Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mix of dried, crumbled parts from the marijuana plant. The plant contains chemicals which act on your brain and can change your mood or consciousness.
What is Medical Marijuana?
The marijuana plant has chemicals that can help with some health problems. More states are making it legal to use the plant as medicine for certain medical conditions. But there isn't enough research to show that the whole plant works to treat or cure these conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the marijuana plant as a medicine. Marijuana is still illegal at the national level. However, there have been scientific studies of cannabinoids, the chemicals in marijuana. The two main cannabinoids that are of medical interest are THC and CBD. The FDA has approved two drugs that contain THC. These drugs treat nausea caused by chemotherapy and increase appetite in patients who have severe weight loss from AIDS. There is also a liquid drug that contains CBD. It treats two forms of severe childhood epilepsy. Scientists are doing more research with marijuana and its ingredients to treat many diseases and conditions.
How do people use marijuana?
There are many different ways that people use marijuana, including
Rolling it up and smoking it like a cigarette or cigar
Smoking it in a pipe
Mixing it in food and eating it
Brewing it as a tea
Smoking oils from the plant ("dabbing")
Using electronic vaporizers ("vaping")
What are the effects of marijuana?
Marijuana can cause both short-term and long-term effects.
Short term:
While you are high, you may experience
Altered senses, such as seeing brighter colors
Altered sense of time, such as minutes seeming like hours
Changes in mood
Problems with body movement
Trouble with thinking, problem-solving, and memory
Increased appetite
Long term:
In the long term, marijuana can cause health problems, such as
Problems with brain development. People who started using marijuana as teenagers may have trouble with thinking, memory, and learning.
Coughing and breathing problems, if you smoke marijuana frequently
Problems with child development during and after pregnancy, if a woman smokes marijuana while pregnant
It is possible to overdose on marijuana, if you take a very high dose. Symptoms of an overdose include anxiety, panic, and a rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, an overdose can cause paranoia and hallucinations. There are no reports of people dying from using just marijuana.
After using marijuana for a while, it is possible to get addicted to it. You are more likely to become addicted if you use marijuana every day or you started using it when you were a teenager. If you are addicted, you will have a strong need to take the drug. You may also need to smoke more and more of it to get the same high. When you try to quit, you may have mild withdrawal symptoms such as
August 22, 2022
A pair of medical marijuana legalization initiatives will not appear on Nebraska’s ballot in November, the state announced on Monday. But while advocates are disappointed, they’re already turning their attention to 2024 for another push. While activists with Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) had held out hope that they turned in enough raw signatures to qualify, the verification process showed that they came up short by about 10,000 signatures for each measure. In order to qualify, the campaign needed to submit at least 86,776 valid signatures statewide per measure, including at least five percent of registered voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties. They ended up with 77,843 signatures for one measure and 77,119 for the other, while also failing to meet the county-level signature threshold for both.
The Business of Cannabis by
Despite the unique culture surrounding cannabis, this new industry follows the same economic principles as does any other agricultural product--that is, it would if the federal government allowed it to. Four distinct challenges prevent the cannabis industry from becoming fully legal and federally regulated in the United States, equivalent to the alcohol, pharmaceutical, or tobacco industries: federal regulations counter to state laws, an unfriendly financial system, a U.S. attorney general bent on keeping the drug war running, and Prohibition's 70-year-old legacy of distrust between legalization advocates and opponents. Policy, however, is changing. Already the world's most heavily consumed illicit drug is in the midst of an international transformation. Globally, a new international trade market has emerged from efforts to legalize it for medical or recreational use, and in the United States, the nascent cannabis industry has acquired lobbyists, well-financed industry kingpins, an extensive ancillary industry, and taxation. The Business of Cannabis explores these issues in depth and contextualizes U.S. drug policy at a time when lawmakers across the nation are deciding which way to lean on the issue."--Book jacket.
