Hashish and marijuana derive from the plant
cannabis sativa. The female tops supply the raw
material for marijuana, and hashish is produced
from the plant's resin. After tobacco and
alcohol, cannabis is the most commonly used
drug. Marijuana has a greenish-brown colour,
hashish is light-brown to black, but much more
characteristic than the colour, is its smell. if you
have smelled cannabis once, you will pick out
that smell from thousands of others.
How is cannabis used?
Hashish and marijuana are smoked with
cigarettes or smoked pure in special pipes:
Chillums and water pipes. When smoked with
cigarettes, the hashish or marijuana is crumbled
onto a small bed of tobacco inside a fold of rice
paper and then rolled into a cylinder, i.e., joint.
This joint is smoked like a normal cigarette, By
the way, mixing it with tobacco is not very logical
because tobacco suppresses the effect of cannabis.
To be precise Tobacco constricts the blood
vessels, while cannabis expands blood vessels and
mind. Smoked pure, cannabis and hashish
therefore have a much stronger effect. Sometimes,
cannabis is baked into a 'space cake', (hash
brownies), and eaten. in this case, the effect only
kicks in after one hour. There is a danger that the
ingested dose might be too high. See chapter
'Freaking out'.
How does cannabis work?
A hashish or marijuana user gets 'high' or 'stoned'.
The word 'stoned' refers to the arms and legs
feeling heavy. The relaxation of the muscles is
caused by the active substance THC. But
tetrahydrocannabinol does more It intensifies
one's mood, (also a bad mood!), reduces
concentration, slows reflexes and influences the
perception. Colour and music, for instance, are
experienced very intensely. Beginners are known
to get 'the giggles', others, (old-timers too), can
get a sudden attack of the 'munchies' (craving for food).
Extracts of Cannabis Sativa have been used since ancient times as painkillers and medication for exhaustion, asthma, cough attacks, rheumatism, migraine, cramps and other symptoms. John F. Kennedy, for example, regularly smoked joints to relieve his chronic back pains and Queen Victoria used marijuana seeds for monthly period cramps.