10 Interesting Cannabis Fun Facts

Cannabis

Cannabis has exerted its influence over the world for years—more than 6,000 years, to be exact. In this time, it has been the centerpiece of tall tales, linguistic innovation and more. In fact, finding things about marijuana that you didn’t know before doesn’t require you to search very far.

Here are 10 of the most interesting cannabis facts that we bet you didn’t know!

1. We’re Ready for Doomsday

In the 1980s, Crop Trust executive director Carly Fowler suggested that the world band together to create a “vault” of stored seeds in case a catastrophe befell the world. This idea was fully realized when the Doomsday Vault opened in 2008 on the island of Svalbard. This vault contains more than 60,000 seeds, many of which come from various hemp and cannabis plants.

2. Morocco Is the Center of It All

Most data suggest that the biggest producer of marijuana resin in the entire world is the country of Morocco. However, this title is being threatened now that many American states are legalizing recreational use.

3. Famous Enjoyers Abound

Many people already know that ancient Chinese emperors and even British queens have relied on cannabis in the past. But did you know that marijuana residue was identified inside the home of William Shakespeare? Maybe that’s why he was such a prolific writer! George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were likely also hobbyists, as they both maintained hemp plantations.

4. It Boasts Endless Slang

Very few words have split off into as much slang as marijuana. Weed, kush, 420, ganja and more are just a few of the more than 1,000 slang terms that we use to refer to cannabis. As the marijuana scene continues to evolve, this number will only grow thanks to the ever-changing nature of language.

5. It Kicked Off Online Retail

That’s right—the very first product ever sold online was weed. In 1971, Stanford and MIT were working together on the development of the world wide web. As part of this cooperation, they attempted to conduct an online sale. The item? A small packet of marijuana. You can thank cannabis for the birth of eBay and ecommerce as a whole.

6. It’s More Popular Than Starbucks

Now that multiple locations in the U.S. are legalizing marijuana, it may come as no surprise that its popularity has exploded. Los Angeles is home to more dispensaries than Starbucks locations, and in Colorado, cannabis shops are three times as common as the country’s favorite coffee house.

7. It’s Beer—But Different

People tend to think of marijuana and beer as different things, but in reality, the hops that are used to create beer come from the same family of plants as marijuana. This makes them related cousins. And yes, marijuana beer exists.

8. You’ll Swear You Can Fly

Many people enjoy the mind-altering effects of cannabis, and no case rings truer than the story told by Dr. James Munch, a marijuana expert who testified in court in 1938. The judge asked Munch to explain what the experience of cannabis was like. The New York Times published his response as follows: “I had a dream. I dreamed that I had lived in an ink bottle for 200 years.

Then I climbed to the neck of the bottle and wrote a book. Then I flew out of the bottle and flew around the world twice. Then I woke up. I had been asleep in the chair for sixteen minutes.”
While some tall tales exaggerate this story to claim that Munch said he’d turned into a bat, his actual experience still led him to fly—at least in his dreams.

9. Some People Avoid the Term “Marijuana”

Marijuana is not the name of the plant. Instead, this term arises from Mexican Spanish, and immigrants from Mexico quickly became negatively associated with the presence of cannabis in the U.S. In solidarity against the racist mistreatment of Mexican immigrants, some people elect not to use the term “marijuana” at all.

10. A Weed Overdose Isn’t Really a Thing

Smoking or consuming cannabis should be done responsibly, but it is very difficult to lethally “overdose” (in medical terms) from weed. In order to achieve this, you’d need to smoke 1500 pounds of cannabis in just 15 minutes.

Get Your Cannabis from a Minority Owned Dispensary

Cannabis has changed the world over the course of thousands of years, and we welcome it as an enjoyable hobby to share with friends or enjoy on our own. At Pure Oasis, we are proud to support our community in learning what they need to know to use cannabis safely and enjoyably. Stop by our award-winning Black-owned dispensary to try something new or test the waters for the first time. We are happy to help!