The name "Marijuana"

[SHRED]

I am refusing to use that name anymore considering it's origination.

I am asking others to join me in using the real name "Cannabis" when referring to Marijuana.


-

[NightWatcher]

1. Medical Cannabis talk is about to take hold here in Florida

I have refused to call it marijuana for a little while now.

"Marijuana" is what they called it to make it sound scary and "Mexican" back in the 30's. Stay away from that scary Mexican devil weed.

[polichick]

2. But it's a beautiful sounding word.

[TeamPooka]

70. so is "dankity dank". nt

[Jesus Malverde]

8. The implication is this substance is so exotic to our culture we can't even

Come up with our own name for it.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. But the name "marijuana" is not exotic in our culture. It's what the plant is called.

I knew it was marijuana long before I had an inkling of the history of the name and long before I ever heard the word "cannabis." In my opinion, the racist roots of the nomenclature have been long denatured.

The Frito Bandito isn't the first image that pops into my head when someone says "marijuana."

[arely staircase]

17. no but fritos

(insert muncies joke here)

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. I wasn't going to go there, but yeah, forget the bandito, gimme the Fritos.

[etherealtruth]

3. I have been doing that for years

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Good luck with that.

I mean, I understand the impulse, but that's the common name for cannabis in this county. Century-old racial connotations seem to have faded. Call it what you like; it's all weed to me.

[Jesus Malverde]

6. Yep

Its as if ever time you talked about alcohol one used the term booze or hooch.

Part of the effort to marginalized the plant is to give it an exotic ethnic name. Its part of the racist origins of cannabis prohibition.

The media rarely can cover the topic without endless puns. More of the effort to marginalized cannabis as a fringe cheech and chong topic and keep it out of the mainstream. The baby boomers who brought us the war on cannabis have raised their children in a zero tolerance world of insanity and it's just played out.

Thanks!

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. I'm going with "ethanol" from now on.

[Jesus Malverde]

12. I think that more accurately describes the drug

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with the structural formula CH3CH2OH, often abbreviated as C2H5OH or C2H6O.

Somehow alcohol is viewed differently as a drug. Separate from drugs that share addicting and intoxicating characteristics.

Alcohol = hemp or cannabis

Ethanol = THC

[Jackpine Radical]

54. Well, yes, of course. After all, "alcohol"

(al Kuhl) is one of those exotic Arabic words.

[WinkyDink]

13. The Boomer Generation always had its conservative a**holes. They joined ROTC.

[redqueen]

24. Well said. nt

[Fumesucker]

39. It wasn't the boomers who started the war on drugs

Nixon wasn't remotely a boomer and the name marijuana came from well before Nixon, more like right around the end of alcohol Prohibition.

[Jesus Malverde]

41. Nixon didn't create the war on cannabis

The war on cannabis was a creation of the Reagan era, an era that was embraced by the boomers who were becoming parents of teenagers and did not want them doing what they did.

At the best, they stood by while the state filled the schools with drug cops, drug testing became common and the government got away comparing your brain to a frying egg. At their worst they aided and abided the a draconian war that served to incarcerate million of minorities and others without the means of not having their lives ruined by this moral crusade.

Boomers are a key political demographic. Now that they are infirm and the kids long gone, some are taking another look at medicating and recreating.

The cliche is you grew up, (job family etc) out of smoking cannabis. That sums up the baby boomer experience.

[Fumesucker]

45. No, the war on cannabis started in 1937, long before the boomers were even born.

Nixon created the DEA in 1972 when the oldest boomers were under thirty and basically powerless.

There were very few boomers in positions of real power in the Reagan era. Ed Meese and that lot were definitely not boomers and probably not even silent generation.

[Jesus Malverde]

47. We went from cannabis being practically legal, social accepted, no problem from 1967-1980

To highly criminalized, stigmatized and trivialized. All as the boomers stopped smoking to concentrate on family and work.

