Top 16 Mind-Blowing Facts About Marijuana

As cannabis becomes more popular around the world, you might think that you know everything about this herb. But there might be some interesting facts that surprise you. Keep reading to learn more.

1. You Can Get a Cannabis Degree

Some colleges in the United States, including ones in Vermont, Oregon, and California, offer classes on how to cultivate cannabis. You can get certifications from them.

2. There Are More Than Two Species of Cannabis

You have probably heard a lot about strains like sativa and indica, as well as hybrids. But there is also a third type of cannabis, known as ruderalis. It comes from the central part of Russia. It is not nearly as common as indica and sativa. It is usually no more than around 2 to 3 feet tall.

3. It Is Hard to Overdose

Unlike with other drugs, it is practically impossible to overdose on cannabis. You may have heard that marijuana is a lethal drug, but this is not true. Of course, you may have negative symptoms or a bad high if you have too much, but it is highly unlikely that you will die after taking it. That is because of how it interacts with your body. 

Unlike with opioid receptors, your cannabinoid receptors are not in the part of your brainstem that control respiration. That means that your organs will not be damaged by too much cannabis. Opioids are absorbed through areas in your body that control your respiration, which means too much may cause poor blood circulation, lack of oxygen, or irregular breathing. 

Cannabis has a therapeutic index of 40,000 to 1. That is the ratio that looks at the concentration where it is toxic instead of effective. For it to be lethal, you would need to take about 40,000 times the normal amount. 

That means you would likely need to have around 1,500 pounds of cannabis in 15 minutes to have a lethal dose. That could mean around 20,000 to 40,000 joints in 15 minutes, depending on how potent the strain was. Even though smoking cannabis will not likely kill you, it can make you feel very tired.

On the other hand, the therapeutic index of morphine is 70 to 1. With cannabis, you would probably take no more than 10 milligrams of an edible to experience the effects. But with morphine, just a little extra can cause severe problems. 

4. You Can Get Too High

If you take a very potent strain, then you might end up taking too much by accident. This is easy to do when you are using edibles, which do not affect you as quickly as with smoking. Since you do not feel the effects, it is easy for you to take more too soon. If you are new to using cannabis, then you might be more likely to get too high. 

To avoid this issue, make sure that you read the labels carefully to see what one dose consists of. No matter what it looks like, it could easily be a higher or a lower dose than you expect. If you are new to using cannabis, then make sure that you start out with a very low dose in the beginning. If you do get too high, you could go lie down and wait for the high to subside.

5. Buds Come in Many Colours and Scents

For example, there is a strain called Panama-Sedena Red. The bud has sugary leaves in a deep red colour. That makes the plant look almost like it is a strawberry. Other strains taste just like their names. Blueberry tastes like fresh blueberries. On the other hand, Sour Diesel has an earthy scent and taste. There is a diverse range of buds, so everyone can find something that they like.

6. Origins of Cannabis

Hippies did not discover pot. But it is not entirely clear where the drug came from. Some people believe that it dates back to 2727 BC in China. Emperor Shen Nung may have discovered it and used it as a medicine. However, other historians debate this fact, claiming that Shen Nung was not emperor at this time. 

It is also unclear how the uses of the drug were recorded. In ancient Taiwan, they used fibres from the hemp plant to decorate pottery. 

7. Odd Ways of Using Hemp

People do more than just smoke the cannabis plant. You can also use its fibres to create fabric or rope. One of the oldest recorded uses of hemp rope is transporting large statues made from stone. When archeologists were making reproductions of the statues on Easter Island, they were trying to determine how the originals may have been moved. They found that with hemp ropes, 18 people could move the statue until it could “walk.”

8. Pot and Hemp Are Not the Same

The difference between pot and hemp is just a genetic difference. The genetic alteration causes plants like Cannabis sativa to give you a high, unlike industrial hemp plants, which do not give you a high.

Even though industrial hemp plants are in the marijuana species, they do not produce tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. THCA becomes THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) when you smoke it. This is because the hemp plant does not have the gene to make the enzyme that makes THCA. 

On the other hand, a marijuana plant can make THCA, but it does not create very much CBDA (cannabidiolic acid). CBDA becomes CBD, which some users enjoy for therapeutic purposes, but it does not get you high.

9. Smoking Is Different for Men and Women

One study looked at the experience that men and women had while smoking cannabis. The 2014 study looked at how male and female rats responded to cannabis. The researchers found that the female rats were more sensitive to the pain-relieving qualities of cannabis. However, the females were also more likely to become tolerant to cannabis. That could cause negative side effects.

