Cannabis

Parts Usually Used

Flowering tops, leaves, seeds

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Cannabis is an herbaceous annual plant; the rough, angular, branched stems reach a height of 3-10 feet and bear opposite, or alternate toward the top, palmate leaves with 5-7 narrow, lanceolate, coarsely serrate, pointed leaflets. The flowers are small and green, the male growing on one plant in axillary panicles, the female on another plant in spike-like clusters from August to October.

The fruit is a small, ash-colored achene.

Where Found

Found growing wild and is cultivated in warm climates. Grows to some extent everywhere in the United States, especially in the central and midwestern states.

Medicinal Properties

Analgesic-hypnotic, topical anesthetic, antiasthmatic, antibiotic, antiepileptic, antispasmodic, antidepressant, tranquilizer, antitussive, appetite stimulant, oxytoxic, preventative and anodyne for neuralgia (including migraines), aid to phychotherapy, and agent to ease withdrawal from alcohol and opiates

Biochemical Information

19% protein, 31% lipids, choline, trigonelline, zylose, inositol, phytin, enzymes (lipase, maltase, emulsin, linamarase, amylase, urease, nuclease, erepsin, tryptase, calalase)

Legends, Myths and Stories

The hemp plant was used by Chinese for the fiber as early as 2800 BC. By 500 AD the plant had spread to Europe, then brought to the New World by explorers. Today it is a common plant found wild or cultivated over most of the world. The mind-affecting properties have been known since antiquity. The Greek historian Heroditus (5th century BC), reported the ancient Scythians and Tracians got high on the fumes of the roasted seeds.

Because of the effects on the mind, hemp drugs are outlawed or restricted in most countries of the world; but the demand for them is more than sufficient to maintain considerable illegal world traffic. ) Hemp drugs are prepared in 3 main grades: bhang, ganja, and charras. Bhang, the least potent and cheapest form, consists basically of the dried leaves and flowering tops of male and female hemp plants.

The marijuana used in the United States is comparable to bhang in quality and potency. Ganja, a more potent preparation, consists of a mixture of resin and plant parts from the flowering tops of female plants. Charras, the most potent and expensive grade, consists of pure resin from the female flowers of plants grown at high altitudes. Within the 3 main grades are further graduations of quality, depending on the actual method of preparation.

Hashish, for example, is an inferior grade of charris. The word “assassin” is generally linked with hashish through the Arabic word “hashshashin” or “hashishin” (meaning “hashish eaters”), a term applied to a class of followers of a Persian secret society active from the 11th to 13th century AD. Assassination of enemies, the predominant feature of the sect, was carried out by the hashishin under the influence of a drug, presumably hashish.

Both the identification of hashish with the drug involved and the validity of the etymology of assassin have been challenged as inaccurate. A definitive resolution to this question is of some importance, since the story of the Persian assassins provides one of the main arguments for those who associate marijuana with crime.

Uses

Historically, herbalists utilized cannabis in attempts to manage migraines, while the seeds were traditionally employed as a stimulating laxative. In Chinese folk traditions, the seeds served as a common food source and were administered for constipation in the elderly, as well as in cases associated with fevers and anemia. In addition to medicinal applications, Cannabis sativa was cultivated as a source of durable fiber for rope production.

Resins gathered from the upper leaves and floral bracts were noted for their intoxicating properties, which were absent in the seeds, and historical texts frequently noted the plant's variable potency. Later twentieth-century researchers investigated the potential of the leaves and flower buds for issues such as nausea and glaucoma.

How Sold

S. states, but in some states where it has been made legal for medicinal purposes, the loose, dried herb can be purchased in medical marijuana stores. So far, the person needing the medical marijuana needs a prescription to purchase it. More and more states are looking into the potential legalization of medicinal marijuana.

Bibliography

The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A.

, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988.

, 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974