as the active ingredient (no added THC or terpenes), a full-plant CBD-dominant hemp extract oil, capsules, dried cannabis, or as a prescription liquid solution.

Side effects of CBD include sleepiness, decreased appetite, diarrhea, fatigue, malaise, weakness, sleeping problems, and others. It does not have intoxicating effects like those caused by THC, and may have an opposing effect on disordered thinking and anxiety produced by THC. CBD has been found to interact with a variety of different biological targets, including cannabinoid receptors and other neurotransmitter receptors. The mechanism of action of CBD in terms of its psychoactive and therapeutic effects is not fully clear. Read more...
Tincture of cannabis, sometimes known as green dragon, is an alcoholic extract of cannabis. Cannabis tinctures are used in the production of specific extracts, like nabiximols. Read more...
The list includes significant events globally in the history of national-level cannabis law. Read more...
Adult lifetime cannabis use by country is the lifetime prevalence of cannabis use among all adults in surveys among the general population. Lifetime prevalence means any use of cannabis during a person’s life. Unless another reference is indicated (see "References" column) all the data comes from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addictions statistical bulletin from 2007. Read more...
A cannabis plant

Terms related to cannabis include: Read more...
The American Medical Marijuana Association (AMMA) is an organization formed to promote and protect the legal access to medical marijuana.

The American Medical Marijuana Association (AMMA), was founded in cyberspace on October 27, 2000, by Steve Kubby, Ed Rosenthal and Tod H. Mikuriya. AMMA has been at the forefront of the battle to protect the rights of medical cannabis patients and recently received official recognition by the United States government as one of the top organization websites promoting medical marijuana law reform. This recommendation appears in a briefing by the White House and is available online at the official web site for the White House Drug Policy.

AMMA is a group of volunteers working together to implement, preserve and protect the rights of medicinal cannabis patients through political activism. Their platform is based on the idea of not bargaining away people's rights. AMMA believes that each person will have different needs, which are best determined by the patient and physician. What works well for one patient may not work for another. Read more...
Bag and contents of a well known early brand named Spice that contains herbs spiked with synthetic cannabinoids, now illegal throughout much of the world
Synthetic cannabinoids are a class of molecules that bind to cannabinoid receptors in the body (the same receptors to which THC and CBD attach, which are cannabinoids in cannabis plants). Synthetic cannabinoids are also designer drugs that are often sprayed onto plant matter. They are typically consumed through smoking, although more recently they have been consumed in a concentrated liquid form in the US and UK. They have been marketed as herbal incense, or “herbal smoking blends” and sold under common names like K2, Spice, and Synthetic Marijuana. They are also often labeled “not for human consumption.”

When synthetic cannabinoid blends first went on sale in the early 2000s, it was thought that they achieved the psychoactive effects through a mixture of natural herbs. Laboratory analysis in 2008 showed that this was not the case, and that many in fact contained synthetic cannabinoids. Today, synthetic cannabinoids are the most common new psychoactive substances to be reported. From 2008 to 2014, 142 synthetic cannabinoids were reported to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). A large and complex variety of synthetic cannabinoids are designed in an attempt to avoid the legal restrictions on cannabis, making synthetic cannabinoids designer drugs.

Most synthetic cannabinoids are agonists of the cannabinoid receptors, and many have been designed based on THC, the natural cannabinoid with the strongest binding affinity to the CB₁ receptor, which is linked to the psychoactive effects or “high” of marijuana. These synthetic analogs often have greater binding affinity and greater potency to the CB₁ receptors. There are several synthetic cannabinoid families (e.g. CP-xxx, WIN-xxx, JWH-xxx, UR-xxx, and PB-xx) classified based on the base structure. Read more...
Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), formerly the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, is a UK lobby group which campaigns to end the prohibition of cannabis, most urgently for those who need it as medicine. Read more...
Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6 (1969), is a U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with the constitutionality of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Timothy Leary, a professor and activist, was arrested for the possession of marijuana in violation of the Marihuana Tax Act. Leary challenged the act on the ground that the act required self-incrimination, which violated the Fifth Amendment. The unanimous opinion of the court was penned by Justice John Marshall Harlan II and declared the Marihuana Tax Act unconstitutional. Thus, Leary's conviction was overturned. Congress responded shortly thereafter by replacing the Marihuana Tax Act with the newly written Controlled Substances Act while continuing the prohibition of certain drugs in the United States. Read more...
Cannabis tea (also known as herbal tea, weed tea, pot tea, ganja tea, or green tea) is a cannabis-infused drink made with cannabis infused in hot or cold water. Properly produced decarboxylated cannabis teas are very effective when ingested. Read more...
World laws on possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use.
  Illegal but decriminalized, unprotected rights
  Illegal but often unenforced, unprotected or no rights
  Illegal, no rights

Cannabis rights or marijuana rights are individual civil and human rights that vary by jurisdiction considerably. The rights of people who consume cannabis include the right to be free from employment discrimination and housing discrimination.

Anti-cannabis laws include civil infractions and fines, imprisonment, and even the death penalty. Read more...
Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001), held in a 5–4 decision that the use of a thermal imaging, or FLIR, device from a public vantage point to monitor the radiation of heat from a person's home was a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and thus required a warrant. Read more...
Hemp leaf being attacked by insects

This is a list of diseases of hemp (Cannabis sativa). Read more...
Hemp hurds can be used for animal bedding

Hemp fiber, seed and oil can be used for a number of products.