[Retrograde]

58. Practically legal?

Do you not remember, for example, the Rockefeller anti-marijuana laws in the early 1970s - 15 to life for possession or sale? Or paraphenalia busts - aka, we can't find any weed but you've got a pipe or papers so you must have some? Or well-publicized drug busts of various high-profile people? Those were my teen and early adult years, and, yes, it was common and socially accepted in some circles, but people were arrested and their lives ruined for smoking in the wrong places.

[Jesus Malverde]

64. It's always been a tool to attack the poor and minorities.

The 80's saw these formerly narrowly applied abuses put on steroids and applied across society and with "zero tolerance", drug testing, cops in schools, and "mandatory minimums".

Where previously middle class kids got a break, the gloves were off.

[Bluenorthwest]

82. You have it all upside down. The reform of cannabis laws stared in 1973 when Oregon

decriminalized. During the 60's and 50's it was a major felony to posses any at all, people went to big prison. Nixon had Operation Intercept at the Mexican border as part of his anti pot hysteria. Back then, it was all about the hippies smoking it up and the minorities along with them, prohibition laws were used as a way of oppressing the music scene, the peace movement, you name it.
This did not start in the 80's, you are absolutely misinformed.

[Jesus Malverde]

84. The whole move to eliminate the distinction between "hard" and "soft" drugs came in the 80's

It was part and parcel of "zero tolerance" and the now law enforcement focused war on drugs.

The death of Len Bias (June 19, 1986) was a watershed moment when both parties lost their collective minds and decided law enforcement was the solution.

One needs to remember the strange era.. This was a time when baby boomers like Al and Tipper Gore were on a crusade to protect the children from bad music (1985).



cool picture from Tipper wiki

Looking at the Nixon transcripts you can plainly see in his era it was a bad idea to lock up cannabis smokers with hardened criminals.

By the 1980's they expanded into ruining peoples lives, in addition to locking them up, they could forbid them benefits, kick them out of public housing. Essentially this was a campaign to really stigmatizing the cannabis smoker, so that one infraction could literally ruin your life.

They ensured cannabis would be dangerous and destructive through the ramifications of getting caught with it.

As I've mentioned cannabis prohibition was always a tool to harass minorities. The 1980's saw that same injustice applied to everyone.

There was a concerted effort to marginalize the cannabis user through criminal sanctions, workplace and school drug testing, and relentless propaganda in the media.

Exhibit A -

Here's a more contemporary version of your brain on drugs.

[Ed Suspicious]

51. I thought I heard that Nixon was a proponent of relaxing penalties for or even legalizing cannabis.

[Jesus Malverde]

66. Nixon tapes on cannabis..

RN: "Well, let me tell you one thing that just happened here
because it probably wasn't, I'm sure it wasn't in the press here,
I had a press conference in California which was not televised,
but, I was asked about marijuana because a study is being made by
a, group, [unintelligible] the government. Now, my position is
flat-out on that. I am against legalizing marijuana. Now I'm
against legalizing marijuana because, I know all the arguments
about, well, marijuana is no worse than whiskey, or etc. etc.
etc. But the point is, once you cross that line, from the
straight society to the drug society -- marijuana, then speed,
then it's LSD, then it's heroin, etc. then you're done. But the
main point is -- well, well we conduct, well this commission will
come up with a number of recommendations perhaps with regard to,
[unintelligible] the penalties more, because [unintelligible] too
far in this respect. As far as legalizing them is concerned, I
think we've got to take a strong stand, one way or the other,
and, uh."

RD: "Against, uh."

RN: "Against legalizing. That's the position that I take. Because
I think if we legalized it, take the, then, then, your high
school and elementary kid, well why not? It [unintelligible]."

RN: "I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them.
I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it.
You know it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are
out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the
matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I
suppose it's because most of them are psychiatrists, you know,
there's so many, all the greatest psychiatrists are Jewish. By
God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it
right square in the puss, I want to find a way of putting more on
that. More [ unintelligible ] work with somebody else with this."

HRH: "Mm hmm, yep."

