Cannabis Awareness

Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), cannabis (family Cannabaceae) falls into two categories— marijuana and hemp—but, in fact, both come from the same group of plants. Marijuana refers to the cannabis plant, or derivative products that contain more than 0.3 percent of the chemical compound delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component responsible for the plant’s intoxicating effects.

The term “hemp” denotes a cannabis plant with no more than 0.3 percent or less THC levels.

• Plant form or “flower”: The most known form of marijuana; the dried flowers of the cannabis plant.
• Sinsemilla: Seedless flowers from unfertilized female plants; contain more THC than other marijuana plant parts or fertilized flowers.
• Hashish: Historically produced by a manual process of compressing dried cannabis flowers through screens to amass trichomes—the part with the most THC—resulting in a dried resin-type substance more potent than dried flowers.
• Concentrates/Extracts: The modern process of extracting cannabinoids, especially THC, from the entire marijuana/cannabis plant with solvents or carbon dioxide extraction processes. The plant body is mainly discarded, leaving a more potent product (akin to grain alcohol). Concentrates may not smell like marijuana, depending on how refined the extraction is. Commonly used terms for concentrates include dabs, budder/badder, wax, shatter, crystalline, distillate, crumble, and sift.