Medicinal Marijuana, a product having the properties of a medicine made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria or to relieve pain. The effects of Medicinal Marijuana vary with its strength and dosage and with the state of mind of the user. Typically, small doses result in a feeling of well-being. The intoxication lasts two to three hours, but accompanying effects on motor control last much longer. GOVERNMENT WARNING: Marijuana use can cause complex thoughts leading to better ideas of how to live your life. Caution, free thinking has been routinely reported with continued use. ' Below a slice through the politics, policies and cannabis news stories with regard to cannabis from across the Globe, a sideways swipe at crass stupidity and the hidden agendas with a political slant, cannabis news with a whiff of the of hypocrisy, cannabis news of the Christian right, cannabis news politics of the far left, read on.....

Grass, A Marijuana History - Narrated by Woody Harrelson Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

The Identity and History of Cannabis

Marijuana and hashish come from Cannabis sativa L.,[b] an herbaceous annual plant often called "Indian Hemp", which readily grows wild or is cultivated in most of the tropical and temperate areas of the world including Canada. Cannabis is one of man's oldest cultivated non-food plants and is thought to have originated in Asia. Although many varieties with somewhat different physical and chemical characteristics are often distinguished, most botanists consider these to be members of a single species. Some confusion has been caused by the botanically incorrect use of the word hemp in referring to the commercial fibres obtained from a variety of other fibre-producing plants[c]. In this report, hemp is taken to mean "true hemp" or Cannabis sativa. Cannabis is closely related to Humulus, the genus of the hop plant.

What is commonly referred to as marijuana (often called 'grass', 'pot', 'weed(s)', 'bush', 'tea', 'reefer', 'boo', 'Mary Jane' or the more general 'dope' or'shit') in North America, is usually a mixture of crushed cannabis leaves, flowers, and often small twigs, and may vary considerably in potency from one sample to another. Similar preparations are known as bhang (the more potent and carefully prepared flowering tops as ganja) in India, kief in Morocco, and dagga in southern Africa. In Jamaica, ganja may refer generally to marijuana. The plant produces a resin which, in relatively pure form, is called hashish ('hash') in the West and much of the Middle East, and charas in India. Hashish is usually prepared by shaking, pressing or scraping the amber resin from the plant, although solvent techniques might be used. In general, hashish is several times as potent on a weight basis as marijuana, although this is not always the case. The label hashish has sometimes been applied to special flower and leaf preparations of the plant, as well as to the resin, although this broad use of the term is now uncommon except in parts of Egypt. In addition to these common forms of cannabis, concentrated extract is available in some countries in an alcohol solution (tincture of cannabis) designed for medical or research purposes, and several of the cannabinoid compounds present in the natural plant material and related synthetics are available in relatively pure form for research. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the principal active compound, is rarely, if ever, available on the 'black market'. In this report, the general term cannabis will be taken to cover all the various forms of hemp drugs (marijuana, hashish, THC, etc.).

There are several hypotheses regarding the etymology of the word marijuana or marihuana. Many believe it derives from the Mexican name for 'Mary Jane', or "Mary and Jane' (Maria y Juana). Others have suggested that Mexican-Spanish word for 'intoxicant'), or its linguistic relative maraguango (a Panamanian provincialism). Numerous other derivations of marijuana have also been proposed.

Centuries ago, the Arabic word hashish was generally equivalent to 'dry herb' or 'grass' and later, more specifically, 'hemp' and often 'cannabis resin . It has often been said that the present English word assassin is developmentally linked with the word hashish. A variety of interesting and conflicting tales have been told of the legendary Hassan, "The Old Man of the Mountain" of 11th Century Persia, and his religious followers, called by some the "ashashin", and the possible role of cannabis and other drugs in connection with their religious, political and military endeavours. Both the validity of this linguistic derivation and the ultimate historical veracity and pharmacological significance of the legend are still matters of some dispute.

In many societies, Cannabis sativa has been a highly valued crop for reasons other than the plant's medical and non-medical pharmacological uses. The durable fibres of the woody trunk are used in the production of hemp rope and twine, and are woven into fine or rough cloth for such diverse products as blankets, clothes, flags and boat sails. The plant is one of the most efficient producers of cellulose pulp employed in paper production and is used in the manufacture of some paper money. The seeds are an abundant source of oil (similar to linseed oil) used in paint and soap. The seeds are also used as food for man, animals and, most commonly, for poultry and other birds. Seedlings and seed cake are used for fish bait in some countries. The plants have been grown to control soil drift and have been used as windbreak fence in Canada and many other countries.

It is often said that the first detailed description of cannabis appeared in a medical book prepared by the legendary Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung (Circa 2700 B.C.). This pharmacy treatise, attributed to the mythical Shen Nung, was actually written by early Han dynasty scholars only a few centuries B.C. Archaeological data suggest that the knowledge of the use of hemp for various purposes goes back at least 6,000 years. Evidence of cannabis has been discovered in an Egyptian site considered to be between three and four thousand years old, and the Scythians are reported to have grown hemp in the Volga region during the same period. Herodotus wrote of the Scythian practice of inhaling the fumes of burning cannabis as part of a funeral purification rite about 450 B.C. The earliest Indian Vedas, composed before 1400 B.C., refer to the pharmacological virtues of cannabis and the Sanscrit manuscript Zend-Avesta, written in Northern Iran about 600 B.C., mentions the inebriating properties of cannabis resin. The Hindu deity Shiva is the Lord of bhang among many other things, and bhang still plays an important symbolic and pharmacological role in the religious practices of many Hindus today. Charas (hashish), however, has not been traditionally involved in the worship.

Cannabis is said to have reached Spain approximately one thousand years ago, during the Moslem occupation, but Europeans appear to have had little acquaintance with the drug at that time. There was some importation into Europe during the seventeenth century, but serious European investigation of the social, religious or medical uses of cannabis did not occur until after the entry of Napoleon's expeditionary force into Egypt in 1798. The use of cannabis in Western medicine was reinforced in 1843 by O'Shaughnessy, a British physician returning from India, and, in France, Moreau de Tours wrote extensively on the therapeutic uses and abuses of cannabis during the same period.