;Food products
;Construction and materials
Read more...
The purposal to renew Cannabis party PCLYN as "Ecological Cannabis Party" in Spain 2006, from the people who were in the Cannabis Valencia Party in Spain's March 2004 general election

Cannabis political parties are generally single-issue parties that exist to oppose the laws against cannabis. Read more...
The Hanfparade (English: Hemp Parade) is a hemp legalization demonstration in Berlin. It has taken place each year in August since 1997.

The traditional course of the parade floats make a prelude through the German capital. In a demonstration, thousands give hemp and cannabis their attention. At the end of the demonstration a closing speech takes place.

The parade offers a variety of hemp-related entertainment. The main stage offers mixes of speeches and live-music. National and international musicians entertain the visitors, which often includes high-ranking personalities from politics, culture, medicine and the legalization movement. In the speakers corner an open microphone waits for contributions. Read more...
Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23 (1963), was a case before the United States Supreme Court, which incorporated the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal search and seizure. The case was decided on June 10, 1963, by a vote of 5-4. Read more...
This article presents common techniques and facts regarding the cultivation of the flowering plant Cannabis, primarily for the production and consumption of cannabis flowers ("buds"). Cultivation techniques for other purposes (such as hemp production) differ. Read more...
Cannabis strains are either pure or hybrid varieties of the plant genus Cannabis, which encompasses the species C. sativa, C. indica and C. ruderalis.

Varieties are developed to intensify specific characteristics of the plant, or to differentiate the strain for the purposes of marketing or to make it more effective as a drug. Variety names are typically chosen by their growers, and often reflect properties of the plant such as taste, color, smell, or the origin of the variety. Cannabis strains commonly refer to those varieties with recreational and medicinal use. These varieties have been cultivated to contain a high percentage of cannabinoids. Several varieties of Cannabis, known as hemp, have a very low cannabinoid content, and are instead grown for their fiber and seed. Read more...
Cannabis consumption in pregnancy might be associated with restrictions in growth of the fetus, miscarriage, and cognitive deficits. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that cannabis use be stopped before and during pregnancy. Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance
among pregnant women.

Although it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, there is some evidence that prenatal exposure to marijuana may be associated with deficits in language, attention, cognitive performance, and delinquent behaviors. THC exposure in rats during the prenatal developmental phase may cause epigenetic changes in gene expression, but there is limited knowledge about the risk for psychiatric disorders because of ethical barriers to studying the developing human brain. While animal studies cannot take into account factors that could influence the effects of cannabis on human maternal exposure, such as environmental and social factors, a 2011 review of rodent studies by Campolongo et al. said there was "... increasing evidence from animal studies showing that cannabinoid drugs ... induce enduring neurobehavioral abnormalities in the exposed offspring ..." Campolongo et al. added that "clinical studies report hyperactivity, cognitive impairments and altered emotionality in humans exposed in utero to cannabis". Martin et al. investigated recent trends in substance abuse treatment admissions for cannabis use in pregnancy in the US, based on Treatment Episodes Data Set (TEDS) from 1992 to 2012, and discovered that, while the proportion of treatment admissions for pregnant women was stable (about 4%), the admissions for women who were pregnant and reported any marijuana use grew from 29% to 43%. A 2015 review found that cannabis use by pregnant mothers impaired brain maturation in their children, and that it also predisposed their children to neurodevelopmental disorders.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that further research is required to "disentangle" effects of cannabis use from a mother's concomitant drug use and other environmental factors. A 2016 meta-analysis showed that after accounting for confounding factors, cannabis alone was not responsible for adverse neotatal outcomes. Read more...
Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is a non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado. The SAFER campaign was initially launched in Colorado on the campuses of the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and Colorado State University (CSU) in response to the alcohol overdose deaths of CSU sophomore Samantha Spady, 19, and 18-year-old CU freshman Lynn "Gordie" Bailey. SAFER, led by Mason Tvert, argued that students should not be punished more severely for using marijuana – which is incapable of causing death by overdose—than for using the potentially fatal (and for many college students legal) drug alcohol.

The pilot project took off quickly. Within months, organizers had coordinated and passed student referendums at both campuses. These referendums called on the universities to make the penalties for the use and possession of marijuana no greater than the penalties for the use and possession of alcohol.
Under Colorado state law prior to 2013, having an ounce of marijuana or less is punishable by a $100 fine but no jail time.

In the summer of 2005, SAFER leaders decided to run a citywide marijuana legalization initiative in Denver, Colorado called the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative. The proposed initiative (I-100) would have made the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana legal for individuals 21 and older under city ordinances. After a campaign in which the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol were repeatedly highlighted, the initiative passed November 1, 2005 by a 53.5% to 46.5% margin. The initiative also made possession of marijuana by those under 18 punishable by fine only. Read more...
The California Cannabis Research Medical Group (CCRMG) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to educating physicians about the medical use of cannabis.

The group was established by Tod Mikuriya, MD to help physicians share and exchange data about cannabis use by their patients. In 2004, the CCRMG formed The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) to facilitate voluntary medical standards for physician-approved cannabis under California law (HSC §11362.5).

The CCRMG published their research findings in the unconventional Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice O'Shaughnessy and is in the process of developing an online research archive. CCMRG maintains the William B. O'Shaughnessy Archives. Read more...
The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis is a U.S. organization founded c. 2002 to support removal of marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The group was organized immediately after the U.S. Court of Appeals denied the High Times/Jon Gettman petition to reschedule cannabis, ruling that the petitioners were not sufficiently injured to have standing to challenge the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of the scientific record in federal court. On October 8, 2002, the Coalition filed a new petition to have cannabis rescheduled under federal law.

The Coalition has recently filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus. Carl Olsen of Iowans for Medical Marijuana, a former Coalition member, has filed a motion to intervene.

The organizations comprising the Coalition are: Read more...