Fun Facts About Marijuana

Marijuana also known as cannabis, reefer, pot and ganga has been around since prehistory. It became popular during the 60 and 70's. It is a psychoactive drug which is made up of dried leaves of female plants. It can be rolled and smoked like a cigarette or smoked in a bong with water. It is illegal in some countries while others have reduced and even let people smoke it openly.

The effects of smoking marijuana are almost immediate. The smoker can experience a faster heartbeat and pulse rate, bloodshot eyes and a dry mouth and throat. This drug will effect and impair your memory, concentration and co-ordination. There are those people who smoke marijuana because they have a terminal illness and it makes them feel better.

People can become a marijuana smoker by peer pressure through friends or even family. In this article we will try and uncover the lighter side to marijuana with some fun facts:

• -both George Washington and Tomas Jefferson grew marijuana on thier plantations

• -its first recorded use for medicinal purposes was 2727B.C.

• -hemp was once considered legal tender in the U.S.

• -cannabis and hemp are the same

• -marijuana floods the brain with dopamine

• -it can become addictive

• -"burnout" occurs when the smoker becomes unresponsive

• -14.6 million Americans smoke pot on a regular basis

• -marijuana contains 400 chemical compounds

• -the declaratin of independence was written on hemp paper

• -marijuana can stay in the body for weeks after use-

• -given an opportunity deer will chew gum and marijuana

In Oregon you can't buy or sell marijuana but you can smoke the drug on your own property! How bizarre is that law?

There are three main types of marijuana. Canabis Sativa, Cannabis Indica, Cannabis Ruderalis. You may have heard of something called "Skunk Weed"? This is a hybrid of Cannabis Indica.

The reason marijuana is illegal is because in the 30's cotton growers lobbied against hemp farmers. They thought that the hemp growing would just be competition for them. However, the argument has become the fact that marijuana is not as addictive as caffeine, alcohol and nicotine.

Today hemp is actully used for many purposes. It is primarily used in making clothing but it can also be used in other fabrications like rope.

Sterilized hemp seeds can be turned into bird seed. I wonder if that is what is in my bird feeder? It does seem to attract a lot of birds!