Some European adventurers had used the drug earlier as a consequence of their travels through the Arab world. But it was not until 1844, with the founding of the famed Club des Hachischins in Paris, that the use of cannabis gained an appreciative, if very small and temporary, European following. The members of this club (including such French authors as Balzac, Hugo, Baudelaire and Gautier) used cannabis out of artistic and intellectual curiosity, and their personal experiences with the drug, as recounted by Baudelaire and Gautier, outraged the French bourgeoisie of the midnineteenth century.215,432 The Club des Hachischins, however, must be viewed as an exceptional episode in the European history of cannabis, as marijuana and hashish have only very recently (following the popularization of American practices) been used to any significant extent in Western Europe.

Bloomquist states that the use of cannabis was already firmly established among the indigenous peoples of Central and South America by the time the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in the sixteenth century. The Spaniards did, however, introduce the cultivation of cannabis for its hemp fibre to Chile about 1545, and consumption of the drug is said to have gained currency in Brazil with the arrival of African slaves who were familiar with its use.

The cultivation of hemp was apparently introduced to North America by Louis Hebert, Champlain's apothecary, in 1606 in Nova Francia (Nova Scotia).21 The pilgrims planted hemp soon after that in New England. First France and then England encouraged hemp cultivation in the their New World colonies, both for domestic requirements such as clothing and cordage, and to provide sails and rigging for their ships. Cannabis fibre was needed by the major naval powers of the time to outfit their sailing fleets, and when British access to such supplies in the East Indies was restricted by their Dutch rivals in the late sixteenth century, the British were forced to develop other hemp sources. Consequently, King James I commanded the American colonists to produce hemp, and, by 1630, cannabis was a staple crop on the East Coast. Later, the government of Virginia awarded bounties for hemp culture and manufacture, and imposed penalties on those who did not produce it.75 Similar stern attempts to stimulate the industry occurred in Eastern Canada. The wagons which carried the pioneers westward were covered with hempen fabric and approximately half of the clothing worn by the colonials during the seventeenth century and almost all of the clothing worn by the slaves until 1847 is said to have been made from this material.

Apparently the colonists did not use hemp for its intoxicating effects. But there is some possibility that certain individuals, including George Washingtion (who cultivated cannabis on his Mount Vernon plantation), were aware of its medicinal properties. 19,653 Some North American Indians, most notably Sitting Bull, incorporated cannabis into the smoking mixtures used in their peace pipes. It is also likely that African slaves brought with them knowledge of the pharmacological properties of hemp.

During the nineteenth century, the non-medical use of cannabis as a psychotropic substance in North America was apparently quite limited. At approximately the same time as Baudelaire was recording his experiences with hashish in Paris, a few Americans were also experimenting with the drug. Bayard Taylor, a popular novelist and foreign diplomat, reported his adventures with hashish in Egypt and Damascus in 1855. F. H. Ludlow, a college junior in Poughkeepsie, New York, legally procured a sample of cannabis resin from his local pharmacist after having his curiosity aroused by the mention of hashish in The Arabian Nights. His experiments with the drug resulted in his publication of a monograph on the subject of cannabis in 1857. Around the same time, Dr. Horatio Wood recounted his personal use of hashish to the American Philosophical Society676 and cannabis was recommended as a therapeutic aphrodisiac in a marriage guide. In 1912, Dr. Victor Robinson published two articles in a professional medical review detailing the effects of hashish as experienced by both himself and friends. These accounts, however, do not reflect general drug use patterns at that time. Popular non-medical consumption of cannabis in North America is a 20th century phenomenon, although quasi-medical and medical use of a variety of cannabis preparations, including elixirs and medicines, occurred earlier.

North American hemp farming became less profitable after the advent of steam power around 1770 (which reduced the need for sails and rope) and with the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 (which diminished the market for textiles produced from hempen fibre). The commercial value of cannabis consequently declined and cultivation was later abandoned in New England, although it was maintained in other areas of the United States, particularly in the Midwest. The commercial cultivation of cannabis for both domestic and export purposes continued at a limited level in Canada until the early 1930s, when the stock market collapsed and the subsequent reduction in the demand for and value of hemp made further production uneconomical. In 1938 an amendment to The Opium and Narcotic Drug Act prohibited the cultivation of cannabis without special authorization, and hemp fibre used in Canada since then has been imported.

The severing of Far Eastern supply routes during the Second World War led to a temporary resurgence of United States hemp production. The plant strains grown were generally selected for high fibre content and low pharmacological activity. The reopening of foreign fibre sources and the introduction of synthetic substitutes at the conclusion of the war drastically curtailed domestic cultivation and there is currently no legal commercial production of hemp in North America. The major hemp-producing countries today (for example, Russia, Italy and Yugoslavia) consume most of their domestic stock and export very little. In many areas, hemp plants have escaped cultivation and now exist as weeds. Despite the lack of a legitimate commercial market, cannabis still grows untended throughout most of the United States and Southern Canada. It has recently been suggested that a modern hemp industry be encouraged in North America for ecological as well as economic reasons, since cultivated cannabis is several times more efficient in producing pulp for paper on an annual acreage basis than is forest woodland.

The Cannabis Literature

In the past decade, the controversy surrounding cannabis in North America has reached epidemic proportions. Alleged authorities have taken diametrically opposed positions regarding the drug, not only on moral and social policy issues, but on the supposedly hard scientific facts as well. Although the current world literature on cannabis numbers over 2,000 technical publications, few of these papers meet modern standards of scientific investigation. The majority of the available reports are poorly documented and ambiguous, emotion-laden and sometimes incredibly biased, and can, in general, be relied upon for minimal verified information. Scientific expertise in the area of cannabis has been limited by the simple fact that until recently there has been little clearly established scientific information available, and preconceived notions have often dominated the interpretation of ambiguous data. The past confusion is exemplified by current legislation in many areas of the world, including Canada and parts of the United States, which classifies cannabis with the opiate narcotics for control purposes, even though these drugs are pharmacologically and socially quite different.

