CANNABIS HISTORY
Marijuana
A Word Steeped in Defiance
by Karla Deel , contributing writer
Cannabis . Reefer . Mary Jane . Weed . Pot . Hash . Herb . Grass . Ganja . Dope . Flower . Cheeba . Chronic . A lot of words to describe one plant . But what about its most notable — marijuana ? What ’ s in a name ?
Turns out , an entire history .
Marijuana history is synonymous with Mexican colonial history . When you trace the word back to its origin , you ’ ll find a surprising story rooted in the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the refusal of the indigenous people to abandon their culture . And despite what you ’ ve heard , using the word “ marijuana ” is not a bad thing . In fact , using the word “ marijuana ” began as an act of revolt .
The term “ marijuana ” is packed with enigma , controversy , and misinformation . Stigma about the word as a slur against Mexicans stemmed from the marketing prowess of the 1930s Reefer Madness campaign , not its origins with Mesoamericans . When sensationalized newspaper articles in the United States began to connect the word “ marijuana ” to Mexicans , it was an attempt to racialize the plant and highlight its foreignness to scare people away from it . But the joke ’ s on them . At its core , the word itself celebrates the resilience of the Mexican people .
When the Spanish monarchs began to conquer the land and convert the inhabitants of Mexico and Mesoamerica into Catholic nations , they discovered something that shocked them — the widespread use of psychoactive plants and substances in ritual , spiritual , and sacred practices . For centuries , indigenous Aztec , Mayan , and Zapotecan cultures consumed substances such as peyote , belladonna , and psilocybin to achieve transcendence and spiritual growth .
Spanish Friars at the forefront of the spiritual conquest feared these powerful practices of the indigenous people and worked to prohibit the use of divinity substances . These substances appalled the Spanish monarchs , who agreed with the Friars and immediately forbade the use of these plants by native people . Over the next two centuries , individuals who were caught using these substances would be severely punished .
Side note : One could argue that the spiritual practices in Mesoamerica weren ’ t too dissimilar to those in Catholicism ( to natives , consuming peyote was synonymous with consuming an ancestor “ grandfather spirit ,” and taking the Eucharist is to consume the body and blood of Christ ).
34 March 2022
Watercolor graphics commissioned art by Flora Farms .