RN: "I want to hit it, against legalizing and all that sort of
thing."

RN: "Why in the name of God do these people take this stuff?"

JE: "For the same reason they drink. It's a, they're bored, it's
a, it's a diversion."

RN: "Drinking is a different thing in a sense. Uh, Linkletter's
point I think is well taken, he says, 'A person may drink to have
a good time' -"

JE: "Mm-hmm"

RN: "-- but a person does not drink simply for the purpose of
getting high. You take drugs for the purpose of getting high."

JE: "Yep, yep."

RN: "There is a difference."

more here

http://www.csdp.org/research/nixonpot.txt

[Fumesucker]

68. That's ... interesting

Thank you.

[Jesus Malverde]

71. Here is a good one, Nixon making sense...

RN: "The thing about, let me say that the thing I'm, I really
feel concerned about is this, that uh, Ray, is, that I know you
were a former prosecutor, uh. The difficulty with the whole
commissions, you set them up, is that, uh, you're going to
[suffer ?] them, you know, we've had so many discredited
committees, [unintelligible] screwing off in every different
direction, so forth. I'm sure you understand. This is an area of
course where we, we don't, I mean there's an awful lot of stuff
Dr. Jaffe's the first to, admit and he's a real expert in his
field, that we don't know all the answers. However, I have a
strong firm convictions which I have expressed and which I won't
change, about the, about the, the, the situation [unintelligible]
about marijuana, in, in two areas. One, about its legalne-, about
legalizing which some would do. Second however, now on the other
hand, my, my attitude toward penalties on marijuana, is uh, very
powerful. I talked with District Attorney on [unintelligible] and
all the rest, and to take somebody that's smoked some of this
stuff, put him into a jail with a bunch of hardened criminals, is
[silly ?], that's absurd."

RPS: "Absolutely yes."

RN: "There must be different ways than jail. I think that's your
experience, is it not? Have you talked to, uh, what's his name up
there, uh--"


It seems clear Nixon was really unfamiliar with Cannabis, but knew enough that it was wrong to lock them up.

[intheflow]

72. Merrium-Webster dates it from 1894. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

61. As a boomer, I strenuously object to this character assassina ...

... whoa, did you ever look up and study the underside of a bus? I mean really study it? It does amazing shit. And the sounds!

[Jesus Malverde]

65. back at ya!

I shouldn't generalize so much eh!

[Nika]

7. I've only called it cannabis for many years.

[MineralMan]

11. I like "Indian Hemp."

The thing is that a name change or using a scientific name for it won't make any difference at all. It is what it is. Hemp is a useful fiber, sort of, although it has been pretty much replaced by other fibers for many reasons. Mainly, though, folks like it because it has interesting medicinal properties, and that's its reason for interest, frankly.

Medicinal and euphoric qualities are its chief attraction, and that bothers a lot of people, who think ethanol is just fine as a self-administered, mood-altering drug. They don't understand why you'd want to smoke a weed to get buzzed. Just slug down a few shots or beers and you're good.

So, whether you call it marijuana, Indian Hemp, ganja, weed, dope, or whatever, the facts of it are the same, and everyone knows that. I used it daily for a number of years, finally stopping smoking it when the price got too high for my limited income, around 1974. I don't care if people smoke it or consume it in any way they find useful.

I'm not a big fan of hemp rope. It is not as good as rope made with other fibers, and it's stiff and likely to give you a rope burn if you use it much. I had a hemp t-shirt once, but it wasn't as soft or comfortable as a nice cotton one. I suppose you could make paper from hemp or convert the plant material to ethanol, and hemp seeds are a favorite food of cage birds like the cockatiels and budgies I used to own. But that was never, and is not now, the real reason people want to legalize growing this plant. Its main reason for being of interest is the set of chemicals that are found in its flowering buds.

You want to legalize growing and consuming marijuana? That's cool with me. I still won't use it at this stage of my life, but you have my support for it. But, talk about it in realistic terms. Don't tell me you want to legalize growing it for its usefulness as a source of fiber or biomass. I know why people want to grow it, and that's good enough reason.

