Chapter Two: Pot 101: Understanding Marijuana

7/28/2019 Chapter Two: Pot 101: Understanding Marijuana

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Updatedandexpandededition

the MeSSaGe that Made

MaRiJUana leGal in ColoRado!

foReWoRd By noRM StaMpeR,

foRMeR Chief of the

Seattle poliCe depaRtMent


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chapter two

Pot 101:Understanding Marijuana

For more than three decades, Democratic senator Tom Harkin has

served as a reasoned voice or the health and welare o Americas

rural communities. While in Washington, he has spearheaded ederal

eorts to expand unding or medical research and alternative energy

programs. Among his peers and his constituents, Harkin is well

known or his commitment to civil libertieshaving successully

championed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits

discrimination against those with mental and physical disabilities.

By almost all appearances, Senator Harkin is a compassionate,

well-educated, rational human beingjust the sort o person that

most Americans want representing them in Congress. However,

bring up the topic o marijuana and a seldom seen side o Harkins

personality rises to the suraceone that shares more in common

with the Reeer Madness era o the 1930s than refects the

situation today.

In 2008, an Iowa NORML member wrote to Harkin and asked

him to explain why he supports the criminal prohibition o mari-

juana. The lawmakers reply: [M]arijuana is not the recreational

drug that many people believe it to be. [M]arijuana use oten has

atal consequences.


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th Choc: Mrjn v. alcohol

Within days, the senators over-the-top response was eliciting

tongue-and-cheek media snippets nationwide. On the Internet, tenso thousands o Americans logged onto the Web site o Washington,

D.C., gossip columnist Wonkette (Ana Marie Cox), who mockingly

posted the headline: Senator Tom Harkin: Marijuana Makes People

Sell Their Children.1 In the eyes o many, particularly those tens o

millions o adults who use or had ever used marijuana, the remarks

turned the onetime U.S. presidential candidate into an immediate

laughingstockthe poster child or what some Americans dontknow about pot. Unortunately, such marijuana ignorance is hardly

limited to one lone senator rom Iowa.

Although marijuana is the most widely used illicit intoxicant in the

United States (and the world), much o the publicand apparently

some prominent politiciansstill remain woeully ignorant about

the plants multiple uses and its psychoactive eects. There are

several reasons or this conusion.

For starters, independent public opinion polls indicate that only

about one-hal o the American population admits to having had

rsthand experience with cannabis.2 Further, among those who

have tried pot, some only experimented with the drug on a handul

o occasions. Many others ceased their use altogether decades ago.

Additionally, society is bombarded with varying, and oten

contradictory, messages about pot. The White House Oce o

National Drug Control Policy (more commonly known as the drug

czars oce) has spent tens o millions o taxpayers dollars per year

to produce print and television advertisements stigmatizing mari-

juanablaming its use or a host o societal ills. Conversely, national

advocacy groups like NORML, SAFER, and the Marijuana Policy

Project engage in national outreach and media campaigns rebut-

ting many o the U.S. governments widespread and ot-repeated

claimsmost o which are based on rhetoric and stereotypes rather

than scientic acts.


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po 101: unrnng Mrjn

Law enorcement organizations also muddy the waters, oten

distorting the acts about marijuana to the mainstream media andto young people (via so-called drug-education programs like Drug

Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE,3 which is implemented

in 75 percent o American school districts and in more than orty

countries worldwide. Indeed, these days its hardly hyperbole or

young people to say, Everything I ever learned about marijuana I

learned in junior highand all o it was wrong.

Were here to inorm you and to set the record straight. To beclear, the inormation that ollows is not just or people who have

never been exposed to marijuana. Even most occasional users o

cannabis have only a surace knowledge o the drug and are in need

o a crash course in Marijuana 101.

To give you a sense o what we mean, think or a moment about

your knowledge o alcohol. Although you may assume that you

dont know much about booze, and that moreover, there isnt much

to knowpeople drink, they get drunk, and thats thatits quite

likely that you know ar more than you think you do. You certainly

know that there are many kinds o alcohol legally available or con-

sumptionsuch as beer, wine, schnapps, vodka, rum, whiskey, and

even pure grain alcohol. You are aware that these beverages vary

greatly in terms o their intoxicating eects. For example, there

is a huge dierence between 12 ounces o beer and 12 ounces o

vodka. You probably even know a thing or two about the alcohol

content o various beverages, that beer is about 3 percent alcohol

by volume, and hard liquor is described in terms o proo, which

actually represents twice the percentage o alcohol in the beverage

(e.g., 80 proo vodka is 40 percent alcohol by volume). You also

likely know that dierent types o alcohol produce dierent eects.

