Until recently, the public perception of marijuana, also known as weed, a drug that is derived from the cannabis plant, was that it was dangerous and harmful. Due to marijuana being illegal in most countries around the world for almost one hundred years, it was demonised in the media, and many people considered it to be an outrage if someone in their life smoked it.
However, in recent times, we have begun to open our eyes to the world of cannabis and all that it entails. Doctors now prescribe the plant in gummy or edible form, to patients who struggle with all sorts of ailments.
Whether you smoke cannabis or have never even considered touching it, this blog is for you! Here are five facts about cannabis you didn’t know before.
- Cannabis was legal in the US until 1937.
The use of cannabis for recreational and medical purposes dates back hundreds of years. Some people say Shakespeare smoked cannabis, although it’s not clear whether that is a fact or a myth! Regardless, cannabis has been around a long time, and was actually legal in the US until 1937, when it was banned under the Controlled Substances Act.
- Weed is often used for medical pain relief.
Weed is most often thought of as a recreational drug, but an increasing number of people are using it for medical purposes. Studies show that weed can be instrumental in soothing chronic pain such as arthritis, and has even been shown to battle nausea and other stomach problems too.
- CBD and marijuana are different, even though they come from the same plant.
CBD is a widely used product that also comes from the cannabis plant. However, contrary to popular belief, CBD is not marijuana. For CBD to be legally sold under that name, it has to contain less than 0.3% THC. THC is the property in the cannabis plant that creates the ‘high’ people experience when they use marijuana.
CBD and marijuana are both used to treat aches and pains, reduce anxiety and even improve skin – but crucially, they are different products to each other, and shouldn’t be confused!
- Cannabis is one of the world’s oldest crops.
Scientists believe that the cannabis plant dates back 12,000 years, making it one of the oldest crops in our world. It is even believed that cannabis was used domestically in China during that time, meaning that humans have been using this plant for around 120 centuries!
- Uruguay was the first country to legalize cannabis!
There is now a global movement to legalize cannabis, but did you know that Uruguay was the first country to do so in 2013? This means that the following legalizations of cannabis in parts of the US, Canada and Europe all followed Uruguay’s move to decriminalize this drug once and for all. Nowadays, you can buy marijuana in all forms, and can even purchase pre-rolled joints with preroll packaging to go with it!
In just eight years, the worldview of cannabis has radically changed. What does the future hold? We can only wait and see…