In Colorado, folks are going to be growing it aplenty, I'm sure, but it's not going to be turned into t-shirts, rope, and ethanol. Folks are going to smoke it, eat it, and otherwise consume it for medicinal or pleasurable reasons. And why shouldn't they?

So, you can call it cannabis, if you like. Or, you can call it by any of its other names, and there are lots of them. That doesn't matter, and will make no difference whatsoever in its legalization. It is what it is.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. They still call it that in Nigeria. A legacy of Commonwealth, I suppose.

[MineralMan]

20. That was the name it was called in most of my collection of

old 19th century medical texts, too. It was widely used medicinally, from what I can gather from that reading, along with opiates and other medications not currently in use by the medical profession. Indian Hemp.

[alfredo]

35. I thought they called it Wee Wee.

[Comrade Grumpy]

22. Someone did grow a hemp crop in Colorado last year.

Even though it remains illegal under federal law.

Hemp may not save the world, but it does have its uses. A number of US states have passed bills allowing for hemp, but they have to wait on the DEA, which claims it is too stupid to tell the difference between cannabis planted for hemp and cannabis planted to get high. (They are quite distinct sub-species or land races or cultivars or whatever you call them.) Interestingly, cops in countries that do allow hemp production seem to be able to figure it out.

You can check out the Hemp Industry Association or Vote Hemp for more, if you're interested.

[MineralMan]

26. I've looked at the "hemp industry" stuff.

Thanks. I can't see it as a viable thing, frankly. Hemp is not as useful a fiber as it might seem, today. Same thing with flax. At one time, they were prominent, but synthetics have better qualities, in general, and cotton is the primary plant fiber in use today. You can find some linen, but it's not as popular these days. Hempen fabrics have gone the way of all things, it seems, and I cannot remember the last time I saw a hemp gunny sack. We don't package that way any longer. And jute is the fiber used in all of that sort of burlap fabric today.

Hemp rope was once the most common rope in use. No longer, and the replacements are better, frankly. I don't see that coming back. I also don't see hemp fibers replacing current fiber content in much of anything, except as a novelty.

I don't believe the hemp industry is actually a viable thing. Growing cannabis for its medicinal and recreational use, absolutely. I see that as viable. But not industrial hemp. We've moved way past the time when that would be a practical industry, I think.

[silverweb]

33. It's perfectly viable.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Good marketing in terms of its uses and environmental sustainability will move it forward, despite opposition from other competing industries. I go out of my way to look for hemp twine and hemp blend fabrics (many of which are gorgeous). Just because other substances are currently cheaper and in more common use, doesn't mean hemp can't recapture a significant share of that market.

Uses for industrial hemp include: hemp milk, which is creamier than soy or almond; hemp seeds/hearts, which are loaded with protein and omega-3 and 6 fatty acids; hemp protein powder for dietary supplementation; hemp oil, which is as good as olive oil in terms of uses and nutrition; hemp plastic, which is lighter but stronger than steel; and hemp construction materials like insulation and press board.

As more and more industrial hemp is grown as a commercial crop, innovative people will find more and more uses for it.

Industrial hemp is one of the most sustainable crops on the planet and if marketed properly, will be a vibrant industry.

[MineralMan]

34. OK, whatever you say.

Good luck with that, if you decide to enter that industry.

[silverweb]

36. I intend to SUPPORT that industry.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]There will always be competitors, adversaries, and cynical nay-sayers like yourself, but industrial hemp will occupy a growing market.

[MineralMan]

40. Again, OK. I don't care, really. If it succeeds, it will succeed.

I don't see buying hemp products in my future, though. I've seen them. They don't make sense for me. But, I'm not everyone.

[Bluenorthwest]

83. I go out of my way to buy hemp clothing when possible because it is durable as can be

and has an excellent feeling to it. It's slightly more costly at this point, but so long lasting that it is very cost effective. A pair of hemp jeans is a pair of jeans like they used to be. I'm a big fan of quality.

