Marijuana, also known as weed or pot, refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds
from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, which contains the psychoactive and mind-altering
chemical, delta-9-tetra-hydro-cannabinol, or THC, as well as other related compounds.
Let’s take a fun look at some interesting facts about the world’s most beloved plant.
Researchers find that 42% of people surveyed
in the U.S. have tried marijuana at least once. In contrast, only 20% of people surveyed
in the Netherlands, where weed has been legal for 38 years, reported having tried pot; in
Asian countries, such as Japan and China, marijuana use is virtually "non-existent,"
the study finds.
Out of the estimated 22 million pounds of marijuana grown each year in the United States,
nearly 80% comes from California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington.
An estimated one-third of America’s weed is grown indoors. An indoor grow module accommodating
4 plants sucks as much electricity as 29 refrigerators. In California, indoor marijuana grow modules
account for about 9 percent of household electricity use.
In Colorado, where the recreational use of
marijuana was recently legalized, only 9% of residents are regular pot smokers. Denver
has surpassed Amsterdam as the capital of the marijuana world. The city has more than
300 stores, called dispensaries, outnumbering pharmacies, liquor stores, public schools
and even Starbucks. In Colorado, recreational pot has a hard time competing with medical
marijuana, which has been legal since 2000 and whose tax rate is 78% lower. Estimated
pot sales are 55 tons of medical pot and 18.4 tons of recreational pot. The use among teens
has not increased with the legalization of recreational weed.
Legalizing marijuana federally would generate $8.7 billion in federal and state tax revenue
per year.
California was the first U.S. State that banned marijuana a century ago.
In the U.S., a sentence of life in prison without parole was given for trying to sell
$10 of marijuana to an undercover officer. Over 800,000 people are arrested for marijuana
in the US each year.
Support for marijuana legalization is rapidly outpacing opposition. A slim majority (52%)
of Americans say the drug should be made legal, compared with 45% who want it to be illegal.
Opinions have changed drastically since 1969, when Gallup first asked the question and found
that just 12% favored legalizing marijuana use.
Smoking up could be a very different experience for men and women, according to a 2014 study
in the journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. In research on rats, it was discovered that
females were more sensitive to cannabis' painkilling qualities, but they were also more likely
to develop a tolerance for the drug, which could contribute to negative side effects
and dependence on marijuana.
Study after study finds that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. The
beer and alcohol industries are two of the biggest anti-marijuana advocates. Obviously,
marijuana is a serious threat to alcohol sales. Due to its safer nature, marijuana is often
suggested as an alternative to alcohol.
However, heavy use can be harmful. Since pot smoke is chemically very similar to tobacco
smoke, heavy pot smokers are at risk for some of the same health effects as cigarette smokers,
like bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. Though, the risks are from smoking, which
isn't the only way to use marijuana. Another hazard: car accidents caused by driving while
high, though the risk is lower than from drunk driving.
A smoker would theoretically have to consume
nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.
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