Marijuana is known by many names resulting from centuries of use
in cultures around the world. The Spanish name is canamo
although here in America the Mexican name marijuana is now more
well known, for better or worse. In English the name is hemp, in
use since 1000 AD, and nowadays refers primarily to cannabis
sativa and to designate the long fiber obtained from the plant.
“Indian hemp” was also used to describe the cannabis plant here
in the US as little as a hundred years ago. Interesting to note
that cannabis was legal in Colorado until 1917 when “reefer
racism” began, being directed at African Americans and Latinos
through the powerful Hearst newspaper network. During that time
the term marijuana was introduced along with it’s negative
connotation as the “Killer weed”. Laws were passed against
cannabis/marijuana in order to stop the black and Mexican
“problem” in which African and Mexican American people were
demanding equal rights with whites. Medical marijuana history is
changing as changes in laws are