Blowing Smoke by
Alcohol, opiates, cocaine and marijuana, among other drugs, have been used and abused for millennia. Prior to the disease model approach to drug addiction, which posits that addiction is a psychological and biological problem and that sufferers are victims, societies had a workable solution: let people consume what they want, and let informal cultural controls reinforce responsible behavior. Legal sanctions were reserved for any use that affected the safety of others. Blowing Smoke proposes an approach to the war on drugs that returns us to the pre-disease-model era. Dr. Reznicek asserts that addiction is not a medical problem to be treated in rehab or by prohibiting substance use. Rather, he debunks the disease model, arguing that it has exacerbated the problem by telling drug abusers that they are not responsible for their behavior, that they are sick, that they are not to blame. He skillfully argues for a new approach to drug use and abuse that requires a shift in the way we fight the war on drugs. Dr. Reznicek provides a new framework for understanding drug abuse: the habit model. Habits are practiced as long as they provide comfort, and are abandoned when they cause pain. The habit model is more consistent with current neuroscientific knowledge and it accounts for the widely observed phenomenon that most substance abusers don't change until they "hit bottom," the point where the consequences of drug use finally outweigh its benefits. Using the habit model, Dr. Reznicek suggests the solution to the drug problem is to turn back the clock, and to take lessons from societies that use social controls and consequences to deal with addiction and drug abuse. He recommends the legalization of drugs for adults, the implementation of social practices to dissuade abusers, and the end to the use of rehab as a way of handling addiction. Blowing Smoke shows how such an iconoclastic approach can work for us today.
Going to Pot by
Bennett was director of the National Drug Control policy under President George H.W. Bush. He offers strong societal and scientific arguments against the legalization of marijuana, in a call-to-action for the 46 states that know better than to support full legalization. Bennett and White provides a voice of reason for millions who have jumped on the legalization bandwagon because they haven't had access to the facts.
Marijuana by
Marijuana--or weed, pot, grass, MJ, Mary Jane, reefer, cannabis, or hemp among dozens of other names--has a long, colorful history dating back more than 2,000 years as the one of the most sought-after mood-altering substances in the world. Societal opinion about the drug has dramatically swayed over the years, from viewing it as a grave danger to society in the 1930s film Reefer Madness, to a harmless recreational high in the '60s, to an addictive substance and gateway to such "hard" drugs as heroin today. The myths and misinformation about marijuana have only multiplied over the years as the controversy over legalization and medical marijuana grows.
A nationally recognized clinical expert and leading researcher on marijuana, Kevin P. Hill provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the drug in Marijuana: The Unbiased Truth about the World's Most Popular Weed . Through research-based historical, scientific, and medical information, Hill will help you sort through what you hear on the streets and in the media and cut straight to the facts. Whether you're a parent concerned about your child's use, someone with an illness considering medical marijuana as a treatment option, a user who has questions about its effect on your health, or if you're just trying to make up your mind about legalization, this book will give you the most current and unbiased information you need to make informed decisions about marijuana.
Medical Marijuana by
The legality of medical marijuana continues to provoke controversy and face challenges. This book addresses the various facets of the debate, including whether medical marijuana should be legal, and if medical marijuana is good for society. Readers will explore how access to medical marijuana should be managed, and the legal rights of patients using medical marijuana, in terms of such issues as driving, gun rights, and employment.
The Medical Marijuana Guide by
After decades of misinformation about cannabis largely due to the well-funded propaganda campaign in the 1930s, public attitudes toward the drug have finally begun to evolve. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana and since then, 28 other states, 2 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have followed suit. Now countless patients are reaping the benefits of this amazing resource which has been used to effectively treat everything from chronic pain to debilitating illnesses. In The Medical Marijuana Guide: Cannabis and Your Health, Dr. Patricia Frye takes a direct, no-nonsense approach to educating readers about cannabis and its medicinal qualities. After having retired from medicine, Dr. Frye was offered an opportunity to practice cannabis treatment. Intrigued, she educated herself on this emerging alternative and is now ready to share with others what she has learned. In this book, using humorous and touching stories from the many situations she has encountered in her practice over the years, Dr. Frye provides valuable information about the undeniable medicinal qualities of cannabis. This book helps to de-stigmatize this misunderstood drug and educate readers on the history of cannabis and how it is used by the medical community today. This is an accessible, enjoyable resource that will not only entertain readers, but may change their lives for the better.