For instance, red wine has a tendency to make people eel sleepy

and trigger migraine headaches, while white wine does not.

By contrast, what do you knowabout pot?

I you are like the vast majority o Americans, when you think

about pot your thoughts pretty much start and stop with the word


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marijuana itsel. In other words, you probably perceive marijuana

as a generic term like aspirin. But that is certainly not the case.Today, there are nearly as many varieties o marijuana as there are

alcohol, each with dierent names, potencies, purposes, and eects.

In the pages that ollow, we aim to close the gap between your

knowledge about alcohol and your knowledge about pot. Our aim

is to provide you with a basic understanding o the marijuana plant,

including its active components and its eects on those who use

it. By doing so, we hope to address many readers stereotypes andpreconceptions regarding the cannabis plant so that they can better

make an assessment o whether adults should have legal access to it.

Wh i Mrjn?

When we step back and think about it, its hard to believe that we

really need to have this discussion at all. As we noted in chapter 1,

humans have been using marijuana as an intoxicant or thousands o

years. There are now more than 20,000 published studies and papers

available in the scientic literature analyzing pot, its constituents,

and their eects on the human body.4 In short, marijuana is one

o the most studied and widely used plants in human existence.

Yet despite marijuanas exceedingly long and detailed history, many

people today are unamiliar with the plants eects and pharmacol-

ogy. Here are some basics.

The term marijuana is Mexican in origin and is typically used to

reer to any part oor any one othe three distinctive species

o the cannabis plant: Cannabissativa (which tends to grow tall and

stalky), Cannabis indica (which tends to grow smaller and bushier),

or Cannabis ruderalis (a wild-growing species o cannabis ound

primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe). Grown outdoors, the can-

nabis plant will typically reach maturity within three to ve months.

Grown indoors, under optimum heat and lighting, the plant may

reach maturity within as ew as sixty days.


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po 101: unrnng Mrjn

Humans have used various parts o the cannabis plant or a multi-

tude o purposes. Most people are aware that marijuana is used as anintoxicant, but ar ewer know that certain varieties o cannabisas

well as most parts o the plant, including the seeds and the stalk

contain virtually no psychoactive properties yet oer many other

potential benets. For example, ground seeds rom the marijuana

plant contain uniquely high and balanced levels o essential amino

acids and essential atty acids and may be baked into a variety o

nutritional oodstus, such as bread, butter, and salad dressing. Oilcan also be processed rom cannabis seeds and used or sauting or

consumed as a nutritional supplement. Since the seeds contain no

euphoria-producing compounds, the importation and domestic sale

o certain cannabis-based oods, oils, and sterilized seeds is permitted

in the United States.

The stalk o the marijuana plant, primarily o the Cannabissativa

varietywhich can grow to twenty eet in heightcan also be

harvested or its bast ber content. Most industrialized nations,

including Canada, Japan, Australia, and the European Union,

regulate the commercial production o low-potency varieties o

cannabis, commonly called hemp, or industrial purposes.5 This

practice is hardly new. During Americas colonial era, many o

the ounding athers, including George Washington and Thomas

Jeerson, espoused cultivating cannabis or the production o rope,

sails, cloth, and paper.6 In act, as recently as during World War II

the U.S. government commissioned tens o thousands o domestic

armers to grow marijuana to assist with Americas wartime needs.

(A 1943 lm produced by the U.S. Department o Agriculture,

entitled Hemp For Victory, calls the plant indispensable . . . in the

service o mankind.) Following the Wars conclusion, however,

the U.S. government imposed a complete ban on the domestic pro-

duction o the plant, including the cultivation o non-psychoactive

Cannabis sativa varieties. Nevertheless, tens o millions o wild

plants, remnants rom these once government-subsidized plots,

continue to grow throughout the United States, primarily in the


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Midwest. As mandated by ederal lawwhich makes no distinction

among cannabis speciespolice destroy some two hundred milliono these plants annually. As a result, U.S. retailers who produce

hemp-based clothing and other products must exclusively import

cannabis ber rom overseas.

