The Word "Marijuana" Versus the Word "Cannabis" And Why I'm Going to Stop Using the Former in This

[jtuck004]

The Word "Marijuana" Versus the Word "Cannabis"
And Why I'm Going to Stop Using the Former in This Column
by Tobias Coughlin-Bogue

...
In 1930, Harry Anslinger, the head of the brand-new Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was unsatisfied with regulating only cocaine and opium. When he went in front of a congressional panel in 1937 to push his pot prohibition bill, he said, "We seem to have adopted the Mexican terminology, and we call it marihuana."

While he sounds all innocent there, like he just picked up the word from who knows where, many surmise that he was actively using the term to focus the discussion on recreational use. His terminology distanced the plant as much as possible from its common medical and industrial uses, where it was more often referred to as cannabis or hemp. Using "marijuana," most commonly associated with recreational use among poor Mexican immigrants, was a sneaky bit of branding for the bill he wanted passed.
...
As an example of the racial dimension of Anslinger's animus toward cannabis, here's one of his quotes on the subject: "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use," he said. "This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."...William Randolph Hearst was also happy to lend his newspaper empire to the cause of pot prohibition, printing such inflammatory bullshit in nationally syndicated columns as: "Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... Three-fourths of the crimes of violence in this country today are committed by dope slaves—that is a matter of cold record."

...
No matter how you slice it, the rise of the term marijuana is suspiciously contemporaneous with its popularity in racist screeds. To that end, I'm going to stop using the word "marijuana" in this column, except in proper names, quotations, or where it is part of the seemingly inseparable alliterative pairing "medical marijuana" (after all, "medical marijuana" has specific regulatory policy attached to it).
...

http://www.thestranger.com/news/2016/04/13/23948555/the-word-marijuana-versus-the-word-cannabis



That is why we call it cannabis.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Forty years ago, all my Hispanic friends called it 'mota'

which makes me wonder if it was ever called marijuana as commonly as the 1930s feds suggested.

[giftedgirl77]

2. I can't believe how many ppl still parrot the old

Refeer Madness lines. It's not just older ppl either. My youngest comes home & will tell me about his friends parents & their ramblings. I seriously think he now baits them just to set off the switch of madness.

[jtuck004]

3. "Refeer Madness lines" That's called the policy manual for the racists at the Weed

Control Board in WA State.

[giftedgirl77]

5. Lol, i can't tell you how many times my mom pops out of her mouth with dumb shit.

I usually roll my eyes and explain again why everything she says is absurd

[RandiFan1290]

4. Words matter

I cringe just like I do when I hear someone call republicons the "gop"

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I try to avoid using "marijuana" too.

It's meant to sound foreign, and thus scary to American ears. I don't want to imply that people should be afraid of cannabis. It's one of the most useful plants on Earth.

[jtuck004]

7. We are having problems with opioid addiction and theft. Where mmj is legalized, opioid

use and the side effects such as death that go with it drop, and are not replaced by equally harmful results. In the cases where it works, the patient feels better and performs better.

And we haven't even started to recover what we could get from the fibrous strains.

"It's one of the most useful plants on Earth." < As you said. I use other weeds a lot in my growing, but most don't have the range of uses this plant does.

[womanofthehills]

8. Most people I know now just call it "my medicine."

[ghostsinthemachine]

9. Yep (NT)

[womanofthehills]

10. "Chasing the Scream" by Johann Hari

The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs - is a good read.

[jtuck004]

11. I'll add it to my get list - thank you.n/t

[Calculating]

12. I think marijuana is the culturally accepted name by now

And really it's not even a bad name outside of the negative propaganda. Cannabis is more official sounding, but let's be real. Everybody knows the plant as marijuana.

[jtuck004]

13. They said similar things about the Confederate Flag too, the flag of losers. Being real and all.

Being real about the weed acknowledges the racist connotation to the name marijuana. Your own moral imagination guides you to step up and do the right thing, use respectful language to your neighbors. Or not.

Words matter, as you are finding out.


Cool cartoon...

[NightWatcher]

14. I steer away too from "recreational use" and prefer "adult use cannabis"

Recreational sounds like middle schoolers using it at the park.

Words matter.

[Throd]

15. I'm sticking with "marijuana" if only to tweak the Word Police.

[MindPilot]

16. I'm on the side of calling it cannabis.

Like many aspects of US history, the prohibition of "marijuana" was not about resolving some dire public health issue, but simply to demonize a group of people to facilitate their oppression.

The word has deeply racist roots and no matter how commonplace and accepted it has become, I think it should go away.

[Eleanors38]

17. I still use "reefer," "cheeba," and "ganja."

[GoCubsGo]

18. I prefer "God's flowers." n/t

[Calculating]

19. Do we say Ethyl Alcohol

When talking about drinking? No. We say beer/wine/liquor etc. Basically names which are accepted by the public. Who says "I'm gonna go smoke a bowl of cannabis"? Nobody.

Personally, I just call it weed usually.