Marijuana

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General

Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana. Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it's a Spanish word), hashish ("hash" for short), and hash oil are stronger forms of marijuana.

All forms of marijuana are mind-altering. In other words, they change how the brain works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuana’s effects on the user depend on it’s strength or potency, which is related to the amount of THC it contains(5). The THC content of marijuana has been increasing since the 1970s.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2001, March 13). Marijuana: Facts for TeensWashington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved October 03, 2002 from the World Wide Web:http://www.nida.nih.gov/MarijBroch/Marijteenstxt.html#What

Statistics

An estimated 2.4 million Americans used marijuana for the first time in 2000. The annual number of new marijuana users has varied considerably since 1965 when there were an estimated 0.6 million new users. The number of new marijuana users reached a peak in 1976 and 1977 at around 3.2 million. Between 1990 and 1996, the estimated number of new users increased from 1.4 million to 2.5 million and has remained at this level.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, September 4). Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-17 ed.)  (BKD461, SMA 02-3758)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved September 26, 2002 from the World Wide Web:http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda/2k1nhsda/vol1/highlights.htm

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug. It is used by 76 percent of current illicit drug users. Approximately 59 percent of current illicit drug users consumed only marijuana, 17 percent used marijuana and another illicit drug, and the remaining 24 percent used an illicit drug but not marijuana in the past month. Therefore, about 41 percent of current illicit drug users in 2000 (an estimated 5.7 million Americans) use illicit drugs other than marijuana and hashish, with or without using marijuana as well.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, February 14). Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-13 ed.)  ( (SMA) 01-3549)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved September 26, 2002 from the World Wide Web:http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda/2knhsda/chapter2.htm