Talk:Hemp
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Two articles or one?
Someone has proposed to merge the article with Cannabis. The articles should not be merged; rather, this one should be dedicated to the plant, and the other to the drug. --Smack 22:34, 8 May 2004 (UTC)
- I split them, so I obviously disagree with merging them. This one should be on the plant as it is grown for non-drug uses. Cannabis should be on the plant, THC levels, range, morphology, etc. A new article Marijuana should cover the drug uses/legal issues, paraphanalia, slang, etc. This is how the words have historicly been used, even if there is some confusion about them in pop-culture/slang. The Cannabis article was too long with this info,also. jericho4.0 22:37, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
- THC is in the plant, but so are many more substances. THC levels have to do with the use as a drug. DirkvdM 12:44, 2005 May 3 (UTC)
- We can not avoid listing drug material as one of the herb's end products. Therefore two articles (Hemp and Cannabis) are more confusing than helpful. LaurelBush 16:02, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC).
- Three or four or more articles seem now like a good idea. Laurel Bush 10:27, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC).
I am thinking now Hemp could be merged with Cannabis sativa, perhaps with the title Cannabis sativa (hemp) or Hemp (Cannabis sativa). The merged article would avoid detailed discussion of legal issues, including instead references/links to Legal issues of cannabis. Also, it would include material on cultivation for drug/medicinal purposes, but would avoid detailed discussion of health/medicinal issues by using references/links to Medicinal marijuana, Cannabis: Health issues and Cannabis (drug). Laurel Bush 16:02, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC).
Cannabis is the most-recognized word for marijuana internationally, is it not? That is the official scientific word. Rad Racer | Talk 01:23, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Cannabis is the proper word to use. Marijuana is far prefered over marihuana, but I recommend that word be used as little as possible. BTW, according to the "Marihuana Tax Act of 1937", the term "marihuana" refers to the entire plant, not just the flowers. Industrial Hemp is a special strain of Cannabis which is nearly free of THC. You cannot get high from smoking the buds, and it is used only for producing hemp fiber, seeds and oil. It is not "confusing" to have two pages as long as the Cannabis page makes reference to the hemp page, and the Hemp page makes it clear that the botanical name for the plant is Cannabis sativa (linking to the Cannabis page). --Thoric 17:06, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
Cannabis is the Latin and scientific name for the plant (not the drug), and hemp is just the normal English name for it. That's the plant (the biological bit). Then there are the different uses; fibers (rope, clothing), seeds (bird food, oil) and drugs (medicinal or recreational) (it is normal in English to use the word 'drug' in both senses isn't is?). Of which the drug can come in the form of marihuana, hashish or hash oil. And then there is the complication that the word 'hemp' is also used for other fibers. So there should at least be a disambiguation page for that, which there is, under hemp (disambiguation), but there's also another one, Cannabis. I suggest merging these two and using that as the entry point for all articles so that users first learn what's what, which gives a better basis for choosing an article. So the common terms like hemp, cannabis and marihuana should redirect to there, which means that the articles can not have those names (but that wouldn't be logical anyway because hemp covers too much and marihuana is too specific; an article on marihuana should also cover hashish and hash oil).
There may be a tradition of using the term hemp for industrial purposes and cannabis for the plant and the drug and to use the term drug just for recreational uses when it comes to cannabis, but an encyclopedia should clarify things, not reinforce misunderstandings.
At the moment, to get to Sisal from the Cannabis disambiguation page you first need to click Hemp, then Hemp (disambiguation) and then Sisal hemp. That won't do.
So I suggest the following disambiguation page, under Hemp (Cannabis) (or vice versa - is there a rule for precedency of common and scientific name?), to which hemp, cannabis, marihuana, marijuana and hashish (and reefer and misspellings like hasjisj and such) all redirect (this is largely equal to the Cannabis page, but under a different name, merged with the hemp (disambiguation) page and rearranged) (the bits in italics are comments, not to be included in the page):
Cannabis or Cannabis sativa is the scientific name for the plant Hemp, which has different uses, for fibers or seeds and as a medicinal or recreational drug (marihuana). The name Hemp is also used for other natural fibers.