A New Leaf by
More than one million Americans now use cannabis in place of conventional pharmaceuticals. Yet the federal government refuses to acknowledge these broader societal shifts and continues with a 'raid and arrest' policy; 49.5% of all drug-related arrests involve the sale, manufacture or possession of cannabis. In the first book to explore the new landscape of cannabis in the United States, investigative journalists Alyson Martin and Nushin Rashidian present a deeply-researched and insightful story of how recent developments tie into this thorny subject.
Smoke Signals by
The bestselling author of Acid Dreams tells the great American pot story--a panoramic, character-driven saga that examines the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.
Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry.
In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in more than a dozen other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. Lee, an award-winning investigative journalist, draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape. By mining the plant's rich pharmacopoeia, medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures.
Stoned by
A doctor discovers the surprising truth about marijuana No substance on earth is as hotly debated as marijuana. Opponents claim it's dangerous, addictive, carcinogenic, and a gateway to serious drug abuse. Fans claim it as a wonder drug, treating cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma, arthritis, migraines, PTSD, and insomnia. Patients suffering from these conditions need-and deserve-hard facts based on medical evidence, not hysteria and superstition. In Stoned, palliative care physician Dr. David Casarett sets out to do anything-including experimenting on himself-to find evidence of marijuana's medical potential. He smears mysterious marijuana paste on his legs and samples pot wine. He poses as a patient at a seedy California clinic and takes lessons from an artisanal hash maker. In conversations with researchers, doctors, and patients around the world he learns how marijuana works-and doesn't-in the real world.
Weed the People by
The legalization of marijuana is the next great reversal of history. Perhaps the most demonized substance in America, scientifically known as Cannabis sativa, simply a very fast growing herb, thrived underground as the nation's most popular illegal drug.
Now the tide has shifted: In 1996 California passed the nation's first medical marijuana law, which allowed patients to grow it and use it with a doctor's permission. By 2010, twenty states and the District of Columbia had adopted medical pot laws. In 2012 Colorado and Washington state passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana for adults age 21 and older.
The magnitude of the change in America's relationship to marijuana can't be measured in only economic or social terms: There are deeper shifts going on here - cultural realignments, social adjustments, and financial adjustments. The place of marijuana in our lives is being rethought, reconsidered, and recalibrated. Four decades after Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs, that long campaign has reached a point of exhaustion and failure. The era of its winding down as arrived.
Weed the People will take readers a half-step into the future. The issues surrounding the legalization of pot vary from the trivial to the profound. There are new questions of social etiquette: Is one expected to offer a neighborly toke? If so, how? Is it cool to bring cannabis to a Super Bowl party? Yea or nay on the zoning permit for a marijuana shop two doors down from the Safeway? Plus, there are the inevitable conversations between parents and children over exactly what this adult experiment with marijuana means for them.
The CBD Oil Solution by
An expert in the field of medical cannabis provides facts about CBD oil, offering advice on how to safely use it to treat symptoms for a variety of ailments, and includes recipes for beverages, sweet and savory dishes, and wellness products.
Drug Legalization by
This book explores the debate over the legalization of drugs, offering opposing viewpoints on the success of the war on drugs, the need to reform U.S. drug policy, and the decriminalization of marijuana. Discussions include the violence associated with drug trafficking, racial injustice in drug law enforcement and sentencing, the relative harm caused by alcohol and marijuana, and the legalization of marijuana for medical use.