The retarded state of scientific knowledge of cannabis can be attributed to several factors. To begin with, until recently, governmental restrictions on the medical and scientific use of cannabis in North America have been so strict that the majority of would-be researchers have found it more attractive to work in other areas. Secondly, since the widespread and middle-class use of cannabis in North America is a relatively recent phenomenon, it has not, in the past, been considered a particularly high priority research area from a public health standpoint. In addition, until the last few years, there was little possibility of standardizing or comparing the cannabis substances being studied since the relevant aspects of cannabis chemistry were unknown. Consequently, there was little basis for comparing reports, and generalizations from one study to another were limited. Much of the contradictory evidence previously reported may well be a function of widely differing doses of active cannabinoids being studied under different conditions.

However, many of the older reports are not without value. Interestingly, in Many areas, recent formally designed studies have done little more than confirm the observations of a few carefully documented, but perhaps technologically limited investigations of the past.

The observations collected during centuries of relatively unrestricted 'Cannabis use in regions of the East have rarely been scientifically documented, partly because most of what we consider modern science has been, until recently a Western phenomenon. In addition, many of these countries have had considerably more pressing public health problems demanding the devotion of limited scientific and medical resources. Although profound cultural, moral and legal differences complicate the problem of generalizing from reports of Eastern usage to the current North American scene, careful consideration of this literature is warranted.

In spite of strong disagreement among extremists on many points in the cannabis controversy, major governmental and international reports by independent groups of various backgrounds, and covering three-quarters of a century, have come to some surprisingly similar conclusions regarding the use and effects of cannabis. However, the effects of these reports on government policy have generally been limited. Major reports include the British Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report (1893-4); Mayor La Guardia's report on The Marihuana Problem in The City of New York (1944); the South African Dagga Report (1952); the United States President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice Task Force Report: Narcotics and Drug Abuse (1967);... the British Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence Cannabis (1968), a report prepared under the chairmanship of the Baroness Wootton of Abinger; our own Interim Report o the Commission of Inquiry Into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (1976); the Swedish Government's official investigations on The Narcotic Problem: Part III, Coordinated Measures (1964); the First Report of the Board of Health Committee on Drug Dependency and Drug Abuse in New Zealand (1970);411 the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare report Marihuana and Health (1971);611 the Australian Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse report (1971);14 and the World Health Organization technical report on The Use of Cannabis (1971). A major U.S. Commission of inquiry is currently being conducted, as well, and a report on cannabis is expected in 1972. In addition, in the past two years, a number of other significant cannabis reviews and bibliographies relevant to the present discussion of cannabis and its effects have been published.

The Pharmacological Classification of Cannabis

The pharmacological classification of cannabis is still the subject of much controversy. At a recent conference, Hollister voiced the opinion that "attempts to force it [cannabis] into some pharmacological cubbyhole are doomed to failure." Similarly, at the same meeting, Domino argued that cannabis has "...only superficial relationships with other drugs". Cannabis has been compared to, and apparently has characteristics in common with a wide variety of drugs including alcohol, LSD and mescaline, nitrous oxide, amphetamines, atropine, opiate narcotics, barbiturates and the minor and major tranquilizers. Under various conditions and doses cannabis has been shown to have stimulant, sedative, analgesic and psychedelic effects. Some argue that marijuana should be classified as a sedative-hypnotic-general anesthetic like alcohol and nitrous oxide; others feel that it is a mixed stimulant-depressant; still others describe it as a mild hallucinogenespecially at higher doses; many feel it should be listed in a separate category. Paradoxically, cannabis has been shown to potentiate both the stimulant effects of amphetamines and the sedative effects of barbiturates in animals. Legally, cannabis has traditionally been classified with the opiate narcotics, and while they may share some euphorogenic and analgesic properties, they are otherwise quite distinct pharmacologically.

Cannabis, as it is most commonly used in North America, in low doses somewhat resembles alcohol in its subjective effects. Larger doses are more 'psychedelic', and with very high doses, persons have reported 'acid' (LSD) like experiences. Hollister, as quoted by Smith, has suggested that marijuana lies halfway between alcohol and the hallucinogens, combining "the best of both worlds". The 1971 United States report Marihuana and Health discusses in some detail the similarities and differences between cannabis and other drugs. In the context of its social use, marijuana is considered to be more like alcohol than LSD. The report concludes: "Pharmacologically speaking, cannabis is unique and distinct from the psychotomimetics, opiates, barbiturates and amphetamines." It is clear that any attempt to completely specify a pharmacological classification for cannabis must include a clear delineation of dose, as well as the set and setting of use. The Commission has, for the purposes of this report, classified cannabis with the psychedelic-hallucinogenic compounds.

Large drop in UK cannabis arrests

(Source:'Arrests for cannabis decline by a third': The Independent [online] , 29 Jul 2004)
Arrests for possessing cannabis have dropped by about a third since its controversial downgrading from class B to class C in January. Early figures from 26 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales suggest that about 14,000 people will be fined this year for carrying the drug - 6,000 fewer than last year. Officers are now instructed to deal with most cases of cannabis possession by confiscating the drug and they no longer target home users. The aim is to free police to deal with more dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Recent research suggests that 33 per cent of men aged 16 to 24 and 21 per cent of women have tried cannabis. David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said yesterday: "How can parents be expected to tell their children cannabis is bad when the Government treats it as harmless?" He added that a Tory government would reverse the policy "with immediate effect".