[alfredo]

37. It makes a good machine oil.

[silverweb]

38. I have no doubt!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]

[alfredo]

52. It provides more cellulose per acre than trees and has a much shorter growth cycle.

[silverweb]

55. Yup.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Hemp has many qualities that make it not only a viable, extremely useful industrial crop, but an environmentally sustainable one, too.

[alfredo]

57. With tobacco moving offshore to Asia, Kentucky farmers need a cash crop.

[silverweb]

59. Hemp is a perfect replacement!

[alfredo]

63. At one time Kentucky was a large, if not the largest producer of hemp in the US.

Hemp barn north of Lexington, Ky

[Comrade Grumpy]

48. Well, folks like the Ag Commissioners in North Dakota and Kentucky disagree with you.

They seem to think there is something to it. Like I said, hemp ain't gonna save the world, but it has its uses, including fiber, seeds, oil, hell, they even use it in auto body panels.

[joshcryer]

73. Stupidly, hemp itself is perfectly legal to own processed.

You can't own hemp seeds or hemp plants though.

It's pretty damn silly.

I'm looking forward to hempseed cultivation. If we can get hempseeds to be as big as soybeans, we may have a really wonderful food source.

[freebrew]

46. The rope to which you are referring...

is sisal, not hemp. Hemp rope is strong, supple and feels like nylon. The reason for all of the above replacements you describe has nothing to do with hemp's suitability as a textile. It has to do with the oil companies and textile industries. Have you ever worn a hemp shirt? Better than cotton.

It also makes great paper(the Declaration, Constitution...), without wasting trees. Hearst was one of those siding with the gov't during the devil-weed years.

The part that is used for smoking isn't the part used for textiles. Don't confuse the two. The problem is the illegality applies to ALL uses. The gov't used to subsidize farmers that grew it fer dog's sake.

[Eleanors38]

80. Ganja is the term flaring up in recent years. I believe it is Sanskrit.

I rarely use "marijuana" except in more formal discussion, preferring:

Rope, hemp, weed, wacky weed, pot, grass, smoke, cheeba, reefer...

[MineralMan]

86. Since I stopped smoking it in 1974, I rarely

call it much of anything any longer, except in discussions online.

[randr]

14. Paonia Purple or PBud around these parts

[Jokerman]

29. My grandfather lived in Paonia.

Just hearing the name takes me back to our summer trips to Western Colorado.

[struggle4progress]

15. yeah ... um ... well ...

Kinda seems like a dream now, but time was, I would hang out with Mary Jane, a lot, far as I still recall

Mary Jane whispered some amazin stuff to me, like "Stare at that there stump! Really look at it! Wait! Now look at it some more!" or "Life would be perfect if only we had us some corn chips!"

But she always had this sorta here-now thing goin and never told me her real name

Might be you know her better than I ever did, I guess

[Brother Buzz]

16. Sweet Thursday, everyone called it Marijuana including Joseph and Mary Rivas

Heaven knows how long the situation might have continued if it had not been for Mildred Bugle, thirteen, head of her class in Beginning Botany, Los Angeles High School. One Saturday afternoon she crossed the Plaza, picked some interesting leaves growing around a potted palm, and positively identified them as Cannabis Americana.


In Monterey, on the California coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that are just naturally bad.

[Comrade Grumpy]

21. I like "gigglesmoke."

[Jesus Malverde]

23. Wackytabbaccy

Yee haw

[nyquil_man]

25. I called it "green"

and was seldom misunderstood.

[SHRED]

27. Yerba Buena

[silverweb]

28. Have already been doing just that.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]And for the same reasons.

[bravenak]

30. Wasn't born until the 80's.

Never called it MJ. Called it good news when I was a teenager. Otherwise it's just buds, bud, green, sticky, fire, chron, purple or weed. MJ is what my gramma called it. She never smoked, ever.

