Friday, May 18, 2012 -

    Why “Marijuana” Is A Dirty Word In Britain

    The use of the term “marijuana” is a microcosm of cannabis prohibition.  It is prejudicial, discriminatory and racist. “Marijuana” is a pejorative, derogatory term for cannabis.  It is not “cool”.  It is not desirable.  It is an Americanism that is a diminution of the English language.

    According to Wikipedia:

    “Marihuana”‘s currency in American English increased dramatically in the 1930s, when it was preferred as an exotic-sounding alternative name during the debates of the drug’s use.[1] It has been suggested that it was promoted by opponents of the drug, who wanted to stigmatize it with a “foreign-sounding name”.[2]

    Some references prefer the term “cannabis”, for instance in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Laws in the United States, such as the Controlled Substances Act, often use the term “marihuana” or “marijuana,” and many cannabis reformorganizations in the U.S., such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Marijuana Policy Project, also use this term. However, some supporters of legalization eschew “marijuana” in favor of the more scientific cannabis, as they consider the former pejorative.[7]

    Cannabis is cannabis. That is the scientifically correct term.  If we want to make the truth clear, then calling it marijuana, pot, dope, draw, weed, grass or any of  a hundred different nicknames is unhelpful.  By all means call it AK47 or Blueberry Kush or even Sativex if that’s the particular variety you’re using but it’s not “an extract of THC and CBD”, it’s not marijuana, it’s not nabiximols, it’s cannabis!

    Call it cannabis!

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    • cshaws

      Peter –  you know as well as I do that Sativex is not cannabis in any way shape or form.  Cannabis contains fairy faeces, pixe puke and other mysterious nasties (aka ‘impurities’) which GWP kindly remove from their safe and effective medicinal pixie juice, thus preventing the apocolypse which raw cannabis will trigger if ever made freely available to us mere mortals.  I do wish you would do your homework and stop spreading this unscientific nonsense.  

    • Focusonpeace

      I always thought the different names for specific cannabis strains where to describe flavor and or genetics? As in ‘Cheese’ crossed with ‘God Bud’ was named ‘Cheesus’.
      And They call the strain ‘Blueberry’ or ‘Lemon skunk’, because those specific strains actually taste like blueberries and lemons. The funniest Strain name I herd was ‘Martian Mean Green’ lol simply because the flavor is out of this world. The different flavors cannabis produces never gets mentioned, its always a focus on the ‘high’, funny, im not the only one who would give up blazing if cannabis lost its flavor. 

    • cshaws

      It was called shit back in the ‘stone’ age when I first smoked :(  

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maharg-Smith/831904195 Maharg Smith

       I remember shit followed by bush (Jamaican Woodbines) followed by something called The Seventies which i dont remember

    • Focusonpeace

      I must be a lot younger than you two then because when i was growing up the main strains about were ‘white widow’ and ‘super skunk’, then it was ‘jack herer’, i guess it depends on where you are.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      When I was growing up it was Red Leb, Afghani black or African/West Indian grass full of seeds.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Badbluffer-Jones/100002358136758 Badbluffer Jones

      Hear , hear we should not be using the language of the oppressors.

    • Focusonpeace

      Afghani black…now that’s timeless.

    • georgeclear

      I’m in Focusonpeace’s age bracket I think but “Greens” as we called it was and still is a favourite of mine.. with its grassy/earthy tinge and full of seeds which were painstakingly removed at the beginning of the evening, everybody always wanted the “good stuff” but at half the price and a much clearer and less potent high I was very happy with Greens.

      *However*, prohibition and the criminal underworld have made it a rare commodity nowadays amongst the wash of criminally produced, criminally sold soggy “Cheese” at £10 a gram and no chance of buying in ounces. I’m an ex Nicotine addict of far too many years, therefore I TokePure, which is a struggle a lot of the time due to prohibition! I know I’m preaching to the converted but without these frankly ridiculous laws we could import much more “Greens” – supporting third world economies and enabling many more casual smokers to enjoy the benefits of TokePure.. sure, some of us can smoke a bit fat “L” of 25% THC #insert-latest-popular-strain-name-here# but to most it’s just not practical or even enjoyable.

      PS:  Without the aforementioned Greens I’d quite possibly still be a Nicotine slave.. half of the addiction is habit and to just suddenly stop physically smoking a white stick for 3 minutes after doing it 15-20 times a day, 365 days a year for over a decade is no mean feat. A few small and thin large-roached pure Greens smokes now and then got me through what is the hardest part of quitting the evil Nicotine.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/M57DSFP4FZX7ZZGHA2TETIILQY jamie

      For Me it was Red/Gold Seal, Fresher nicer Brick weed/Mersh, Better quality Moroccan Hash, Soap Bar, Dutch Skunk (No1 etc. before They started fucking with it) . This was all from ’90 onwards to the Millenium from what I can remember, Goooood Times!:-)

    • Focusonpeace

      You should try ”Critical Mass”  6%THC 6%CBD, ”Cannatonic” I think also has a THC/CBD ratio of 1:1. Funny, talking about picking out seeds, that still happens even with modern day skunk. Crappy growers, stressed plants equals hermaphrodite! so yea even ‘super duper haze’ or what ever has seeds we annoyingly have to pick out.

