most widespread of the three, is tall, gangly, and loosely branched, growing as high as twenty feet; Cannabis indica .
is shorter, about three or four feet in height, pyramidal in shape and densely branched; Cannabis ruderalis is about .
two feet high with few or no branches" (1). They also say that "Cannabis has become one of the most widespread .
and diversified of plants. It grows as weed and cultivated plant all over the world in a variety of climates and soils" .
(1). Marijuana was first cultivated in China around 4000 B.C. It was mainly used as a sedative and analgesic, but .
today it is commonly used for the "high" or the euphoric feeling it causes. The most active ingredient in marijuana is .
delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinal commonly referred to a! .
s THC, which wasn't discovered until the 1960s. .
Marijuana is illegal today because of the Marijuana Stamp Tax Act passed in 1937. This act prohibited the use, sale, .
and growing of marijuana. It was made illegal because no one understood why smoking marijuana made people feel .
the way they did, and because it was associated with Indians and other so called "immoral people." Today marijuana .
is illegal because research has shown some intoxicating effects. Such as hallucination, anxiety, depression, extreme .
variability of mood, paranoia and schizophrenia lasting up to six hours. Raphael Mechoulam says, "Although .
cannabis causes initial restlessness, excitement, and sometimes boisterous, impulsive behavior, pacing and dancing, .
the main picture is of reduced physical activity apart from speech" (316). Physical effects include reddening of the .
eyes, dryness of the mouth and throat, a moderate increase in heart rate, tightness in the chest, drowsiness, .
unsteadiness, and uncoordinated muscular contractions. Marijuana buffers ! .
the central nervous system, but is not known to produce a considerable amount of tar in the lungs. Although .
marijuana has not been proven to be physically addictive, its use can be psychologically addictive.