regimen of cannabis, morphine, cocaine and brandy

By John Arnold
Of the Journal

Ulysses S. Grant's final days weren't pretty. Left penniless by an investment scandal and battling throat cancer, the former Civil War general and president struggled to finish his now classic "Personal Memoirs" in an effort to stave off creditors and support his impoverished family.
At Grant's side was friend and famed novelist Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, who offered to publish the memoirs and who gave Grant a hefty advance. Heavily drugged and near death, Grant endured the grueling effort and succeeded, finishing the book days before he died.
The story of the once great man and his last great battle is the subject of Theaterwork's latest production, "A Few Stout Individuals," written by John Guare.
Now leading Theaterwork through its ninth season, artistic director David Olson said the company's 71st production, which opens tonight, represents his effort "to take the company somewhere it hasn't been."
"It's fantastically written," said Olson, "because of the mixture of the realistic and the fantastic— sometimes in the same moment on the stage."
And right from the beginning. The play's first words come not from a wheelchair-bound Grant (Gene Rucker) or a concerned Clemens (Jonathan Dixon) but from an apparition of the Emperor of Japan (Nicholas Masson). He and the Empress (Alexandra Reifarth), whom Grant and his wife had met on a pleasant overseas visit after Grant's presidency, play prominently in the general's memory and provide a springboard for the play's themes of memory and history.
Grant sees and hears the royal couple, even holds conversations with them. But, of course, Clemens and the other characters on stage cannot. The sometimes surreal dialogue— swerving from Grant's memory to the present— flies from there. The play, written in two acts set in 1885 Manhattan, swings from haunting to farcical and back again. Mrs. Grant (Patricia McKay) worries over her husband's care, administering a drug regimen of cannabis, morphine, cocaine and brandy. A man named Badeau, hired to help Grant get his memories down on paper, connives to sabotage the project, while Grant's hyper son (Matt Sanford) tries to stop him.

In praise of cannabis
RUTH TOLEDANO

According to archaeologists, evidence exists proving that hemp has been cultivated since about 8,000 BC: it was used for human consumption, and for making fabrics. About 2700 BC we find the first written reference to the use of cannabis in the work of Shen Nung, the father of Chinese medicine.

Almost a decade ago the first cannabis-derivatives fair was held in Germany; since then many such fairs have emerged, based on cannabis in all its uses, be they direct or derivative. In the last two years there have been two Spannabis fairs in Barcelona, and a few days ago, for the first time, the La Cubierta cultural center in the southern Madrid district of Leganés hosted Expocannabis, a trade exhibition aimed at bringing the public closer to the world of cannabis and alternative technologies. Gathered in Leganés were almost 100 national and foreign exhibitors: from cultivation-based product manufacturers, to firms that supply products derived from the plant: food, clothing, footwear, cosmetics, furniture, construction materials.

One aim of the fair is to become a forum for reflection about cannabis. A group of noted cannabis activists and medical and legal experts debated themes such as therapeutic uses, new home-growing methods and the present legal situation regarding cannabis, in an attempt to encourage the legalization of its social use, as well as more active participation in the development of a prosperous industry exploiting all the possible uses of the plant. Expocannabis enjoys the precedent of the two previous fairs held in Barcelona, in the Palau Sant Jordi, which were attended by about 15,000 people - a success which suggests the social and economic potential of this plant in the 21st century.

The medicinal and therapeutic properties of marijuana, which have been employed for thousands of years, are now being rediscovered. In 10 US states the law now permits its medicinal use for those in a "debilitated clinical situation," which includes cases of cancer, glaucoma and AIDS. But at the same time there has been an increase in the orchestration of campaigns against the use of cannabis by the ill. In April 2005, Canada became the first country to approve the use of Sativex, a cannabis extract, which has been available there since June 20, under medical prescription, for the treatment of neurological pain in adults with multiple sclerosis. In Spain, the Health Department of the regional government of Catalonia, with the approval of the Spanish Health Ministry, will be the first official agency to try a pilot plan of treatment with cannabis, using a spray containing extracts of the plant, made by GW Pharmaceuticals and distributed by the firm Bayer.

Apart from the therapeutic uses of cannabis, a revolutionary plastic is now being made of hemp and of recycled materials, as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics - hemp based products tend to be stronger and lighter, with a renewable annual harvest and a more sustainable future. This plastic is already used, for example, to make biodegradable cases for CDs and DVDs. Hemp oil, too, is used in diet and cosmetic products, in energy drinks, wines and beers, and in food products such as pasta, candies, cookies and chocolate. Hemp can be used to make paper, furniture, cloth, shoes, bags, wallets, bracelets and other complements. That is, hemp is an interesting and necessary alternative solution to a number of ecological problems.

But we cannot ignore the fact that its use as a recreational substance is extremely widespread and normal in society. The law should recognize this, and cease to harass its cultivation and consumption. You can see how widespread its use is in virtually any bar or at any meeting of people of any class, or at any party. Princess Margaret, the sister of Elizabeth II, who died in 2001, liked to smoke joints. The de-criminalization of its use would merely lift the flimsy veil of a useless and outmoded hypocrisy.

Pot considered 'murder weed' in 1937
James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News
November 5, 2005

On Oct. 2, 1937, in the somewhat shady Lexington Apartments at 1200 California St. in Denver, Samuel R. Caldwell became the first person in the United States to be arrested on a marijuana charge. Caldwell, a 58-year-old unemployed laborer moonlighting as a dealer, was nailed by the FBI and Denver police for peddling two marijuana cigarettes to one Moses Baca, 26.
If you're wondering why it took the U.S. government so long to bust a pot dealer, it's because until the Marijuana Stamp Act was passed - on you guessed it, Oct. 2, 1937 - cannabis wasn't illegal. Certainly, it had been vilified in newspapers with headlines such as "Murder Weed Found Up and Down Coast: Deadly Marijuana Plant Ready for Harvest That Means Enslavement of California Children."
Neither was it deemed as some benign recreational drug by the nation's law enforcement hierarchy.
Harry J. Anslinger, for example, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was a vociferous foe of cannabis. In his book, Assassin of Youth, he labeled marijuana "dangerous as a coiled rattlesnake," and anguished, "How many murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, burglaries, and deeds of maniacal insanity it causes each year, especially among the young, can be only conjectured."
Indeed. Texas cops insisted that because it fueled a "lust for blood" and imbued its imbibers with "superhuman strength," pot was the catalyst for unspeakably violent crimes. Full Article....

Indoor Marijuana Cultivation

Introduction

Growing marijuana indoors is fast becoming an Worldwide Pastime. The reasons are varied. With the increased interest and experimentation in house plant cultivation, it was inevitable that people would apply their knowledge of plant care to growing marijuana. Many of those who occasionally like to light up a joint may find it difficult to locate a source or are hesitant to deal with a perhaps unsavory element of society in procuring their grass. There is, of course, the criminal aspect of buying or selling grass; Growing marijuana is just as illegal as buying, selling, or smoking it, but growing is something you can do in the privacy of your own home without having to deal with someone you don't know or trust. The best reason for growing your own is the enjoyment you will get out of watching those tiny little seeds you picked out of you stash sprout and become some of the most lovely and lush of all house plants.

