us life which they could not share." [1] [2] [3]Then, in about 1910, marijuana began to be imported into the United States from Mexico and the Caribbean. It was widely used, in cigarette form, among poor black and Mexican workers and Latin stevedores, predominately in Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Next, it found its way into the world of the New Orleans jazz musicians, and became associated with the mystique of the rhythms of this newly-emerging music form. Before long, it's use spread up the Mississippi River and into the large northern cities, into a larger segment of the population. [1] [2] [4] Hemp is a moraceous plant; that is belonging to the Moraceae family of plants, which also includes the mulberry, breadfruit, fig, hop, Osage orange and others. The usual lay-terminology for the plant used to obtain marijuana and hashish and other drug products is "Indian hemp." This is not to be confused with the Indian hemp originating in North America, which is a dogbane, Apocynum cannabinum. The later however, is a distant relative of the first, evidenced by its Latin name. [5] Marijuana's scientific name is L. cannabis sativa, with the initial psychotropic strain having originated in India, thus its being referred to as cannabis indica. Cannabis means "hemp," in Latin, and denotes the hemp family of plants' genus. Sativa denotes the species and the nature of the plant's growth. It means "planted," or "sown." The other adjectives which are added into the Latin name(s) denote the variety according to geographic location; thus, cannabis sativa indica is the specific strain which grows in, or originated in India. The origination of the label cannabis sativa is attributed to Linneaus, in 1753, and the English word canvas comes directly from the Latin, cannabis. [1] [4] Cannabis plants grow wild in one form or another, in most countries of the world, including the United States. Today, the most significant producers of marijuana crops are Mex...
