What is Marijuana?

Marijuana is one of the most popular and most widely-used drugs in the entire world.
It is a plant that grows naturally in the earth in hot climates like the Caribbean or Mexico. Marijuana may also be known by the name cannabis and the resinous form of the drug is known as hashish.
The typical herbal form of cannabis consists of the flowers, leaves and stalks of mature female plants. Marijuana is a drug that is smoked. The whole marijuana plant is not smoked, only the flower portion of the plant is smoked and only after it has been dried out.
The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC for short. This is the drug found in marijuana that gets a person high.
When marijuana is smoked it creates a drunken like euphoric high which has a calming or sedative effect.
Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans.
According to government surveys, some 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose.
Although marijuana is not categorized as unsafe alcohol or other drugs, it is however a very addictive drug and many people who are addicted to marijuana have problems when they try to stop smoking it.