Anyone Can Do It

Even if you haven't had any prior experience with growing plants in you home, you can have a successful crop of marijuana by following the simple directions in this pamphlet. If you have had problems in the past with marijuana cultivation, you may find the solutions in the following chapters. Growing a marijuana plant involves four basic steps: Get the seeds. If you don't already have some, you can ask your friends to save you seeds out of any good grass they may come across. You'll find that lots of people already have a seed collection of some sort and are willing to part with a few prime seeds in exchange for some of the finished product. Germinate the seeds. You can simply drop a seed into moist soil, but by germinating the seeds first you can be sure that the seed will indeed produce a plant. To germinate seeds, place a group of them between about six moist paper towels, or in the pores of a moist sponge. Leave the towels or sponge moist but not soaking wet. Some seeds will germinate in 24 hours while others may take several days or even a week. Plant the sprouts. As soon as a seed cracks open and begins to sprout, place it on some moist soil and sprinkle a little soil over the top of it. Supply the plants with light. Flourescent lights are the best. Hang the lights with two inches of the soil and after the plants appear above the ground, continue to keep the lights with two inches of the plants. It is as easy as that. If you follow those four steps you will grow a marijuana plant. To ensure prime quality and the highest yield in the shortest time period, however, a few details are necessary.

Soil

Your prime concern, after choosing high quality seeds, is the soil. Use the best soil you can get. Scrimping on the soil doesn't pay off in the long run. If you use unsterilized soil you will almost certainly find parasites in it, probably after it is too late to transplant your marijuana. You can find excellent soil for sale at your local plant shop or nursery, K-Mart, B+Q,Wal Mart, and even some grocery stores. The soil you use should have these properties for the best possible results: It should drain well. That is, it should have some sand in it and also some sponge rock or pearlite. The ph should be between 6.5 and 7.5 since marijuana does not do well in acidic soil. High acidity in soil encourages the plant to be predominantly male, an undesirable trait. The soil should also contain humus for retaining moisture and nutrients. If you want to make your own soil mixture, you can use this recipe: Mix two parts moss with one part sand and one part pearlite or sponge rock to each four gallons of soil. Test your soil for ph with litmus paper or with a soil testing kit available at most plant stores. To raise the ph of the soil, add 1/2 lb. lime to 1 cubic foot of soil to raise the ph one point. If you absolutely insist on using dirt you dug up from your driveway, you must sterilize it by baking it in your oven for about an hour at 250 degrees. Be sure to moisten it thoroughly first and also prepare yourself for a rapid evacuation of your kitchen because that hot soil is going to stink. Now add to the mixture about one tablespoon of fertilizer (like Rapid-Gro) per gallon gallon of soil and blend it in thoroughly. Better yet, just skip the whole process and spend a couple bucks on some soil.

Containers

After you have prepared your soil, you will have to come up with some kind of container to plant in. The container should be sterilized as well, especially if they have been used previously for growing other plants. The size of the container has a great deal to do with the rate of growth and overall size of the plant. You should plan on transplanting your plant not more than one time, since the process of transplanting can be a shock to the plant and it will have to undergo a recovery period in which growth is slowed or even stopped for a short while. The first container you use should be no larger than six inches in diameter and can be made of clay or plastic. To transplant, simply prepare the larger pot by filling it with soil and scooping out a little hole about the size of the smaller pot that the plant is in. Turn the plant upside down, pot and all, and tap the rim of the pot sharply on a counter or the edge of the sink. The soil and root ball should come out of the pot cleanly with the soil retaining the shape of the pot and with no disturbances to the root ball. Another method that can bypass the transplanting problem is using a Jiffy-Pot. Jiffy pots are made of compressed peat moss and can be planted right into moist soil where they decompose and allow the passage of the root system through their walls. The second container should have a volume of at least three gallons. Marijuana doesn't like to have its roots bound or cramped for space, so always be sure that the container you use will be deep enough for your plant's root system. It is very difficult to transplant a five-foot marijuana tree, so plan ahead. It is going to get bigger. The small plants should be ready to transplant into their permanent homes in about two weeks. Keep a close watch on them after the first week or so and avoid root binding at all costs since the plants never seem to do as well once they have been stunted by the cramping of their roots.

Fertilizer

Marijuana likes lots of food, but you can do damage to the plants if you are too zealous. Some fertilizers can burn a plant and damage its roots if used in to high a concentration. Most commercial soil will have enough nutrients in it to sustain the plant for about three weeks of growth so you don't need to worry about feeding your plant until the end of the third week. The most important thing to remember is to introduce the fertilizer concentration to the plant gradually. Start with a fairly diluted fertilizer solution and gradually increase the dosage. There are several good marijuana fertilizers on the commercial market, two of which are Rapid-Gro and Eco-Grow. Rapid-Gro has had widespread use in marijuana cultivation and is available in most parts of the United States.and Europe,Eco-Grow is also especially good for marijuana since it contains an ingredient that keeps the soil from becoming acid. Most fertilizers cause a ph change in the soil. Adding fertilizer to the soil almost always results in a more acidic ph. As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in the soil causes the soil to become increasingly acidic and eventually the concentration of these salts in the soil will stunt the plant and cause browning out of the foliage. Also, as the plant gets older its roots become less effective in bringing food to the leaves. To avoid the accumulation of these salts in your soil and to ensure that your plant is getting all of the food it needs you can begin leaf feeding your plant at the age of about 1.5 months. Dissolve the fertilizer in worm water and spray the mixture directly onto the foliage. The leaves absorb the fertilizer into their veins. If you want to continue to put fertilizer into the soil as well as leaf feeding, be sure not to overdose your plants. Remember to increase the amount of food your plant receives gradually. Marijuana seems to be able to take as much fertilizer as you want to give it as long as it is introduced over a period of time. During the first three months or so, fertilize your plants every few days. As the rate of foliage growth slows down in the plant's preparation for blooming and seed production, the fertilizer intake of the plant should be slowed down as well. Never fertilize the plant just before you are going to harvest it since the fertilizer will encourage foliage production and slow down resin production. A word here about the most organic of fertilizers: worm castings. As you may know, worms are raised commercially for sale to gardeners. The breeders put the worms in organic compost mixtures and while the worms are reproducing they eat the organic matter and expel some of the best marijuana food around. After the worms have eaten all the organic matter in the compost, they are removed and sold and the remains are then sold as worm castings. These castings are so rich that you can grow marijuana in straight worm castings. This isn't really necessary however, and it is somewhat impractical since the castings are very expensive. If you can afford them you can, however, blend them in with your soil and they will make a very good organic fertilizer.