- Cannabis sativa: about the plant as a herb in botany. (same article under same name)
- Industrial Hemp: about the use of fibers (rope, clothing, paper) and seeds (bird food, oil). (a merger of hemp and industrial hemp)
- Legal issues of Cannabis (has to do with the recreational drug, but also has consequences for growing the plant for other purposes (and, of course, also for the plant growing in the wild - let's not forget about that), so I put this here)
- As a drug (using the psycho-active cannabinoids such as THC):
- Medicinal Cannabis (renamed from medicinal marijuana because it can also be hasjisj)
- Recreational Cannabis (renaming of cannabis (drug))
- Health issues and the effects of cannabis (not to be merged with the contents of cannabis (drug) (as is suggested in the article) because that is about recreational use and this also applies to medical use)
- Other uses of the word 'hemp':
I used the spelling marihuana in stead of marijuana (but changed that after the discussion below), because that corresponds better with the pronunciation (both in English and in Spanish). Also, it is claimed that the term comes from Spanish, but just try Googling the two spellings in Spanish language pages and marihuana outnumbers marijuana roughly 10 to 1 (almost 100 to 1 if you limit the search to mexican sites (.mx), so it's nothing to do with American Spanish). Yet another misunderstanding in English about Spanish :).
- If you google ALL pages the ratio is 8:1 marijuana to marihuana. It is documented in several places that marihuana is the "Americanized spelling". The word is spanish for "cheap cigarette", and should only be mentioned as a slang term, and should not be used in any article page names (it can be used for redirection purposes of course). --Thoric 17:06, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
I deliberately left out links such as herb and oil, because they muddle the overview; it makes more sense to first go to the seed page and then maybe from there go to the oil page. By the way, is the distinction between hemp oil (from the seeds) and hash oil made clear anywhere?
There's also an article on hashish, which I found almost by chance. This is why, ideally, everything should be on the disambiguation page. Or maybe it could be linked to early on in the Recreational Cannabis article. But it seems to me to make more sense to have the article on Recreational Cannabis deal with the recreational effects of cannabis and two separate articles on Mariuhuana and Hasjisj that deal with the way they're produced and used. But then these terms can't redirect to the disambiguation page. Another idea is to drop the Recreational Cannabis article and deal with the effects (medicinal or recreational) in the Cannabis (drug) article and then link from there to Marihuana, Hasjisj and Medicinal Cannabis (though these links should ideally also be in the diambiguation page).
There already are disambiguation pages for Manilla and hash (which refers to hashish).
I capitalised several terms, which makes the links not work. Are there rules about capitalisation and why don't the links work? For example, in a normal search in a text and on the web, capitalisation is usually ignored. Why not here?
So, the major changes are:
- Merging the two dismbiguation pages in a way that gives a good overview.
- Making clearer what's what (eg marihuana is not another name for the plant; it's the dried flowers of the plant).
- Renaming the articles accordingly. Though I'm flexible when it comes to the actual titles.
DirkvdM 12:00, 2005 May 3 (UTC)
The genus should be capitalized, but the species is in lower case (I corrected those capitalizations). For wikipedia, everything starts with an initial capital letter, but will match either way. For subsequent words, capitalization matters. Usually lower case for later words is better. See Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(headings)#Capitalisation for more information.Nereocystis 21:52, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
Marijuana is a (well adopted) slang term for the plant. We should not use it as an encylopedic term referring to the dried flowers. The current world standard is to use the word "Hemp" when talking about the plant fiber material, seeds and oil, and to use the word "Cannabis" when refering to its use as a drug (medical or recreational). --Thoric 17:06, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
- Like I said, Cannabis is the scientific name for the hemp plant. I assume you don't contest that (like it says in Cannabis sativa: genus Cannabis, species sativa)). But then that term is already in use and you can't reuse it for a specific part or usage of the plant. That would be confusing. Maybe marihuana was originally a slang name, but it is so widely used that one can consider it a proper English word. That's how languages evolve. If we can't use words that were originally slang in an encyclopedia then what should we call jazz? (And there must be many more examples.) My English dictionary marks 'weed' and 'pot' as slang (in this meaning), but not marihuana. Also, you say that the word hemp is used only for strains that are grown strictly for their fibres and seeds. Which deviates from the strict meaning of the word. So now you follow the historical evolution of a word, whereas I want to stick to the original meaning. So, ironically, we switch reasonings.