Joint Ventures by
CNBC anchor Trish Regan takes you behind the scenes of America's thriving pot industry, to show readers things only drug dealers know about this secret world. Forget amber waves of grain. Today, it's marijuana plants that blanket the nation from sea to shining sea in homes, in backyards, and even in our national parks. In Joint Ventures, Trish Regan takes you behind the scenes to explore every aspect of this flourishing underground economy. Her focus is the so-called Emerald Triangle Northern California's Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties where many small-time, part-time marijuana growers contribute to a trade that generates roughly a billion dollars a year. A fascinating investigation into the inner workings of today's exploding American marijuana industry Based on extensive research and interviews by Trish Regan, whose Emmy nominated documentary Marijuana, Inc. attracted more viewers than any documentary in CNBC's history Regan examines all aspects of this new culture. She reveals how small time growers get their start, make (or lose) a fortune, struggle with violence, try to keep up with constantly changing laws and regulations all while walking an increasingly fine line with the Feds Regan reports on the current and potential impact of legalized marijuana on local economies, uncovers the link between marijuana and violent Mexican cartels, questions whether decriminalization would work on a national scale, as it has in Portugal since 2001
As the decriminalization and legalization debates gather steam, Joint Ventures arms you with the facts on both sides of the issue.
Marijuana and Hemp by
In "Marijuana & Hemp: History, Uses, Laws, and Controversy," John McCabe details the history of the human relationship with the cannabis plant, including as a crop grown for its fiber, oil, and seed, and as a plant bred for use as a recreational drug. Throughout history the plant has been used for food, fabric, paper, cordage, fuel, insulation, building materials, resin, and a slew of other uses. McCabe clarifies the difference between the non-drug plant known as "industrial hemp" and the relative plant that gets people "high" and which is commonly known as "marijuana." Hemp fabric sails and rope are what allowed people to sail the oceans and establish naval fleets and global trade. Hemp paper was used in the earliest books, newspapers, and publications that educated people and played a role in revolutions. Hemp fabric has been used at clothing, tents, blankets, and other items for thousands of years. Currently the industrial hemp plant is unfairly tied in in laws relating to drugs and the Drug War. Throughout the book, McCabe quotes from scientific journals, government meetings and publications, historical texts, experts, and other sources to explain the confusion between hemp and marijuana. He details why industrial hemp needs to be legalized and why the drug laws need to be changed. It is a matter of protecting the environment, of wildlife survival, and of creating a more sustainable human culture free from restrictive drug laws that waste billions of dollars every year, endanger law enforcement workers and citizens, and destroy lives.
Marijuana Is Safer by
In 2012, voters in Colorado shocked the political establishment by making the use of marijuana legal for anyone in the state twenty-one years of age or older. In the wake of that unprecedented victory, nationally recognized marijuana-policy experts Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert revisit the "Marijuana Is Safer" message that contributed to the campaign's success--as the first edition of this book predicted it would in 2009. In this updated and expanded edition, the authors include a new chapter on the victory in Colorado and updates on a growing mountain of research that supports their position.
Through an objective examination of marijuana and alcohol, and the laws and social practices that steer people toward the latter, the authors pose a simple yet rarely considered question: Why do we punish adults who make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol? For those unfamiliar with marijuana, Marijuana Is Safer provides an introduction to the cannabis plant and its effects on the user, and debunks some of the government's most frequently cited marijuana myths.
More importantly, for the millions of Americans who want to advance the cause of marijuana policy reform--or simply want to defend their own personal, safer choice--this book provides the talking points and detailed information needed to make persuasive arguments to friends, family, coworkers, elected officials and, of course, future voters.
Medical Marijuana by
Discusses the use of marijuana for medical purposes, including its effectiveness, the legal and ethical concerns of medical marijuana, and the effects of individual state laws on the subject.
