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| [[File:Drug bottle containing cannabis.jpg|right|160px]]''[[Cannabis]]'' is a rapid-growing, flowering plant that has been used for centuries for industrial, medicinal, and recreational purposes. The plant includes three species or subspecies: ''[[Cannabis indica|indica]]'', ''[[Cannabis ruderalis|ruderalis]]'', and ''[[Cannabis sativa|sativa]]''.<ref name="GRINCannabis11">{{cite web |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomygenus?id=2034 |title=Genus: Cannabis L. |work=U.S. National Plant Germplasm System |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |date=01 January 2011 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> Broadly speaking, both "[[Hemp|industrial hemp]]" and "recreational marijuana" are scientifically similar in that they both refer to the ''cannabis'' plant. The important difference between the two is how they've been bred by humans, particularly in regards to their biochemical composition. Hemp—which has historically been used to create clothing, food and feed, paper, textiles, and other industrial items—tends to be bred to have lower levels of the psychoactive component [[tetrahydrocannabinol]] (THC) and higher levels of the non-psychoactive component [[cannabidiol]] (CBD).<ref name="SwansonControlled15">{{cite journal |title=Controlled Substances Chaos: The Department of Justice's New Policy Position on Marijuana and What It Means for Industrial Hemp Farming in North Dakota |journal=North Dakota Law Review |author=Swanson, T.E. |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=599–622 |year=2015 |url=https://law.und.edu/_files/docs/ndlr/pdf/issues/90/3/90ndlr599.pdf |format=PDF}}</ref><ref name="DeitchHemp03">{{cite book |title=Hemp – American History Revisited |author=Deitch, R. |publisher=Algora Publishing |location=New York City |year=2003 |pages=232 |isbn=9780875862262}}</ref> However, some [[cannabis strains]] have intentionally been bred to maximize the psychoactive component THC; this is often referred to as marijuana (or the older term "marihuana"), a change arguably driven by newspaper reporters post-1900.<ref name="BaccaWhat14">{{cite web |url=http://www.alternet.org/drugs/whats-difference-between-hemp-and-marijuana |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615050023/https://www.alternet.org/2014/06/whats-difference-between-hemp-and-marijuana/ |title=What's the Difference Between Hemp and Marijuana? |author=Bacca, A. |work=Alternet |publisher=Independent Media Institute |date=05 June 2014 |archivedate=15 June 2020 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="ThompsonTheMyst13">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/14/201981025/the-mysterious-history-of-marijuana |title=The Mysterious History Of 'Marijuana' |author=Thompson, M. |work=NPR |publisher=National Public Radio |date=22 July 2013 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>
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| Cannabis cultivation began in England's Jamestown colony of America in earnest around 1611, via formal orders. Several years later those orders turned into a royal decree, enacted by the Virginia Company, asking colonists to each grow 100 hemp plants for export to England.<ref name="DeitchHemp03" /> Colonial America continued its growth, use, and exportation of hemp, even beyond the formal founding of the United States. During that time, growers undoubtedly were using the female plant (which flowers and has higher levels of THC) to treat aches and pains as well as enjoy it recreationally. By the time the U.S. Civil War arrived in the 1860s, however, the growth and use of industrial hemp declined as increased cotton and wood use took away much of the profitability of hemp.<ref name="DeitchHemp03" /> Around the same time, local governments began recognizing tonics, tinctures, and extracts from cannabis plants as potentially dangerous substances, labeling them as hypnotics, narcotics, or even poisons.<ref name="Senate1860">{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1860/02/16/news/senate-88150825.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204001301/http://www.nytimes.com/1860/02/16/news/senate-88150825.html |title=Senate |author=U.S. Senate |work=The New York Times |date=16 February 1860 |archivedate=04 February 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> In the early twentieth century, U.S. labeling and prescription laws—such as the the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 at the federal level, as well as various state laws—saw further restrictions put on cannabis, effectively culminating in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. With the passage of those acts, hemp and marijuana essentially became illegal, controlled substances.<ref name="WaltonMari38">{{cite book |author=Walton, R.F. |title=Marijuana, America’s New Drug Problem |location=Philadelphia |publisher=B. Lippincott |year=1938 |page=37}}</ref><ref name="WoodwardTax37">{{cite web |url=https://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/woodward.htm |title=Taxation of Marihuana |author=Woodward, W.C.; House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means |work=Schaffer Library of Drug Policy |date=04 May 1937 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="CaversTheFood39">{{cite journal |title=The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938: Its Legislative History and its Substantive Provisions |journal=Law and Contemporary Problems |author=Cavers, D.F. |volume=6 |pages=2–42 |year=1939 |url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol6/iss1/2/}}</ref>
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| State efforts to decriminalize marijuana were somewhat successful in the early 1970s, though progress towards that goal slowed again with the Reagan Administration's war on drugs.<ref name="MeierPolitics16">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4wYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |title=The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol and Public Policy: Drugs, Alcohol and Public Policy |author=Meier, K.J. |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |page=58 |isbn=9781315287270}}</ref> Progress picked up steam again in the late 1990s into the 2000s, particularly in states such as California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, and Colorado.