Light

Without light, the plants cannot grow. In the countries in which marijuana grows best, the sun is the source of light. The amount of light and the length of the growing season in these countries results in huge tree-like plants. In most parts of North America, however, the sun is not generally intense enough for long enough periods of time to produce the same size and quality of plants that grow with ease in Latin America and other tropical countries. The answer to the problem of lack of sun, especially in the winter months, shortness of the growing season, and other problems is to grow indoor under simulated conditions. The rule of thumb seems to be the more light, the better. In one experiment we know of, eight eight-foot VHO Gro-Lux fixtures were used over eight plants. The plants grew at an astonishing rate. The lights had to be raised every day. There are many types of artificial light and all of them do different things to your plants. The common incandescent light bulb emits some of the frequencies of light the plant can use, but it also emits a high percentage of far red and infra-red light which cause the plant to concentrate its growth on the stem. This results in the plant stretching toward the light bulb until it becomes so tall and spindly that it just weakly topples over. There are several brands of bulb type. One is the incandescent plant spot light which emits higher amounts of red and blue light than the common light bulb. It is an improvement, but has it drawbacks. it is hot, for example, and cannot be placed close to the plants. Consequently, the plant has to stretch upwards again and is in danger of becoming elongated and falling over. The red bands of light seem to encourage stem growth which is not desirable in growing marijuana. the idea is to encourage foliage growth for obvious reasons. Gro-Lux lights are probably the most common flourescent plant lights. In our experience with them, they have proven themselves to be extremely effective. They range in size from one to eight feet in length so you can set up a growing room in a closet or a warehouse. There are two types of Gro-Lux lights: The standard and the wide spectrum. They can be used in conjunction with on another, but the wide spectrum lights are not sufficient on their own. The wide spectrum lights were designed as a supplementary light source and are cheaper than the standard lights. Wide spectrum lights emit the same bands of light as the standard but the standard emit higher concentrations of red and blue bands that the plants need to grow. The wide spectrum lights also emit infra-red, the effect of which on stem growth we have already discussed. If you are planning to grow on a large scale, you might be interested to know that the regular flourescent lamps and fixtures, the type that are used in commercial lighting, work well when used along with standard Gro- Lux lights. These commercial lights are called cool whites, and are the cheapest of the flourescent lights we have mentioned. They emit as much blue light as the Gro-Lux standards and the blue light is what the plants use in foliage growth.

Now we come to the question of intensity. Both the standard and wide spectrum lamps come in three intensities: regular output, high output, and very high output. You can grow a nice crop of plants under the regular output lamps and probably be quite satisfied with our results. The difference in using the HO or VHO lamps is the time it takes to grow a crop. Under a VHO lamp, the plants grow at a rate that is about three times the rate at which they grow under the standard lamps. People have been known to get a plant that is four feet tall in two months under one of these lights. Under the VHO lights, one may have to raise the lights every day which means a growth rate of ate least two inches a day. The only drawback is the expense of the VHO lamps and fixtures. The VHO lamps and fixtures are almost twice the price of the standard. If you are interested in our opinion, they are well worth it. Now that you have your lights up, you might be curious about the amount of light to give you plants per day. The maturation date of your plants is dependent on how much light they receive per day. The longer the dark period per day, the sooner the plant will bloom. Generally speaking, the less dark per day the better during the first six months of the plant's life. The older the plant is before it blooms and goes to seed, the better the grass will be. After the plant is allowed to bloom, its metabolic rate is slowed so that the plant's quality does not increase with the age at the same rate it did before it bloomed. The idea, then, is to let the plant get as old as possible before allowing it to mature so that the potency will be a high as possible at the time of harvest. One relatively sure way to keep your plants from blooming until you are ready for them is to leave the lights on all the time. Occasionally a plant will go ahead and bloom anyway, but it is the exception rather than the rule. If your plants receive 12 hours of light per day they will probably mature in 2 to 2.5 months. If they get 16 hours of light per day they will probably be blooming in 3.5 to 4 months. With 18 hours of light per day, they will flower in 4.5 to 5 months. Its a good idea to put your lights on a timer to ensure that the amount of light received each day remains constant. A "vacation" timer, normally used to make it look like you are home while you are away, works nicely and can be found at most hardware or discount stores.

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal temperature for the light hours is 68 to 78 degrees fahrenheit and for the dark hours there should be about a 15 degree drop in temperature. The growing room should be relatively dry if possible. What you want is a resinous coating on the leaves and to get the plant to do this, you must convince it that it needs the resinous coating on its leaves to protect itself from drying out. In an extremely humid room, the plants develop wide leaves and do not produce as much resin. You must take care not to let the temperature in a dry room become too hot, however, since the plant cannot assimilate water fast enough through its roots and its foliage will begin to brown out.

Ventilation

Proper ventilation in your growing room is fairly important. The more plants you have in one room, the more important good ventilation becomes. Plants breathe through their leaves. The also rid themselves of poisons through their leaves. If proper ventilation is not maintained, the pores of the leaves will become clogged and the leaves will die. If there is a free movement of air, the poisons can evaporate off the leaves and the plant can breathe and remain healthy. In a small closet where there are only a few plants you can probably create enough air circulation just by opening the door to look at them. Although it is possible to grow healthy looking plants in poorly ventilated rooms, they would be larger and healthier if they had a fresh supply of air coming in. If you spend a lot of time in your growing room, your plants will grow better because they will be using the carbon dioxide that you are exhaling around them. It is sometimes quite difficult to get a fresh supply of air in to your growing room because your room is usually hidden away in a secret corner of your house, possibly in the attic or basement. In this case, a fan will create some movement of air. It will also stimulate your plants into growing a healthier and sturdier stalk. Often times in an indoor environment, the stems of plants fail to become rigid because they don't have to cope with elements of wind and rain. To a degree, though, this is an advantage because the plant puts most of its energy into producing leaves and resin instead of stems.

