Almost entire 20th and now in the two decades of the 21st century, there has been a misunderstanding regarding the usage and benefits of cannabis. However, it is not widely known that cannabis also has two species: marijuana and hemp. People confuse them and they even think that this is the same species. This all has created the misunderstanding and ignorance regarding the usage and benefits of each one of them.
Three plant species
To make things crystal clear: cannabis, marijuana and hemp are not the same and are not interchangeable. To begin with the distinction, cannabis has two subspecies and they are Indica and Sativa. On the other hand, marijuana can be considered to belong to one of these two subspecies. Hemp is also belonging to one of these, i.e., to Sativa subspecies.
Hemp vs. Marijuana
Even though they are usually considered to be the same plant species, the distinction between them is crystal clear. First of all, marijuana has broad leaves and it also has dense buds. Regarding the appearance, it can be described as shorty and bushy. On the other hand, hemp has leaves that are skinny and they can be found at the top of the plant. It grows taller and there are not a lot of branches under the upper part of the plant. If you put one next to the other, the distension can be made especially if you know the chemical differences.
Chemical composition of hemp and marijuana
Cannabis primarily consists of Cannabinoids. To be more precise, it has two main sub-compounds and those are Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD). It has been proven that both of them can be beneficial to human health in many ways. However, we should point out that THC sometimes can have an opiate effect and thus have an impact on our serenity, which is not the case with CBD.
There comes a tremendous distinction between hemp and marijuana regarding this. First of all, the concentration of THN in hemp is lower than 0.3% while there is a lot of THC in marijuana, i.e., between 15% and 40%. This is the reason why people use marijuana for recreation and health while hemp is used in the industry.
Usage of hemp and marijuana
It is widely known that both plants species have been widely grown and used as psychoactive substances due to the presence of THC within them. When we say for psychoactive purposes, we mean using these plants for both recreational and medicinal purposes. When marijuana is concerned, there are various methods of using it. First of all people can smoke it, then they can inhale it. On top of this, it can be eaten or even entered into the body with various injections. THC from it is used in multiple appliances such as capsules and vaporizers. The situation with hemp is a bit different.
Namely, this plant is mostly used in the industry during the production of paper, food products, clothing, various oils and many more applications of it. It should also be mentioned that people have started to use CBD more and more all over the globe and this has thus increased the demand for CBD. It is used in the production of concrete, soap and some auto parts. The primary usage of this plant if in all those products that need to be made without THC.
Legalization
There is a huge difference in the amount of percentage of THC in hemp and marijuana but this is not the only problem. The biggest problem when both plants are concerned is the question of whether they should be legalized or not.
There are not unified rules around the world regarding the legality of usage of these plants. There are also different treatments of the plants in terms of their sales and even transportation. If we take the USA for example, it is allowed to have THC based products if it is up to 0.3%. The rest of the world has this borer at 0.2%. The reason why hemp is usually considered legal in most parts of the world is due to the low presence of THC in it. The story with marijuana is quite the opposite.
