In 1620, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock bringing with them thousands of gallons of beer and other types of liquor. This was believed to be enough for them to sell or trade with the natives in return for products like a body relaxer. The Native Americans introduced the Pilgrims to tobacco and other forms of drugs such as marijuana. By the 1900's, the country noticed marijuana, a psychoactive drug, was dangerous and needed to be controlled. Later, between the 1960's and 1970s, the United States found itself in another period of drug intolerance. From then on the government started to crack down and began to embrace drug enforcement.
Marijuana is the product of the hemp plant, which also produces the fiber used to make hemp rope and textiles. Marijuana is defined as a cannabis plant; and or a preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, smoked or eaten to induce euphoria. Euphoria is a feeling of great happiness or well being. It has been a valuable commercial crop for hundreds of years. The plant's intoxicating chemical, Tetrahydrocannibinol, is in the resin exerted by its flowering top, especially by the female plant. The amount of resin determines the strength of the product and varies widely among the various plant kinds. If the hemp plant is simply chopped up, mixing leaves, stalks and resin-rich tops, a low-potency marijuana results. If carefully cultivated female tops are gathered before seeds form, they are sticky with resin, highly aromatic, and very potent. .
The amount of THC is up to seven times greater in today's marijuana than hundreds of years ago. This tremendous increase in potency is an unintended consequence of the efforts of law enforcement. Marijuana is very bulky when compared to other drugs, which increases the difficulty and risk of smuggling the product from the field to the users. Thus, producers have developed new, more powerful strains.