I can say cannabis if you like, and never say MJ. I wasn't aware that the history of the name was racist. I just thought they named it that cause Mexico supplied a lot of it and we were like "thank you Mexico for providing this necessity, we will name it MJ in honor of you." I should have guessed it was the opposite.

[alfredo]

31. Mr Muggles

[Eleanors38]

92. Good catch. Armstrong was a public (as from the stage) Advocate of marijuana use

But Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher is the only song that references 3 drug use metaphors in one verse.

[alfredo]

93. The Betty Boop cartoon based on that song is an opium dream.

[Eleanors38]

95. Good stuff. Thanks. Genius work.

[edhopper]

32. What about it's origin?

What's wrong with saying marijuana?
Is it offensive to anyone?

[Jesus Malverde]

43. Marijuana is a term introduced by the hearst newspapers and harry ansligner

as a means of taking a substance that had been part of American culture for eons and give it a foreign sinister connotation.

Marijuana is a spanish term that came into use in the English language with the integration of Mexican natives. It became widely used in English when William Hearst used yellow journalism to campaign against ‘marihuana’ as it’s prohibition also prohibited hemp, a competitor of Hearst’s paper industry.
- See more at: http://www.denverrelief.com/blog/2011/10/05/cannabis-for-marijuana-media-portrayals/#sthash.kuGhuxyr.dpuf

At the heart of cannabis prohibition is racism.

[edhopper]

49. Seems it's origins

are pretty obscured and has long since been adopted by proponents.
Just as Refer Madness is now a great film to watched stoned, Anslinger's efforts are going to be all overturned.
Unless Mexicans and Mexican Americans are offended by it, which I doubt. I don't see the problem, with using what is almost universally accepted as the name.

[Jesus Malverde]

53. It's slang, it's has a racist intent and is old fashioned.

I don't think it's a problem to use it casually. It has no real place in scientific journals, serious newspapers or other informed discussions.

At the next presidential debate, debating marijuana legalization sets a different tone from discussing cannabis legislation.

Words and how they are used can be important.

[alfredo]

56. la cucaracha

La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
ya no puede caminar
porque le falta, porque no tiene
marihuana pa' fumar.


The cockroach, the cockroach,
can't walk anymore
because it's lacking, because it doesn't have
marijuana to smoke.

[Eleanors38]

81. God, we used to sing that in grade school in the 50s.

[alfredo]

85. Now you know why the stub of a joint is called a roach.

[Eleanors38]

87. Oh, yeah. Pretty well known even then.

I take it at times to ease back the pain & nausea of allergy flare-ups and the flu. What's curious is I have to persuade myself to smoke it as the thought of smoking anything is repellent. Buy it works.

[alfredo]

88. It helped me when several discs in my neck laid me low.

[Eleanors38]

91. It does. I understand that the Leaves (not buds) are the best part...

( and cheapest) part to treat topical pains (like arthritis) in joints, when reduced to a tincture, not un-related to marijuana brownies, and applied as a massage.

I smoke cheap leaf, using it "internally" for throat/tonsil pain relief. It also allows hydration, and the drinking of too-hot teas so as to draw infectious crap out fast. (It helps to have a lot of horror & war movies to watch since you ain't getting any sleep. And punk rock for morale.) Best thing about this blow-it-out-treatment is:

1) You psychologically come out swinging;

2) You keep infectious snot from going strep; and

3) It's cheap.

There is a bidness here, as big as a fumble in a tie football game.

[edhopper]

60. Good point

I usually say "weed".

[Eleanors38]

94. Asians got hit with morphine stigma, blacks with coke 100+ yrs ago...

Mexicans with pot shortly theteafter. But a funny thing happened on the way through the 60s: The number of pot smokers went up 1,000%. It became the equal opportunity Scarlet Letter for a generation of "white" Boomers; culture war was ready for prime time.