One reason for this may have been because the female rats had more estrogen. The females were also more sensitive to pot during ovulation. That is when they had the most estrogen in them.

10. Giving Your Pet Cannabis

Marijuana has been used for years as a medicinal tool for everything from chemotherapy side effects to glaucoma. So, some people are giving cannabis to their pets. Many times, when an animal ingests pot, they will get it out of their systems. However, in larger quantities, cannabis may be deadly to your furry friends. 

So, it is best to check with your vet before giving your pet any cannabis. Always use specially designed pet products and make sure that you follow the instructions.

11. It Can Be Concentrated

One example of a concentrate is hash. This is the cannabis flower that has gone through a special separation process. That way, the resinous bits can be separated from the plant material that has the active components in it.

The flowers may be run through a sieve, or they might be washed in water so the material can be removed. Then, they can be placed through other filters. You can even get machines to do this yourself. In the end, you get a fine material that consists of mostly the trichomes. You can roll this into balls.

Hash is one of the oldest types of marijuana concentrates. It has been used for centuries in areas like India, Pakistan, and Nepal. 

Other types of concentrate are budder, dabs, wax, butane honey oil, honeycomb, and shatter. The name for each depends on the consistency of the finished product. There is a different process used to make dabs than hash. Instead of a mechanical process, a chemical is used to separate the cannabinoids and the plant material. Butane is commonly used to do this.

12. There Are More Than 80 Cannabinoids

The cannabinoids you have most likely heard about are CBD and THC. THC was isolated from the plant first in the 1960s. It was considered to be the main ingredient in marijuana. It makes you get high, and it causes effects like daydreaming, euphoria, and even inattentiveness.

But taking just THC may result in different effects than if you were to use the whole plant. This is because of the many other cannabinoids in the plant material. For example, some people use CBD to relieve inflammation and anxiety. One reason that you get different effects is because of something that is known as the entourage effect. The cannabinoids work together to affect your body differently than if you only had a few of them. 

13. There Are Over 200 Slang Terms for Cannabis

Each of these terms means the same thing. Some of the most popular ones include Mary Jane, skunk, grass, pot, weed, 420, tree, ganja, reefer, bud, and the Green.

If you are a wine lover, you may choose a pinot noir or a viognier with your dinner. On the other hand, if you love cannabis, you might choose strains that have names like Green Crack, Purple Haze, or Chocolope. Giving cannabis odd names is a tradition among people who grow cannabis. This goes back to the 1970s or earlier. 

One reason for goofy names like Maui Waui for cannabis may be the process that goes into naming the cannabis strains. Sometimes growers have finished creating the strain and decide to have a smoking session. They come up with the names when they are high on the new strain. 

14. Cannabis May Be in the Air

One 2012 study found that there might be small amounts of cannabis in the air in Rome. Near the Pantheon and Colosseum and other cities in Italy, you might be breathing in hints of marijuana. In the study, the researchers studied the air in these cities for substances like caffeine, marijuana, and cocaine. Bologna and Florence had the highest concentrations of marijuana. 

The important thing to remember is that there are only small amounts of cannabis in the air. You will not get high just by walking around the city. The researchers wanted to be able to change the areas’ drug policies with the information.

15. There Are Male and Female Plants

When you smoke cannabis, you are using part of the female plant. These are the cannabis plants that contain THC. On the other hand, a male plant cannot be smoked. Its purpose is only to produce seeds so more plants can grow. A female plant is grown for its flowers, which will be dried and then sold to consumers.

Sometimes, a female plant might start to turn male. Then, it will begin to produce flowers. When this happens, the plant is usually discarded. The seeds from these plants usually are not of a high enough quality to grow good plants.

16. Marijuana Is Not Always Environmentally Friendly

If you are conscious about the environment, then you might be disappointed to know that cannabis products are not always green. To produce a kilogram of cannabis inside, you would need the same amount of energy as you would to drive across the country several times. That is because the grow lights use a lot of energy.

Putting the plants outside can help to reduce the environmental impact, but because cannabis is in demand all year, the growers need to keep the plants inside during the winter. One way that might be changing is with LED lights, which do not use nearly as much energy. However, this would need to be done on a larger scale to help ensure that growers can still get the same harvest. LEDs may also be more expensive in the beginning. 

Closing Thoughts 

These are just a few of the most interesting facts about cannabis. There are many more fun things you can learn about it. 

Even though some people use it medicinally, there may also be some negative effects. If you want to consume or otherwise use it, it is always best to check with your doctor beforehand.