Pot, Inc. by
Greg Campbell, coauthor of the bestselling Flawless and Blood Diamonds , presents a compelling, close-up investigation of a hot-button topic: America's schizophrenic attitude to the legalization of pot. Campbell, a suburban father whose biggest vice is a cold beer, seems like the last person who would grow weed in his basement. But his attitude changed in 2009, when his home state of Colorado led the nation in mainstreaming medical marijuana. Watching with fascination as above-board and financially thriving dispensaries popped up everywhere, Campbell wondered, "Why not me?" Pot, Inc. chronicles Greg's journey into DIY ganjapreneurialism, as he learns how to cultivate marijuana, examines America's often unduly harsh laws, and unearths ignorance about pot's centuries-old therapeutic value--ignorance the government is desperate to maintain. Along the way, he also gains a very personal insight into the drug's medicinal value that shapes his opinion about legalization.
Pot Farm by
After eight months in his childhood home helping his mother through her bout with cancer, Matthew Frank and his wife were themselves desperate for comfort. They found sanctuary in the most unlikely place--amid a collection of outcasts and eccentrics on a plot of land miles outside their comfort zone: a "mostly medical" marijuana farm in California. Pot Farm details the strange, sublime, and sometimes dangerous goings-on at Weckman Farm, a place with hidden politics and social hierarchies, populated by recovering drug addicts, alternative healers, pseudo-hippie kids, and medical marijuana users looking to give back. There is also Lady Wanda, the massive, elusive, wealthy, and heavily armed businesswoman who owns the farm and runs it from beneath a housedress and a hat of peacock feathers. Frank explores the various roles that allow this industry to work--from field pickers to tractor drivers, cooks to yoga instructors, managers to snipers, illegal immigrants to legal revisionists, and the delivery crew to the hospice workers on the other end. His book also looks at the blurry legislation regulating the marijuana industry as well as the day-to-day logistics of running such an operation and all the relationships that brings into play. Through firsthand observations and experiences (some influenced by the farm's cash crop), interviews, and research, Pot Farm exposes a thriving but unsung faction of contemporary American culture.
Smoke Signals by
In this book the author, an Investigative journalist traces the social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in an ongoing culture war. He describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, Californians voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in several other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. The author draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape: medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. This book is an examination of the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
The United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics.
The world's largest medical library with information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand.
National Conference of State Legislatures
State Medical Marijuana Laws
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Answers to frequently asked questions about marijuana.
The leading source for pros & cons of controversial issues.
Drug Fact Sheet - Marijuana
Our mission is to ensure the safe access to marijuana for therapeutic uses and research.
A public policy research organization dedicated to the principles of liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.
The Drug Policy Alliance is the leading organization advancing drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)
This organization has been instrumental in a number of changes in cannabis policy at the state level and aims to have the same effect on a national scale.
NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)
Working to legalize the responsible use of marijuana by adults, and to serve as an advocate for consumers to assure they have access to high quality marijuana that is safe, convenient and affordable.
There are a number of videos available on this subject, both on the internet and through our available databases. This page features some useful examples. For more, we recommend accessing the Films on Demand database.
This documentary explores the longstanding relationship of human beings and cannabis, from its use in ancient Asia to its ban in 20th century America.
As state-legalized cannabis spreads, NOVA investigates the latest scientific evidence for its potential benefits and risks, and how criminalization has disproportionately harmed communities of color. Distributed by PBS Distribution.
Despite predictions of doom, legalization of cannabis has been a boon to Colorado financially with an expected one billion in sales by 2016 and $40 million in excise taxes to be placed in state coffers. There have been some problems with the roll out of the new law, but issues are being addressed through regulation and new ballot measures.
Lenny and Amy’s 5-year-old son has epilepsy. When conventional medications caused terrible side effects, they started giving him a daily drop of cannabis oil, with dramatic results. But it’s a calculated risk: While there is anecdotal evidence of cannabis’ effectiveness, scientists face research roadblocks because it’s a schedule 1 controlled substance. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.