Active but not necessarily psychoactive components o the can-

nabis plant, known as cannabinoids, possess a variety o therapeutic

applications. Although we will explore this issue in greater depth in

chapter 3, we would be remiss i we did not at least mention mari-juanas historic and current applications as a medicinal herb here.

As o this writing, eighteen states and the District o Columbia

allow or the legal, physician-supervised use o medical marijuana

by state-qualied patients. The plants therapeutic constituents

are typically used by patients or their analgesic (pain-reducing),

anxiolytic (stress-reducing), anti-spasticity, and mood-elevating

properties. Compounds in marijuana are also eective at reducing

nausea and stimulating appetite. Today doctors can prescribe an

FDA-approved medication to treat these symptoms called Marinol.

Available in pill orm only, Marinol is actually a synthetic version

o THC, the primary psychoactive chemical in the marijuana

plant. Numerous other therapeutic applications or cannabis have

also been documented in recent years, including neuroprotective,

antibacterial, and even cancer-ghting properties.

O course, most people associate marijuana with its euphoria-

inducing qualities. Throughout history human beings have

utilized the dried leaves and fowers (typically reerred to as

buds) o the nonpollinated emale plant as an intoxicant. Its little

wonder why. Most users report the marijuana high to be relax-

ing, relatively mild, and short in duration (anywhere rom one

to two hours). Best o all, unlike alcohol, the overindulgence in

which can produce nausea, vomiting, hangovers, and even death

in extreme circumstances, the use o marijuana produces very ew

negative side eects. Smoke too much and youll most likely end

up going to sleep.


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po 101: unrnng Mrjn

Why smokng Mrjn G Yo Hgh

Believe it or not, scientists have only recently begun to under-

stand the many complex ways that marijuanaor more speci-

cally, the various active chemicals o the plantinteracts with the

human body.

The physical, therapeutic, and psychoactive eects one expe-

riences ater ingesting marijuana are derived primarily rom

a amily o unique chemicals known as cannabinoids. We sayprimarily because there is emerging evidence that the plants

terpenes, a class o hydrocarbons ound in the plants essential

oils, and favonoids may also possess some mildly active thera-

peutic properties, but it appears that these components are ar

less active than cannabinoids. To date, investigators have identi-

ed over eighty distinct cannabinoids in the marijuana plant.7

(Cannabinoids are typically concentrated in the resin produced by

the plants tr ichomes.) The most studied o these cannabinoids is

delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC. Why is this

the most important o all the cannabinoids? Simple, THC is the

stu that gets you high!

O the dozens o cannabinoids in marijuana, only THC is

signicantly psychoactive. Most other chemicals, such as canna-

bigerol (CBG) and cannabinol (CBN), possess mildly therapeutic

properties but dont induce euphoria.8 Other compounds, most

specically the chemical cannabidiol (CBD), actually counteract

some o the psychoactive eects o THCacting as marijuanas

antimarijuana mechanism.9

Many o the eects o cannabis are dependent on the plants

THC content. Ingest a variety o marijuana that is high in THC

(such as 10 or 15 percent THC) and youll airly quickly begin

to eel its psychoactive eects, as well as a mild increase in heart

rate. Consume a strain o marijuana that is grown or industrial

purposes, which typically possesses less than 1 percent THC, and

youll eel no eects all. (For the record, the average THC content


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o most domestic marijuana consumed in America hovers around

5 percent.10

)Visit a legal medical marijuana dispensary (retail outlet) in, or

instance, Colorado or a coee shop in the Netherlands (where

the sale o up to ve grams o cannabis is legal to patrons over age

eighteen) and you will discover a wide variety o marijuana strains

to choose rom, with names like Blueberry, White Rhino, and

Purple Kush. Like their names imply, these strains vary widely in

appearance, aroma, favor, THC content (and perhaps other canna-binoids), and price. Based on their chemical (cannabinoid) makeup,

each strain also produces distinctive eects.

