Parts used
Leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers.
Uses
Cannabis has be used medicinally worldwide for thousands of years.
- Described in ancient Chinese writings, together with ginseng and ephedra, as mainstays of herbal medicine where it was recommended for more than 100 ailments, including gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absentmindedness. Later Chinese texts describe its use for treating vomiting, parasitic infections and hemorrhage. Today, it is still a folk remedy for diarrhea, dysentery and as appetite stimulant.
- In Ayurvedic medicine, used to promote sleep, appetite, digestion, pain relief; also described as aphrodisiac and intoxicant.
- In Africa, used for a variety of ailments, including snakebites, labor pains, malaria, and dysentery.
Caution
- Already powerful and mind-altering, marijuana is mixed and smoked with other substances, like angel dust (PCP, phencyclidine hydrochloride) or cocaine.
- Marijuana today is much more potent than the 70s. Average THC levels have risen from less than one percent to more than 6% in 2002. Sinsemilla potency has increased in the past two decades from 6% to 13%, with some samples boasting THC levels up to 33%.
- Although the popular myth holds to marijuana's non-addictiveness, current research supports that marijuana is both physically addictive and psychologically addictive.