[Curmudgeoness]

42. I am refusing to use the name

"bleeding heart" from now on for my beautiful bush, because, well, bleeding heart is so derogatory. From now on, I will call it by it's real name, "Lamprocapnos". If I can figure out how to pronounce it.

There are many words and phrases that have origins that are less than ideal, but when we use them, everyone knows exactly what we are talking about. You are free to use whatever word you choose for cannabis, but just don't get too holier-than-thou with people who continue to use the term "marijuana".

Disclaimer: I have no idea what the origin of the word "marijuana" is, so maybe you have a point. But I still think that this is worrying over nothing.

[Jesus Malverde]

44. Why Pot Supporters Shouldn't Use The Term "Marijuana"

Although the middle east has a history of hashish use, hemp wasn't really smoked recreationally in America until Mexican immigrants brought the practice with them into the western states around the 1930s. California was the first to ban the "preparation" of hemp, after Mexicans were observed doing it, and many western states followed. This was happening right at the time of the prohibition of alcohol, and the government was testing how far it could go banning mind-altering substances. Apparently, it found that it could go quite far.

In the east, the racism was directed at the black Jazz musicians. Their weed-smoking habits formed a central part of their musical sub-culture. Since they were seen as immoral and dangerous, this terrified the populace. Henry Anslinger, the rightly-reviled crusader against weed and the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, is alleged to have made many racist statements, including “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races" and “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” No matter what the time period, these are not appropriate statements for a public figure to make.

Rumors began circulating linking marijuana use to murder and violent behavior, but it was obviously unfounded speculation based on the fear of other races. For example, newspaper tycoon William Randoph Hearst writes, "“Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim’s life in Los Angeles?… THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES — that is a matter of cold record.” It's important to note that Hearst had much to gain, since the sensationalism sold newspapers and the use of wood-based paper over hemp-based assured him profits from his investments.

As soon as hemp was in non-white hands, it was labeled with the exotic term "marijuana," which the layman did not know was the same plant. William C. Woodward, of the American Medical Association, cited this as a reason to reject the bill proposing its prohibition. In the article I linked to above, the author writes,

http://furthurtothefuture.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-pot-supporters-shouldnt-use-term.html

I don't like the term pot either. It's a bit dated.

[TeamPooka]

50. I always call it cannabis except when I call it "dank".

[Bennyboy]

62. I stopped long ago unless

it is the title of something or used in the text of something.

I hate the origins of the word and the connotations that brings. Cannabis. pot, anything but marijuana.

[Jesus Malverde]

67. Bring back the terms "Hard" and "Soft" drugs.

Zero tolerance is zero intelligence.

[Shampoobra]

69. "Dry meds"

The shops I frequent sell edibles, concentrates, oils, teas, and dry meds. The dry meds are the cannabis buds.

[intheflow]

74. Yeah, and I'm never going to use the word "hash," either.

Since "hash" is short for "hashish" which has the same root word as "assassin" because it westerners thought Middle Easterners went crazy and killed people when they smoked hash. Better start calling hash "cannabis resin" to make sure you don't piss off any people of Middle Eastern origin.

The word marijuana isn't the problem, it's the derogatory racial stereotypes that lead to the war on drugs that are the problem. You think it would have been any different if the word marijuana was never coined and it had only ever been called cannabis? If you're going to go all indignant and righteous, you best be calling it "pistillate hemp."

[Art_from_Ark]

75. La cucaracha, la cucaracha

Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
Marijuana que fumar

[Egalitarian Thug]

76. You're right. n/t

[fredamae]

77. This is Who and Why "Marijuana"

is a racist slang used to instill fear and excite the masses in the 1930's.
http://mike-gray.org/psa/Anslinger_Ad.pdf

If you research the history of cannabis prohibition you'll find examples, as in the movie REEFER MADNESS- the very same exact foundation of Fear etc---delivered by the "anti's" in the 21st century. Listen to Kevin Sabet and Patrick Kennedy---of SAM (smart approaches to marijuana)

I hate to admit it--but I believed all that crap back in the '60's and I missed "living" a Whole era in this country that in retrospect, I would have Loved to experience--but they did tell this very "naïve and gullible" teen back then-that BOOZE was Better. I took 'em up on that offer--and I was Lucky! I never became addicted.