    • MauriceRabbit

      Marijuana is Mexican Spanish for Mary Jane which many Americans use. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696426073 Mark Lucas

      Its not very clear to me

    • Focusonpeace

      A recent archeological expedition to Israel uncovered scrolls that appear to depict the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. On one of the scrolls is a sketch that shows a man, thought to be Jesus, smoking from a pipe. Below the drawing is the Hebrew word “kineboisin”, which translates to cannabis.
      Dr. Isaac Cohen, president of the South Israel Archaeological Society, believes that this is an extremely significant discovery for the theological community. He described the discovery as “a finding that could change the way many perceive the world.” Cannabis is known to have been smoked thousands of years before Jesus’ time, but this is the first evidence to show that Jesus himself may have used the plant.
      Not only could this mean that Christian fundamentalist may ease up on their firm stance against the use of marijuana, but they may actually begin to promote its use for an enhanced religious experience. It is the Christian belief that Christ’s followers should emulate him. If Jesus smoked weed, then why shouldn’t everyone else?

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Please give me a source so that I can preach this good news!

    • Focusonpeace

      Well heres the link to the site I found that on… 

      http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/jesus-healed-using-cannabis-study-shows/

      It says a whole lot more…

    • Focusonpeace

      I couldnt stop reading to be honest…I like how the whole article starts off by saying ‘
      Editor’s note: To some, this information will seem blasphemous. Please note that Cannabis is an ancient herbal remedy and has only recently been considered a street drug. Cannabis was included in the US Pharmacopoeia until 1942, . We are not saying Jesus depended on herbs to heal, but the facts seem to show that He did indeed utilize them.’

    • cshaws

      ”
      Dr. Isaac Cohen, president of the South Israel Archaeological Society ”  - I would like to see the findings by said doctor but I can’t find him or the South Israel Archeological Society anywhere online.  Not saying its not true , I just can’t find any references.   Any ideas?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maharg-Smith/831904195 Maharg Smith

       I know for a proper fact that cannabis was discovered in the seventies..I was there that night.As to the whereabouts of the SAIS I have no idea try asking the northern israel Archeological Society if they have seen them anywhere

    • cshaws
    • maxwood

      Interesting point, I remember the Black Afghan which in Berlin was known as “Schimmelafghan” because of a white mold often found on one side, and widely considered the best product.  In the 70′s American military power destroyed that Afghan hashish industry and gave the world its leading HEROIN industry, thanks boys.  Then about 1980 there was a brownish Columbian budproduct, dealers would say, “Got dat Bo! (Colombo)”– US planes bombed the Colombian forests with paraquat, killed that product, and Colombia turned its energies to COCAINE and crack.  Hooray for Ronald Reagan.  Later modern high-powered domestic green herb raised in “growhouses” took over the North American market,  and the regime responded with spying on electric power use, drone planes looking for heat, etc., and thousands of growers gave up and turned their houses into METH labs.  So much for the drug war.

      Nomenclature: the term “marijuana” not only sounds like someone taunting anglosaxons about the true name of “their” country, but if you listen carefully with Dr. Fraeud’s Third Ear, you hear

         mierda (?) 
         Meerwanne — a bathtub to sit soaking in
         Nirvana — something lazy loafers crave
         Piranha– vicious little fish that can turn you into a skeleton in 7 minutes

      “Dope” is obviously defamatory, also perpetuates a Big Lie that cannabis is some kind of “Ope”-iate.  When I was in Berlin they arrested me for a little piece of hashish and the heading “Op-1″ appeared on court papers– obviously to fool youngsters into thinking the state considered hashish a subcategory of opium (it was touched on in an all-inclusive “Opiumgesetz”).

      “Pot” is obviously defamatory of product and user:

        pothead
        potbelly
        stinkpot
        crackpot
        go to pot   etc. etc.

      and also one of the top ten scare words used over the centuries to domineer over little children:

        If you bump the (chamber)POT and knock if over they will PUNISH you
        If you don’t get to the POTTY soon enough and crap on the floor they will PUNISH you
        If you grab the handle of a POT (hot!) on the stove and pull it over on you it may SCALD or KILL you

      The term “pot” instructs unwary users to roll up a fat joint, or stuff an oversized pipe, burn HOT, destroy $$ cannabinoids and suffer heatshock, carbon monoxide and 421 combustion toxins, with results “they” can blame on the cannabis.

      Except for the fact that Brits and Amis can’t agree on how to pronounce it, I would promote routinely using the term “HERB” for variety when the antecedent is “cannabis”.  But a better casual term might be  ”… tokes”, mentioning about how many 25-mg servings of sifted herb are avaiable, ie. if you think you see 175 mg in the cannister you say “We have 7 tokes.”  Or: “Did you bring some tokes?”  Should be easily understood between friends.  Good luck everyone and don’t forget to do 30 warm wet W’s in and out of a Breadspielhaus in honour of the Dawgwagner after each serving.

    • marc dixon

      I think this poster is the one that will really catch a lot of peoples imaginations and start them thinking, we need to get it posted on every billboard in Britain. Good work.