- But there's a difference. If we follow the historical evolution of the word cannabis as you see it (which I find contestable) then we've got an ambiguity on our hands (does one mean the plant or the drug?). And if we stick to the notion that the origin of the word marihuana is slang and we can't use it, then we don't have a proper word for the drug to clarify the ambiguity. But if we stick to the original meaning of the words cannabis and hemp (they're the same) and follow the historical evolution of the word marihuana then we've got a nice (and widely accepted) option for what to call the drug. And what you call hemp can then be called 'industrial cannabis'. Though I must admit I gave way a little in my proposal by using the term 'industrial hemp'. Oh, and in my Dutch dictionary ('Dikke van Dale', which is gospel for the dutch language) it says marihuana (with an 'h') is made from 'hennep' (Dutch for hemp). By the way, it doesn't even list the spelling 'marijuana', which brings me to the next subject (which you effectively win in the end (though for the wrong reasons), but I put up a good fight :) ).
- In Talk:Cannabis#Proposal to rearrange the Cannabis articles you say that "Marihuana is the (phonetic) mis-spelling of the Mexican slang term marijuana (or also sometimes mariguana)...". That would suggest the pronunciation would be something like mah-ree-hoo-wanna, which is fairly in keeping with the pronunciation of marijuana in American Spanish tongue (though I suppose most people pronounce it as mah-ree-you-wanna). But when I look up both spellings in Google, limited to spanish, I get 280.000 hits versus 37.000 in favour of marihuana. And if I limit it further to the Mexican top level domain .mx (here comes the acid test) it's even 15.600 to 233! So how can marijuana be the original Mexican spelling if it is outnumbered 70 to 1 on Mexican sites? But, interrestingly, mariguana scores 12.400 hits, almost as many as marihuana. So if you want to stick to one of your claimed original spellings then we would have to go for that. Which doesn't seem like a good idea. Oh and an indication of official usage in Mexico would be the government sites (.gob.mx). Here are those results: mariguana 6500, marihuana 6700 and marijuana only 5 (one of which is in English)! However, when I Google these spellings in English for the tld .uk I get 140.000 to 715 in favour of marijuana. So I suppose you're right, but for the wrong reasons. Though I still want to sneak this one in: if I search for Spanish language pages in the .uk tld I get 187 to 54 in favour of marihuana. So it's a matter of language. In Spanish and Dutch it's marihuana but in English it's marijuana. Oh, and now I notice your comment hereabove. You say marihuana is often documented as an 'americanised spelling'. So is that the spelling still actually used in the US? If not, this is all topsy turvy; the claimed Mexican spelling is used in the US and the claimed US spelling is used in Mexico!
- DirkvdM 20:00, 2005 May 4 (UTC)
- If (as most literature promotes) marijuana is a Mexican word, then Juana would be more proper than Huana. Juana being the Mexican equivalent to the English name "Jane". "Mari" is a common variation of Mary. Marijuana is essentially the same as saying, "Mary Jane". Interestingly there's a Portuguese word, "marigu-ano" which means intoxicant (mariguano -> mariguana -> marijuana -> marihuana?) It is odd that "marihuana" is far more common on the Mexican sites... are you suggesting that "marijuana" replaced "marihuana" as the assumed correct Mexican spelling of a wrongly assumed Americanized mis-spelling? As I mentioned previously, if you don't limit the search to Mexican pages, the 'j' variation outnumbers the 'h' variation eight to one. There are over 7.2 million Google hits for marijuana as compared to your 280 thousand Mexican marihuana hits. Regardless, the word has a relatively short (100 year?) cloudy history, whereas the plant has been in use for all purposes for several thousand years. (BTW, is is not pointless to argue of the "proper" spelling of a slang term?)
- Worldwide, marijuana is by far the more "popular" spelling, so it wins the popularity contest. The marihuana spelling is labeled as antiquated.
- Cannabis sativa is the proper botanical name of the plant. Hemp is the common English name for the plant true enough, but neither are considered to be slang terms. It is standard practice in modern medical literature to use the botanical name when referring to the plant for medical use. The word "hemp" is primarily used to refer to the industrial uses of the plant fiber -- rope, canvas, sailcloth, linen, paper, etc -- for hundreds of years. --Thoric 20:26, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
Medicines are drugs
- The following is quoted from further up the page. It reinforces the notion that somehow licensed medicines might not be drugs. Also it assumes that unlicensed (illiegal) drug use can not be medicinal or therapeutic. (Medical necessity has been use successfully in England as a defence against charges of illegal possession.)
Cannabis or Cannabis sativa is the scientific name for the plant Hemp, which has different uses, for fibers or seeds and as a medicinal or recreational drug (marihuana). The name Hemp is also used for other natural fibers.
