Hemp Magazine

health.livlabsnow.com | 3 Let’s be clear upfront: hemp is not marijuana. You cannot get high from smoking or ingesting hemp, and it is classified as a dif - ferent substance from marijuana in most U.S. laws. So why does there continue to be so much confusion about the subject? In short, the confusion stems from the fact that both hemp and marijuana are forms of a plant called cannabis. But they are two very different forms of the plant, which leads to taxonomic confusion amongst laypeople and scientists alike. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE TAXONOMY OF CANNABIS Historically, there has been no division between the various strains of the cannabis plant family. When Carl Linnaeus first classified cannabis in 1753, he named only one variety: cannabis sativa. But, in 1785, biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck said another cannabis species existed based on samples from India: cannabis indica. This set up a controversy that is still raging today: Exactly what is the dividing line between hemp and marijuana in the cannabis family? The original scientific differentiations between sativa and indi - ca were based on characteristics such as the shape of their leaves and flowers and not other factors that we often think of today, like THC or CBD concentrations. Under this classification system, all hemp plants – those grown for industrial rather than medicinal purposes – were assumed to be cannabis sativa. But these early, simplistic classifications based on physical characteristics have recently been found to be inadequate. With new technology and access to plant samples from across the world, scientists have been able to nail down more firmly on a biological level what’s going on with the different strains and species of cannabis. In a recent study with Indiana University, Karl W. Hillig grew 157 different cannabis plants from various geographical regions to determine whether there was a true genetic, morphological and biochemical variation among different plants. The study found good evidence to suggest at least two separate cannabis species, sativa and indica, and possibly a third – ruderalis – and did not concur with previous assumptions about all hemp falling into the cannabis sativa category. WHAT IS INDUSTRIAL HEMP AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM MARIJUANA? 1