Dehumidifying Your Growing Room

Cannabis that grows in a hot, dry climate will have narrower leaves than cannabis grown in a humid atmosphere. The reason is that in a dry atmosphere the plant can respirate easier because the moisture on the leaves evaporates faster. In a humid atmosphere, the moisture cannot evaporate as fast. Consequently, the leaves have to be broader with more surface area in order to expel the wastes that the plant put out. Since the broad leaves produce less resin per leaf than the narrow there will be more resin in an ounce of narrow leaves than in one ounce of broad leaves. There may be more leaf mass in the broader leafed plants, but most people are growing their own for quality rather than quantity. Since the resin in the marijuana plant serves the purpose of keeping the leaves from drying out, there is more apt to be a lot of resin produced in a dry room than in a humid one. In the Sears catalog, dehumidifiers cost around $100.00 and are therefore a bit impractical for the "hobby grower."

Watering

If you live near a clear mountain stream, you can skip this bit on the quality of water. Most of us are supplied water by the city and some cities add more chemicals to the water than others. They all add chlorine, however, in varying quantities. Humans over the years have learned to either get rid of it somehow or to live with it, but your marijuana plants won't have time to acquire a taste for it so you had better see that they don't have to. Chlorine will evaporate if you let the water stand for 24 hours in an open container. Letting the water stand for a day or two will serve a dual purpose: The water will come to room temperature during that period of time and you can avoid the nasty shock your plants suffer when you drench them with cold water. Always water with room temperature to lukewarm water. If your water has an excessive amount of chlorine in it, you may want to get some anti- chlorine drops at the local fish or pet store. The most important thing about watering is to do it thoroughly. You can water a plant in a three gallon container with as much as three quarts of water. The idea is to get the soil evenly moist all the way to the bottom of the pot. If you use a little water, even if you do it often, it seeps just a short way down into the soil and any roots below the moist soil will start to turn upwards toward the water. The second most important thing about watering is to see to it that the pot has good drainage. There should be some holes in the bottom so that any excess water will run out. If the pot won't drain, the excess water will accumulate in a pocket and rot the roots of the plant or simply make the soil sour or mildew. The soil, as we said earlier, must allow the water to drain evenly through it and must not become hard or packed. If you have made sure that the soil contains sand and pearlite, you shouldn't have drainage problems. To discover when to water, feel the soil with your finger. if you feel moisture in the soil, you can wait a day or two to water. The soil near the top of the pot is always drier than the soil further down. You can drown your plant just as easily as you can let it get too dry and it is more likely to survive a dry spell than it is to survive a torrential flood. Water the plants well when you water and don't water them at all when they don't need it.

Bugs

If you can avoid getting bugs in the first place you will be much better off. Once your plants become infested you will probably be fighting bugs for the rest of your plants' lives. To avoid bugs be sure to use sterilized soil and containers and don't bring other plants from outside into your growing room. If you have bets, ensure that they stay out of your growing room, since they can bring in pests on their fur. Examine your plants regularly for signs of insects, spots, holes in the leaves, browning of the tips of the leaves, and droopy branches. If you find that somehow in spite of all your precautions you have a plant room full of bugs, you'll have to spray your plants with some kind of insecticide. You'll want to use something that will kill the bugs and not you. Spider mites are probably the bug that will do the most damage to the marijuana plants. One of the reasons is that they are almost microscopic and very hard to spot. They are called spider mites because they leave a web-like substance clinging to the leaves. They also cause tiny little spots to appear on the leaves. Probably the first thing you'll notice, however, is that your plants look sick and depressed. The mites suck enzymes from the leaves and as a result the leaves lose some of their green color and glossiness. Sometimes the leaves look like they have some kid of fungus on them. The eggs are very tiny black dots. You might be wise to get a magnifying glass so that you can really scrutinize your plants closely. Be sure to examine the underside of the leaves too. The mites will often be found clinging to the underside as well as the top of the leaves. The sooner you start fighting the bugs, the easier it will be to get rid of them. For killing spider mites on marijuana, one of the best insecticides if "Fruit and Berry" spray made by Millers. Ortho also produces several insecticides that will kill mites. The ingredients to look for are Kelthane and Malathion [erowid note- Malathion may be very toxic to humans, should be handled very carefully, and is certainly not intended for indoor use. It also seems highly preferrable to avoid spraying pesticides or any chemicals on plants that will be smoked without being washed thoroughly first.] Both of these poisons are lethal to humans and pets as well as bugs, but they both detoxify in about ten days so you can safely smoke the grass ten days after spraying. Fruit and Berry will only kill the adult mite, however, and you'll have to spray every four days for about two weeks to be sure that you have killed all the adults before they have had a chance to lay eggs. Keep a close watch on your plants because it only takes one egg laying adult to re- infest your plants and chances are that one or two will escape your barrage of insecticides. If you see little bugs flying around your plants, they are probably white flies. The adults are immune to almost all the commercial insecticides except Fruit and Berry which will not kill the eggs or larva. It is the larval stage of this insect that does the most damage. They suck out enzymes too, and kill your plants if they go unchecked. You will have to get on a spraying program just as was explained in the spider mite section. An organic method of bug control is using soap suds. Put Ivory flakes in some lukewarm water and work up the suds into a lather. Then put the suds over the plant. The obvious disadvantage is it you don't rinse the soap off the plant you'll taste the soap when you smoke the leaves.