- Cannabis sativa: about the plant as a herb in botany. (same article under same name)
- Industrial Hemp: about the use of fibers (rope, clothing, paper) and seeds (bird food, oil). (a merger of hemp and industrial hemp)
- Legal issues of Cannabis (has to do with the recreational drug, but also has consequences for growing the plant for other purposes (and, of course, also for the plant growing in the wild - let's not forget about that), so I put this here)
- As a drug (using the psycho-active cannabinoids such as THC):
- Medicinal Cannabis (renamed from medicinal marijuana because it can also be hasjisj)
- Recreational Cannabis (renaming of cannabis (drug))
- Health issues and the effects of cannabis (not to be merged with the contents of cannabis (drug) (as is suggested in the article) because that is about recreational use and this also applies to medical use)
- Other uses of the word 'hemp':
- Also I point out that in the UK, at least, industrial hemp is a non food crop (as well as non drug): at present licensing arrangements do not cater for cultivation and harvesting of seed as a food stuff. Laurel Bush 10:24, 13 May 2005 (UTC).
Hemp for both fibre and biodiesel
From laurelbush1952@hotmail.com 2005 January 26th:
- Defra seems to have hopes that the same crop can be grown for both fibre and seed, the seed being used as a source of biodiesel. (Defra is the UK’s Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.) This hope rests on a dwarf low-THC variety called Finola, currently under trial. (Seed for food is not on Defra’s agenda: UK cultivation licensing caters for hemp for ‘industrial purposes’ but not for ‘food purposes’.)
- Hemp can be grown for many different purposes, but no single crop can serve all these purposes equally well, because different end uses require different crop management regimes
- I identify two dimensions to crop management regimes, which are plant density and harvest timing.
- I have little to say about plant density, except that high density seems to favour fibre crops while low density seems to benefit drug crops.
- With respect to harvest timing, crop maturity has three important transitions, which are (1) between stem growth and flowering, (2) between flowering and seed setting and (3) between seed setting and seed dispersal.
- Anticipation of the first transition is important for a fibre crop: fibre quality starts to decline as flowering begins. Anticipation of the second transition is similarly important for a drug crop. For a seed crop the third transition is obviously important.
veeery interesting how Hemp for Victory blames the decline in US hemp production, not on its own laws, but "cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp"[1] (http://www.kentuckyhemp.com/library/victory.html) (What made 'em cheaper? the Marihuana Tax of 1937, perhaps?)
From laurelbush1952@hotmail.com 2005 January 26th:
- I believe most of the Royal Navy's sail-ship hemp was imported, because crop processing was labour intensive and therefore cheaper in Russia. I imagine US hemp imports were similarly exploitation of foreign cheap labour.
the 1880 argonomic guide should be junked and replaced with something a little more current. its not really that useful as it stands.
- I agree that the guide doesn't really belong here. Maybe just an overview of cultivation methods?jericho4.0 22:37, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
some good guides have been published by Canadian provincial governments in the past 10 years. they are not that bad, but could use some updating. for example: http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/facts/00-067.htm . that's from Ontario.
Should we realy have a guide on how to grow hemp plants without even a warning that most countries will punish with long jail sentences, even death? - Anonymous
- well, thats not the case in most OECD countries, including Canda and most of EU, where hemp is grown under license. as well, Russia, China and Eastern Europe have never prohibited hemp cultivation. so i would say "*some* countries will punish with long jail sentences, even death." - Anonymous
- Who are these anonymous people? Maybe from a country where even talking about the subject can get you fried? :) DirkvdM 18:03, 2005 May 2 (UTC)
- Rather than some step-by-step guide to growing hemp, in an encyclopedia it should be a description of growth cycles, fertilization, light/dark, etc. - Centrx 07:14, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Cultivation -- Bushels of seed needs more information
In the section Hemp cultivation, there is a section which says:
- The proportion of seed that is most commonly employed, is from two to three bushels, according to the quality of the land
There needs to be a land area here, perhaps 2-3 bushels/hectare, or acre or square meter, or something. Does anyone know what this paragraph should say? If not, the paragraph should be deleted. Nereocystis 00:42, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
As advice about cultivation the quote from the 1881 Household Cyclopedia seems rather antiquated. The value of the encyclopedia entry now is more that of evidence of English-language interest in hemp cultivation in the 19th century than that of useful advice. Quoted at length, as now, it seems somewhat out of place in the article. Laurel Bush 12:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC).
