This info is coming from a long-time cannabis user, cannabis activist, cannabis researcher, cannabis grower, cannabis patient, and medical professional.
First, "Cannabis"
Cannabis (or cannabis sativa) is the real name of the plant. Scientists continuously debate exactly how to classify it in terms of genus and species, but that aside, cannabis is - and always will be - the undisputed name for it. The plant was native at one time to Asia, but spread to every corner of the planet long ago, and humans have been using it since the beginning of recorded time.
Cannabis is also the name given to the substance obtained by drying the cannabis plant's flowers. Some people also use terms like "weed", "pot", "ganja", "green", "bud", and others.
This is where the word "marijuana" comes in. It's a pejorative slang term the US government popularized during Reefer Madness in the 1950s, to make cannabis sound "more Mexican", perhaps foreign, or dangerous. Basically, it's a racist term used by prohibitionists and those who don't know any better.
So what is "Hemp"?
Scientifically, there's no such thing, although the term is in widespread use. Hemp is a very human term, loaded and judgemental at best. It's a term rooted in prohibition, which is rooted in ignorance. Hemp is a political term.
Hemp is the 99.9% of the cannabis plant that isn't psychoactive. Hemp is everything but the high.
- Cannabis strain bred to have less than 0.3% THC in the flowers? We call it hemp!
- Cannabis seeds are called "hemp hearts" so the public will accept and buy them.
- Cannabis stalks, leaves, seeds, roots? We call it all hemp (because there's very little THC in it).
- Cannabis plants used for food, fuel, fiber, energy are called hemp plants.
- 110+ cannabinoids (except THC and a few other psychoactive ones) are classified as hemp.
- Cannabis plants before a certain stage of flower maturation are considered hemp plants (because they contain very little active THC).
- For the longest time, Rick Simpson (who popularized the technique of making full extract cannabis oil to cure cancer) called it "hemp oil" for fear of the public (1990s) thinking the oil was about getting high.
I read or hear things like "hemp is the cousin of the cannabis plant", over and over again. But hemp and cannabis are the SAME plant. Please stop perpetuating that fallacy!
Summary:
The plant is cannabis. The dried buds, which contain the cannabinoids, can also be called cannabis - or weed, pot, etc.
Hemp is every part of the cannabis plant except the THC.
Marijuana is racist slang.
All hemp is cannabis. Not all cannabis is hemp.
When in doubt, always say "cannabis", and you will always be right.
Please pass this on until it's common knowledge!
DRutter