Talk:Marijuana

I think we should not be too shortsighted and only write from the American viewpoint on topics. Especially this topic deserves a lemmata which is a LOT bigger. I added just some information I still remember from European- and International criminal law, but we are still missing a LOT of information about the legal status in about 15 to 20 European countries. I cannot assess the status of Marijuanna in the US but I do think we should also add some information on the movement to decriminalise (some) uses of Marijuanna. Frank van Geelkerken 13:10, 31 May 2007 (CDT)

I agree. We should include the viewpoints of other English-speaking countries, to be sure. What do they call the drug in the U.K.? Not "marijuana"? Certainly, this will not do as an opening paragraph:

Marijuana is a term primarily used in United States to denote the cannabis plant, often in the context when the plant is used as a psychoactive drug. The term itself was originally borrowed from Spanish by people who worked to prohibit the plant in United States.

"a term primarily used in the United States" implies the term isn't used in the U.K. or Australia, etc. If so, we should include the most common terms used there. If not, we should remove the U.S. reference. Could someone look into this? I'd be very curious. --Larry Sanger 17:52, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

I live in the U.K., and, to the best of my knowledge, the media uses the term "cannabis" whenever it talks about marijuana. For example, from a BBC website: [1]. And perhaps we can have a long list of synonyms for marijuana (such as weed, hemp, gear, etc.), or is that too flippant? Jeffrey Scott Bernstein 18:29, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

Excellent idea for a catalog: Marijuana/Catalogs/Alternative names

The question isn't just what the media calls it but what ordinary educated people call it. When people go to smoke weed, and they aren't using slang, what do they call it? --Larry Sanger 18:47, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

Well, okay, sure, I've heard people say "marijuana" here in the U.K. Indeed, "marijuana" I suppose is THE name worldwide, the lingua franca name for grass; and "cannabis" is the more "hoity-toity" way to describe it. That is to say, no matter what other expression there may be, "marijuana" will ALWAYS be "the basic" or "fundamental" way. For example, in the U.S. I never ever heard anyone refer to weed as "cannabis". HOWEVER, here in the U.K., I suppose that down in the street or in university students' rooms, neither "marijuana" nor "cannabis" are used; slang is the order of the day in such places: "weed", "grass", "bud", "smoke". I am not sure if I am helping here. Haha. And don't ask how I know this stuff. Personally, I would say that "marijuana" is not a term primarily used in the U.S. only. But maybe some other U.K. residents can enter the discussion here. Oh yeah, one of the most common ways to refer to weed in the U.K. is "spliff" (i.e., joint). Jeffrey Scott Bernstein 18:58, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

"Don't ask how I know this stuff" is almost self-incrimination. --Robert W King 19:25, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

I'm not sure I see the benefit in having two separate articles, one called marijuana and the other called cannabis. Is this topic really worthy of having separate articles for how the term is used in multiple countries? I would think having both redirect to the same article, and then if necessary, having subtopics in the article for different countries might be a better approach. --Todd Coles 11:31, 26 October 2007 (CDT)