I would also like to see some text devoted to discussing the low-thc hemp and how categorizing the plant based upon it's potential to create a set percentage of thc is a product of humanity's odd current relation with this plant. There are many, many varieties of hemp; indeed some which have the potential to create a high thc percentage also have the ability/potential to create useful raw materials. These are not mutually exclusive traits of the plant, but ones which mondern mankind has applied (and even genetically modified) threw a rather distorted perspective.
Cannabis sativa should be capitalized, it's biology
In the main article, Cannabis sativa is not capitalized. By the standards of biological binomial nomenclature, the genus is always capitalized. This is mentioned in the 1st paragraph of the wikipedia article. Yes, Cannabis sativa is the name of the commonly used drug, but it is also the name of the hemp plant, since it is the same species. Just as beet and chard are the same species. Laurel Bush removed the capitalization. Please recapitalize it. If you refuse to capitalize Cannabis, please explain the standard you are using which requires breaking with biological convention.Nereocystis 18:20, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Thanks for the detail about spelling conventions in biological Latin. Laurel Bush 11:39, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC).
Hemp style guidelines
I reorganized the main article a bit. I think that it is easier to find different topics now. Primarily, I changed the order of the text, but I also change the wording.
I suggest establishing some guidelines for this article. The current article shows evidence of many hands, and is somewhat inconsistent in style. I made some changes to follow the style. Please comment on these suggestions, and modify them.
- Do not use herb, use plant. At least in the US, herb suggests the drug-related uses of Cannabis, whereas plant does not have that suggestion. The drug use of Cannabis sativa should not be hidden, but it should not be overemphasized in the hemp article.
- Organize hemp discussion into uses.
- Use British spellings. The Brits have put a lot of time writing this page. Let's honour their spelling. Use fibre rather than fiber.
- Cannabis should always be capitalized and italicized. It is the name of the hemp genus, and this is the standard in scientific use.
- Cannabis sativa should always be italicized, with Cannabis capitalized, and sativa in lower case. This is the standard for scientific usage.
- References for claims are particularly important for hemp. Hemp has a reputation of being associated with drugs. To be taken seriously, documentation must be provided.
Nereocystis 10:14, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Nereocystis seems to have created a major improvement in the article's structure, while raising some interesting questions about our use of language. Laurel Bush 16:04, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC).
Herb or plant?
Although the article's focus is on hemp's non drug uses I have myself no desire to downplay or disregard the herb's drug/medicinal potential. And in the UK at least 'herb' should resonate with the word's use in the expression 'herbal medicines', which are generally perfectly-legal over-the-counter preparations. Also, the herb is not just a plant: it can and does grow wild. Laurel Bush 16:13, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC).
- I agree with some of your statements; I don't want to downplay medicinal use. One edit of the hemp article, a few weeks ago, removed explicit mentions that this article is about non-drug use. This is misleading. However, using the word herb suggests to me that industrial hemp can readily be smoked. With the low THC plants, getting THC requires massive consumption of the plant. In fact, using herb suggests that the primary purpose of growing the plant is as a drug, and that the non-drug uses are merely a by-product of the drug production, perhaps a sham. Maybe I'm going too far in my interpretation of the word herb, but hemp really can be useful, even if it isn't smoked. Let the non-drug uses stand by themselves. Many plants grow wild, but I don't call many of them herbs. Do sisal or jute articles refer to the plant as an herb? Occasionally, but not usually. Therefore hemp grown as fiber should rarely be called an herb.Nereocystis 23:36, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Biological nomenclature
On presentation of terms originating in the nomenclature of biologists I feel Nereocystis is trying to swim against the tide of English usage. These terms are more and more evident in common English, as a means of avoiding possible ambiguity (due eg to the same genus having a variety of different names). At the same time however some of the niceties of biological Latin tend to be disregarded, but this seems generally to be without loss of real understanding. And why complicate spellings with initial capitals and italics if, in context, the meaning of a word is otherwise quite clear? Laurel Bush 16:22, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC).