Pruning

We have found that pruning is not always necessary. The reason one does it in the first place is to encourage secondary growth and to allow light to reach the immature leaves. Some strands of grass just naturally grow thick and bushy and if they are not clipped the sap moves in an uninterrupted flow right to the top of the plant where it produces flowers that are thick with resin. On the other hand, if your plants appear tall and spindly for their age at three weeks, they probably require a little trimming to ensure a nice full leafy plant. At three weeks of age your plant should have at least two sets of branches or four leaf clusters and a top. To prune the plant, simply slice the top off just about the place where two branches oppose each other. Use a razor blade in a straight cut. If you want to, you can root the top in some water and when the roots appear, plant the top in moist soil and it should grow into another plant. If you are going to root the top you should cut the end again, this time with a diagonal cut so as to expose more surface to the water or rooting solution. The advantage to taking cuttings from your plant is that it produces more tops. The tops have the resin, and that's the name of the game. Every time you cut off a top, the plant seeds out two more top branches at the base of the existing branches. Pruning also encourages the branches underneath to grow faster than they normally would without the top having been cut.

Harvesting and Curing

Well, now that you've grown your marijuana, you will want to cur it right so that it smokes clean and won't bite. You can avoid that "homegrown" taste of chlorophyll that sometimes makes one's fillings taste like they might be dissolving. We know of several methods of curing the marijuana so that it will have a mild flavor and a mellow rather than harsh smoke. First, pull the plant up roots and all and hang it upside down for 24 hours. Then put each plant in a paper grocery bag with the top open for three or four days or until the leaves feel dry to the touch. Now strip the leaves off the stem and put them in a glass jar with a lid. Don't pack the leaves in tightly, you want air to reach all the leaves. The main danger in the curing process is mold. If the leaves are too damp when you put them into the jar, they will mold and since the mold will destroy the resins, mold will ruin your marijuana. you should check the jars every day by smelling them and if you smell an acrid aroma, take the weed out of the jar and spread it out on newspaper so that it can dry quickly. Another method is to uproot the plants and hang them upside down. You get some burlap bags damp and slip them up over the plants. Keep the bags damp and leave them in the sun for at least a week. Now put the plants in a paper bag for a few days until the weed is dry enough to smoke. Like many fine things in life, marijuana mellows out with age. The aging process tends to remove the chlorophyll taste. Editor's Note and Important Warning: This pamphlet was written about 8 years ago. While the facts, figures, and methods described here are still valid, an important note must be added concerning the purchasing of equipment and supplies. The information age is upon us and and increasing amount of data is being kept about all of us whether we realize it or not. With the war on drugs in full effect, the D.E.A. is using this information at every possible opportunity. When you make a purchase with a credit card, every last bit of information regarding that purchase is filed away into a database, both at the store and with your credit card company. Not only the price, but the exact date, location, and items purchased are recorded and stored away. Many stores and credit card companies routinely sell their databases of customers and transactions to anybody who can afford it. The D.E.A can certainly afford it. After all, they're using your tax dollars. The D.E.A. as well as other government agencies DO purchase these databases for their own uses. They feed them into their computers and the computers spit out a list of anybody with "suspicious" purchases. Any purchases that could be associated with drug production, use, or selling could be flagged for further investigation. These "suspicious" purchases include unusual chemicals, medical supplies such as syringes, lights and timers, and even potting soil and fertilizer. The point is, if you are planning on purchasing supplies to grow marijuana don't take any chances. While the average home grower, who is simply growing enough for his own use, would probably never be flagged by the computers, you never know. If you are purchasing equipment or supplies, PAY CASH! In addition, many supermarkets and discount stores now have some sort of "Preferred Customer" cards. When you buy something, regardless of how you pay, you give them your card to scan and all of your purchases are recorded. They then send you some sort of coupon depending on what and how much you purchased each month. It sounds like a good deal, but you wind up having all of your purchases recorded and sold just like with the credit cards. DON'T use one of these cards when you are purchasing anything that might be deemed suspicious. For that matter, don't use them at all. They just result in a ton of junk mail and a lot of people knowing exactly what you buy and when you buy it.

"Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug. Laboratory animals (rats, mice, dogs, monkeys) can tolerate doses of up to 1,000 mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram). This would be equivalent to a 70 kg person swallowing 70 grams of the drug -- about 5,000 times more than is required to produce a high. Despite the widespread illicit use of cannabis there are very few if any instances of people dying from an overdose. In Britain, official government statistics listed five deaths from cannabis in the period 1993-1995 but on closer examination these proved to have been deaths due to inhalation of vomit that could not be directly attributed to cannabis (House of Lords Report, 1998). By comparison with other commonly used recreational drugs these statistics are impressive."

WHAT IS GANJA?

GANJA IS the Indian word for cannabis, known also as marijuana, pot, weed and by over 200 other slang terms. It is derived from the hemp plant Cannabis Sativa which has been known and used by mankind for centuries. It was introduced into Jamaica by East Indians about 1845. Ganja contains 400 known chemical substances, of these 400 chemicals only 70 are unique to the cannabis plant. These 70 chemicals are referred to as cannabinoids. Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinoids (THC) is the main active ingredient in ganja.

WHY IS GANJA USED?

Ganja is widely used in religious practices among some Hindu groups in India and this may have influence practice here in Jamaica. The Rastafarians use it for religious ceremonial purposes. It is also used for social recreational purposes and is a drug of choice in mass gatherings such as political rallies and music festivals in Jamaica.
The drug is also used during physical labour. Rubin and Comitas noted that farmers and labourers in Jamaica reported that they are able to work harder. " It mek me I work like di holy hell. I get a stronger sensation towards mi work, more dan when I doan have it."

IS GANJA USEFUL?

Ganja is used as a medicinal agent by the Chinese, Indians, the Arabs and in Africa. Prior to the introduction of the marihuana tax act of 1937, it was widely used in medicine between 1850 and 1937 with 28 approved preparations containing marijuana on the market in the U.S.A..
Today it is used to treat conditions such as asthma, glaucoma, pains, nausea, vomiting and epilepsy. It is reported to reduce the symptoms of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. Ethical pharmaceutical agents have been developed in Jamaica from the plant such as Canasol to treat glaucoma and Asmasol to treat asthma. Marinol was developed in the U.S.A. for the treatment of nausea and vomiting and to promote weight gain.

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