Girl Scout Cookie seeds are what you might need to grow Cannabis or Marijuana, or Mary Jane, Or Pot, Or Hash, Or Hemp, or Ganja.
Because Cannabis has been illegal for so long, a lot of nicknames have popped up. Of course, you couldn’t just say that you wanted to buy some “cannabis”, you never know who was listening, it could have been the police.
And so, you had to use the kind of language that only people who smoked it would understand. Many of these names have stuck. And even the police know what they mean. As a result, new words have had to be created.
Of course, not all of these words have that origin story.
Some of them were created by people wanting to make it illegal, and some of them refer to specific ways to consume it. But here are 5 ways to say “Cannabis”.
- Cannabis
Let’s start things off with the official name, Cannabis.
Cannabis is what people who work in the medical industry refer to it as. It’s what the scientists who study it see to it as.
If you want to play by rules, and not use any slang language, then Cannabis is the word that you should be using.
- Pot
One of the names that a lot of the youth like to refer to it as is “Pot”. This is where we get the phrase “pothead” from- someone who likes to smoke a lot of Cannabis.
While some might think that this might refer to the bong sometimes used to smoke it, or the fact that you feel “stoned”, neither of these is correct.
It’s actually short for the Mexican Spanish “Potigauaya”, which refers to the Cannabis leaves. It makes sense to just refer to the leaves as these are the things which you smoke.
- Weed
And now, the most common nickname for Cannabis, weed.
Anyone who likes to do gardening might call a plant that grows where it shouldn’t a “weed”. These kinds of plants are usually green and sometimes spiky. Cannabis, although grown intentionally, has many of the same qualities that a typical garden weed might have.
It’s a tradition that started in Harlem and soon spread to the rest of the world. By referring to it as “weed” people would be less likely to get caught. Any police overhearing the conversation would simply think they were talking about gardening.
Today, even police know what “weed” is.
- Marijuana
Some people think that Marijuana is the scientific term for Cannabis. But this could not be further from the truth.
Unlike many of the other nicknames, Marijuana was not created by people hiding the fact they were smoking it. It was created by people trying to convince others that it should become illegal.
The word was initially coined by Harry Anslinger. Many think of Harry as the father of the war on drugs. By calling it Marijuana, he felt that he would stand a better chance of convincing the American people that it’s foreign and a threat the American way of life.
Today, most people don’t know this. Some people who smoke it will use this term thinking they’re being big and clever by using complicated words.
- Blunt/Joint
I’m going to put two in one for the next entry because they’re different things that fall under the same category.
Blunt and joint are not nicknames for Cannabis itself but rather ways of consuming it.
A joint is purely Cannabis. When you smoke this, you will get the most potent high that the plant can give you. However, a blunt is mixed with tobacco, this might be better for newbies who have not smoked it before.
