Among a limited number of topics that can divide doctors is the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Questions are raised about its safety, control, addiction, side effects and so on. The plant has amazed researchers, doctors, scientists all the same for its magical powers. While smoking or possessing marijuana is not legal in India, here are some interesting facts which you might not know.

• Common interpretations of what most people describe as a ‘high’ after consuming Marijuana
  • Altered sense of time
  • Changes in mood
  • Impaired body movement
  • Difficulty with thinking and problem-solving
  • Impaired memory
  • Hallucinations (when taken in high doses)
  • Delusions (when taken in high doses)
  • Psychosis (risk is highest with regular use of high potency marijuana)

• Did you know that the oldest written references to cannabis date back to 2727 B.C., when the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung supposedly discovered the substance and used it medicinally? (According to the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington, Virginia)

• Weed fibers were in vogue! Yes, the ancient Taiwanese were using hemp fibers to decorate pottery thousands of years ago, according to “The Archaeology of Ancient China.

• Weed rope is dope! A recent study and experiment by Professor Carl Lipo, an archaeologist at California State University, Long Beach, shows that the Long Island statues were literally walked from quarry to the place of installation using very strong ropes. And as you might have guessed it right the ropes needed to be strong and the preferred plant for making the ropes was hemp. So, there was someone in ancient times when they were installing the statues who thought of making ropes and fibers from marijuana. Yes, hemp ropes were dope!

• How you react to smoking marijuana might depend on your gender as per a 2014 study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. So, your experience can be quite different in women than men or so it is proven in research on rats by Washington State University psychologist Rebecca Craft. Craft found that females were reacting in a more sensitive way to cannabis’ painkilling qualities, but they were also more likely to develop a tolerance for the drug. Further research showed that female rats were responding in this way due to the higher levels of the hormone estrogen, especially during ovulation.

• The potency that causes the high in marijuana is getting increasingly higher. Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana was measured in 2016 among more than 38,600 samples of street marijuana seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency over a period of 20 years and here are the findings – THC rose from 4% in 1995 to 12% in 2014. This means you might be at a higher risk of getting high, overdosing and easily addicted to the new powerful variety.

• While medical marijuana is believed to help treat some illnesses, pain control, especially for pains related to multiple sclerosis, nerves, there are claims that say marijuana can help reduce tremors in Parkinson’s disease. An accurate confirmation about this is still awaited.

• Marijuana is being studied for efficacy in alleviating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in veterans and helping calm the anxiety-prone individuals suffering from the autism, ADHD spectrum.

Whether it will reach and cross the legal barrier and actually be used as a drug to treat illnesses needs to be seen. Which of these facts did you know already? Tell us something you know about weed!

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