The physiological reasons a person experiences a high ater ingest-

ing marijuana is because the cannabinoids interact with individual

receptors, so-called CB1 and CB2 receptors. The CB1 receptors,

rst identied in the late 1980s, are located primary in the brain and

regulate the drugs psychoactive eects. The CB2 receptors, identi-

ed in the early 1990s, are located throughout the human body, and

are responsible or many o the cannabinoids more tangential thera-

peutic eects. (Naturally occurring chemicals in the human body

that possess a similar molecular structure to herbal cannabinoids,

so-called endocannabinoids, also interact with the CB1 and CB2

receptors to regulate many essential biological unctionsincluding

appetite, blood pressure, and reproduction.) Because the majority

o the bodys CB1 receptors are located in the rontal lobe region

o the brains cerebral cortex (which regulates emotional behavior)

and the cerebellum (a region in the back o the brain that primarily

controls motor coordination), but not the brain stem (which con-

trols lie-preserving unctions like breathing), ingesting marijuana is

not pharmacologically capable o causing a atal overdose, regardless

o THC potency. According to a 1995 report prepared or the

World Health Organization (WHO), There are no recorded cases

o overdose atalities attributed to cannabis, and the estimated lethal

dose or humans extrapolated rom animal studies is so high that it

cannot be achieved by recreational users.11


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po 101: unrnng Mrjn

th phycl n pychologcl effc of Mrjn

The specic psychological and physical eects experienced ater

consuming marijuana vary rom person to person, and many o

these eects are dependent on percentage o THC and other can-

nabinoids in the marijuana consumed. Moreover, new cannabis

users tend to eel dierent eects compared with more experienced

users. Sometimes the outcome is no eect at all (a phenomenon that

seems to be limited to rst- or second-time users only). However,i an inexperienced user consumes too much cannabis at one time,

he or she may experience a mix o unpleasant physical and psycho-

logical eelings, such as a tachycardia (rapid heart beat), dry mouth,

and a growing sense o paranoia. Fortunately these eelings, while

mildly unpleasant, are only temporary and pose little-to-no actual

long-term risk to the users health.

As cannabis consumers become more experienced, their bod-

ies become more tolerant to some o the drugs physical eects.

Consumers also learn to better sel-regulate (or titrate) their dos-

age to avoid any dysphoric symptoms such as paranoia. As a result,

most experienced marijuana consumers describe the cannabis high

as a pleasant experience that helps them to relax or unwind. Many

users claim that smoking marijuana makes them more talkative and

outgoing in social situations, and many also say that the marijuana

high enhances many o the bodys senses, thus making activities like

listening to music, watching a movie, or enjoying a home-cooked

meal particularly enjoyable.

dffrn Wy of Conmng Mrjn

Cannabis is most oten inhaledeither through a cigarette (joint),

pipe, water pipe (also known colloquially as a bong), or vapor-

izer. Users tend to preer inhalation as a route o administration

because it enables them to experience marijuanas eects almost


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immediately ater ingestion. This outcome allows consumers to

moderate their dose airly easily, taking a small number o tokesuntil they have achieved their ideal level o intoxicationsimilar to

how most alcohol consumers sip wine or drink beer over the course

o an evening.

Regardless o whether a person is inhaling cannabis via a joint,

pipe, or bong, she is still subjecting her lungs to noxious smoke.

Although the use o a water-pipe ltration system cools marijuana

smoke, the technology is not particularly ecient at eliminatingthe toxic by-products o combustion. In act, one study ound

that bongs produce 30 percent more tar per cannabinoids than the

unltered joint.12 As a result, some cannabis consumers are now

turning to vaporizers, devices that heat marijuana to a point where

cannabinoid vapors orm, but below the point o combustion. This

technology, which we discuss urther in chapter 5, allows consumers

to enjoy the rapid onset o marijuanas eects while avoiding many

o the associated respiratory hazards associated with smokingsuch

as coughing, wheezing, or chronic bronchitis.