I'm angry because my mother suffered a terrible disease that today-were it still available for medical use back "then"-she would qualify for medical cannabis which Would have improved her health and quality of life very "gently". But because it was More important to have and to hold on to the almighty excuse to persecute our minority population--we denied access to all. It was "The New Jim Crow".

I finally tried it when I was 25-I loved it. I was in a most stressful and horrible time of my life and it gave me a "mental break" from Stress/Survival-for a long enough period of time I was able to figure out how to change my circumstances--and I successfully did...

In the very early '80's-I drifted away from using it awhile later without knowing I was supposed to be Horribly and Terribly Addicted to it. I wasn't. Not psychologically nor physically. I just lost interest in it.

In the late 1990's, once again cannabis rolled (no pun) into my life when I was asked by some sig gatherers to sign a petition to have Cannabis legalized in my state for Medical Use--The called it the Medical Marijuana initiative.
I refused to sign it. The very term "Medical Marijuana" seemed an oxymoronic approach to legalization. But it did spark my curiosity--after-all-everything "they'd" told me about it 30 years earlier was clearly proved False. I did some research and to my utter amazement-it had a long and solid Medicinal History--I, red faced-realized the "old" messaging was once again, rearing it's ugly head.
I sought out another petitioner and immediately signed it.

Today, for many reasons-mostly trying to relieve my dads suffering--and the memories of my mothers needless suffering-I've been pretty active in this movement.
It's Medicine-a simply lowly Medicinal Herb that has itself had an Amazing history of trying to survive "us"-through periods of being held in the highest esteem to being totally demonized.

I believe All use is for medical purpose. Those who try it the first time and return to use it again-do so because it makes them Feel better-it relaxes mind and body--Just like popping an amazing myriad of Pills designed to do that--only without the side effects.

The other thing that sticks in my craw is the Trillion dollars-our dollars_Wasted since Nixon. We've not gotten one bit of return on that investment--but the Corps sure did.

Rep Blumenauer just called for the De-Scheduling of cannabis at the federal level. To remove it all together from the CSA. I stand with him! It is the Most common sense, fiscally responsible thing to do at this juncture, imo.

[SHRED]

78. great post...thank you

[Coyotl]

79. A few decades late maybe, I'm still making the generational leap to saying "weed" instead of pot.

[Taitertots]

89. Are there negative epistemological connotations to other terms?

Buds
Chronic
Dank
Pot
Weed....

[Xithras]

90. You know, I've seen accusations of racism thrown at both sides of this argument.

Mariguana was (and still is) a legitimate name for the plant among the Spanish speaking population. Cannabis, mariguan, ganga, bhang and countless other names have been applied to the plant in various languages.

There's no question that there was a racial tinge to the application of the term "marijuana" in the United States. Those who wanted to demonize it chose to use the Mexican name in order to portray it as dirty and foreign. They used the name to take advantage of anti-hispanic racism in the United States and to sever its connection to our own history. Viewed through that lens, the name can be seen as having racist connotations.

On the other hand, as one of my pot smoking Mexican friends put it: "White people who bitch about the name marijuana are just a bunch of closet racists. They are saying that the English word is acceptable, and the Mexican word is somehow dirty. They are buying into the same bullshit arguments that the prohibitionists made when they wanted to ban it. By what logic can you say that something is fine when you call it by its English name, but is racist when you use its Mexican name, without actually believing that being Mexican is somehow an insult. Americans let a bunch of dead white guys decide that the word was offensive, and now they are letting those dead white guys win again by agreeing that it's offensive."

I live in a California county with a hispanic majority, I've smoked pot for most of my life, and most of my friends do as well. Out here, I'd say there's about a 50/50 split on which name is "proper".

I just call it pot (which, incidentally, is another Spanish term).