- It isn't that important to me, except in contexts where it is clearly a scientific reference. Life becomes confusing when the genus is used as a common name. Cannabis sativa should probably capitalized and italicized. Cannabis probably doesn't matter. I may be over-reacting to the general public impression that anyone interested in hemp is a drugged-out hippie who is looking for an excuse to legalize pot-smoking. And, hemp-seed oil probably gets people high (yes, I had this discussion last night before writing my suggestions). There's nothing wrong with drugged-out hippies, but my tendency may be to go too far in the other direction--look (and act and be) scientific, find references to everything, admit when evidence is lacking. For example, list the protein breakdown of hemp seed, with a reference. I mentioned the above suggestions on this page before going too far, because I think I may be going too far. I hope that my reorganization of the writing makes sense, plus or minus the Cannabis issue. Please continue cricizing my suggestions. Laurel definitely has more hemp knowledge than I do, but I would like to contribute a bit. I hope to add information about the nutritional value of hemp seed and oil, if I can find a good source.Nereocystis 20:36, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
As food
I drank some hemp beer from Bavaria in a legitimate and legal UK vegetarian restaurant. The article, however, states something along the lines of "Hemp growth as food in the EU is probably prohibited" - surely this is incorrect? --Oldak Quill 18:42, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I've been thinking about the same thing. I know of a farm (http://www.lassilantila.fi/luomu10.html) here in Southern Finland that sells hemp seeds, and quite legally too as it seems. I have been under the impression that hemp cultivation is not against the law if the THC levels of the plant don't surpass a certain limit. I am not completely sure about this, though. - Quirk 19:29, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)
The UK Home Office will issue licences for cultivation for 'industrial purposes', but these purpose do not include food. Hemp seed is however a perfectly legal food product on the UK market, and I often wonder where it is grown. It is unlikely to be a byproduct of industrial hemp cultivation, because this hemp is harvested as it starts to flower and before it can set seed. Also I am not sure that unlicensed cultivation of the herb is expressly illegal in the UK: unlicensed possession of cannabis drug material (THC content over 0.3%) is illegal, and cultivation of the herb is usually treated as being itself possession of the drug material. Home Office licensing is in accordance with EU regulations. It is possible these regulations do allow for licences for cultivation for food: if so the UK is not at present taking advantage of this aspect of the regulations. Laurel Bush 10:09, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC).
Speculation
From the article:
The name marijuana is Mexican (or Latin American)) in origin and associated almost exclusively with the herb's drug potential. That marijuana is now well known in English as a name for drug material is due largely to the efforts of US drug prohibitionists during the 1920s and 1930s. We can surmise that this name was highlighted because it helped to characterise the herbal drug as quite alien to English-speaking culture.
The last sentence seems too random and speculative without sources as proof. I could just as easily surmise, for example, that drug prohibitionists simply needed a word to distinguish cannabis the drug (marijuana) from cannabis the fiber (hemp).
Should we remove the last sentence and merge the remainder with the preceding paragraph? --Qofcourse 01:21, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Species/varieties/forma and fibre/THC
From what I have understood, the genus Cannabis can be devided into one species and its three varieties (Cannabis sativa var. sativa, Cannabis sativa var. ruderalis, and Cannabis sativa var. indica). Or it can be devided to three species (Cannabis sativa, Cannabis ruderalis, and Cannabis indica). What might be the current taxonomic status of the division?
From this stems the next problem: In the article it is said that different varieies are cultivated for fibre and THC. If the genus only has one species this cannot be true, as THC (afaik) is found in sativa, indica, and ruderalis. And so the fibre/THC plants might be of different forma. But is that the case? On the other hand, if the genus has three species it might be true that different varieties are cultivated for fibre/THC. But are those really different varieties in the taxonomic sense of the word variety?
Plenty of question, no answers :) --EnSamulili 14:38, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
- Although the "Sativa" variety (thin leaves, tall plant) tends to be higher in THC, lower in CBD, while the "Indica" variety (fat leaves, short plant) tends to be higher in CDB, lower in THC, by biological standards, all strains of Cannabis should be in the same family (i.e. Cannabis sativa) as long as they can crossbreed and produce fertile strains much the same way that all breeds of dog are Canis lupus regardless of the huge variation between a Great Dane and a Chihuahua. BTW, the Cannabaceae family also includes hops and hackberries. --Thoric 17:13, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
Major hemp producing countries
In "From the 1950s to the 1980s the Soviet Union (now Russia) was the world's largest producer", user:Boffy b removed "(now Russia)" because the Sovjet Union is not the same as Russia. Which is true, but it seems likely that Russia is now the major producer, and maybe that was meant. So maybe that should be added. Strangely, the section starts with saying which were the major hemp producing countries, but does anyone know which ones are? DirkvdM 07:25, 2005 Jun 2 (UTC)