Consuming moderate to high quantities o marijuana orally, such

as in ood or in a tincture (an oral alcohol-based solution), will yield

a much dierent and oten ar more intense outcome. For starters,

users will not begin to eel any psychoactive eects o the drug

or a good orty-ve to ninety minutes ater ingestion, making it

dicult to sel-regulate the dosage. Once these eects do begin

to take hold, they tend to be ar stronger acting and last ar longer

(upwards o our to six hours is typical) than the eects o inhaled

cannabis. This result is because o the way our bodies metabolize

THC. When marijuana is smoked, THC passes rapidly rom the

lungs to the bloodstream and to the brain. By contrast, when mari-

juana is taken orally, a signicant portion o THC is metabolized

into the other chemicals, including the psychotropic metabolite

11-hydroxy-THC, beore reaching the brain. (Smoking cannabis

produces only trace levels o this chemical.) As a result, both the

physical and psychoactive eects o THC are oten magnied.


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po 101: unrnng Mrjn

O course, some users preer these longer-lasting eects, just as

some alcohol consumers preer the stronger buzz o hard liquorover low-potency beer or wine. Other consumers, particularly less

experienced users, preer the milder eects associated with inhala-

tion. Among users o medical marijuana, most avor inhaling can-

nabis as opposed to taking the legal oral pill Marinol because the

prescription drug makes them eel too stoned.

Why pol smok Mrjn

According to U.S. government statistics, approximately 100 million

Americans have tried marijuana and some 11 percent o the popula-

tion consumes it annually. So who are these people, and why do they

break the law and risk arrest to smoke marijuana?

Readers can answer the rst question by simply looking within

their own social circle. Chances are you know someone who

smokes or has smoked pot. Marijuana consumers include people

rom all walks o lie, ethnic classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds

(though, statistically, the demographic most likely to be current

marijuana consumers are white males between the ages o eighteen

and twenty-ve). President Barack Obama said that he smoked as

a young manand a 2012 biography by David Maraniss inormed

the public that he smoked it a lot.13 Obama is hardly alone. Supreme

Court Justice Clarence Thomas, ormer vice president Al Gore, and

ormer Caliornia governor Arnold Schwarzenegger all have admit-

ted using marijuana at dierent times during their lives. We dont

have nearly the space to begin listing all o the amous proessional

athletes and entertainers who use pot, but chances are that many o

your avorite sports stars and celebrities do. In act, a 2007 New York

Times investigation estimated that up to 70 percent o pro basketball

players engage occasionally or regularly in the use o marijuana.14

Most likely at least a ew o your colleagues at work enjoy an occa-

sional toke, too. According to the U.S. government, most current


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marijuana users are gainully employed.15 Most marijuana users

are also successul academically (overall academic perormance isgenerally unaected by cannabis use16) and nancially. (At least one

longitudinal study reports that increased marijuana use is associated

with earning higher wages.17) Some ormer and current users, like

Virgin-Atlantic Airways tycoon Sir Richard Branson, Progressive

Auto Insurance Chairman o the Board Peter Lewis, and New York

City mayor Michael Bloomberg, are even billionaires.

Surprisingly, little ethnographic research has been devoted toexploring the reasons that motivate so many people to use marijuana

recreationally. United States government ocials tend to argue that

people use cannabis because they are addicted to it (an infammatory

charge that we address in detail in chapter 5). Others claim that

people use marijuana because o peer pressure or because certain

elements o the entertainment industry glamorize the drugs use.

Predictably, the truth is ar more ordinary.

Recently, investigators at the University o Alberta, Canada,

conducted a series o lengthy interviews with male and emale can-

nabis consumers. They ound, not surprisingly, that the majority

o adults who use cannabis recreationally do so to enhance relax-

ation. They concluded: [M]ost adult marijuana users regulate use

to their recreational time and do not use compulsively. Rather,

their use is purposively intended to enhance their leisure activities

and manage the challenges and demands o living in contemporary

modern society. Generally, participants reported using marijuana

because it enhanced relaxation and concentration, making a broad

range o leisure activities more enjoyable and pleasurable.18

In other words, people smoke marijuana recreationally or many

o the same reasons people drink alcohol. In the ollowing chapter

we will consider whether these marijuana consumersputting legal

considerations asideare making a rational choice to use marijuana,

either consistently or occasionally, instead o alcohol.

Chapter Two: Pot 101: Understanding Marijuana

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Transcript of Chapter Two: Pot 101: Understanding Marijuana