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| As of July 2021, thirty-seven U.S. states and the District of Columbia have approved broad legalization of medicinal marijuana, with 11 of those states also approving recreational marijuana.<ref name="BerkeMichigan18">{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/legal-marijuana-states-2018-1 |title=Marijuana legalization is sweeping the US. See every state where cannabis is legal |author=Berke, J.; Gal, S.; Lee, Y.J. |work=Business Insider |publisher=Insider, Inc |date=06 January 2021 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> Additionally, neighboring Canada has legalized the purchase, growth, and consumption of marijuana in small amounts across the country<ref name="PorterCanada18">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/canada/marijuana-legalization-teenagers.html |title=Canada’s Message to Teenagers: Marijuana Is Legal Now. Please Don’t Smoke It |author=Porter, C. |work=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times Company |date=11 November 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>, while Mexico's Supreme Court has legalized "all forms of non-commercial adult use" of the plant<ref name="TimmonsMexico18">{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/31/Mexicos-Supreme-Court-legalizes-cannabis-for-recreational-use/9621541024238/ |title=Mexico's Supreme Court legalizes cannabis for recreational use |author=Timmons, P. |work=UPI |publisher=United Press International, Inc |date=31 October 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>, though fully implementing the decision has been an ongoing process since 2019.<ref name="WilliamsNews19">{{cite web |url=https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/11/16/news-flash-recreational-marijuana-in-mexico-is-goi.aspx |title=News Flash: Recreational Marijuana in Mexico Is Going to Have to Wait |author=Williams, S. |work=The Motley Fool |date=16 November 2019 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="WestfallMexico21">{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/29/marijuana-legalization-court-ruling-mexico/ |title=Mexico’s top court rolls back marijuana prohibition, opening door to legalization |author=Westfall, S. |work=The Washington Post |date=29 June 2021 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> Industrial hemp has also been addressed in a more serious fashion in the U.S., with 47 states having introduced some sort of [[Hemp#Cultivation|hemp cultivation]] and production programs, and the federal government making certain concessions on it (''Cannabis sativa'' containing no more than 0.3 percent THC, grown under a state-sanctioned agricultural pilot program).<ref name="NCSLState18">{{cite web |url=https://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/state-industrial-hemp-statutes.aspx |title=State Industrial Hemp Statuses |publisher=National Conference of State Legislatures |date=02 August 2019 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="81FR53395">{{cite journal |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/08/12/2016-19146/statement-of-principles-on-industrial-hemp |journal=Federal Register |title=Statement of Principles on Industrial Hemp |volume=81 |issue=156 |date=12 August 2016 |pages=53395–6 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> In December 2018, those concessions seemingly transformed into what became outright legalization of industrial hemp in the United States (with significant shared state-federal regulator restrictions<ref name="HudakTheFarm18">{{cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/12/14/the-farm-bill-hemp-and-cbd-explainer/ |title=The Farm Bill, hemp legalization and the status of CBD: An explainer |author=Hudak, J. |work=FIXGOV |publisher=The Brookings Institution |date=14 December 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>) via the full passage and reconciliation of the 2018 Farm Bill.<ref name="NCSLState18" /><ref name="GoodFarm18">{{cite web |url=https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2018/12/farm-bill-signed-snap-proposal-released-and-trade-aid-payments-approved/ |title=Farm Bill Signed, SNAP Proposal Released, and Trade Aid Payments Approved |work=Farm Policy News |author=Good, K. |publisher=Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois |date=20 December 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="MilliganLegal18">{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-12-04/legalization-of-hemp-could-be-first-step-for-federal-marijuana-protections |title=Legalization of Hemp Could Be First Step for Federal Marijuana Protections |author=Milligan, S. |work=U.S. News and World Report |date=04 December 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="StewartWillHemp18">{{cite web |url=https://www.natlawreview.com/article/will-hemp-derived-cbd-be-fully-legal-passage-2018-farm-bill-not-quite |title=Will Hemp-Derived CBD Be Fully Legal with Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill? Not Quite… |author=Stewart, I.A.; Kloss, J.M.; Willner, N.M. |work=The National Law Review |date=04 December 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> However, marijuana remains a [[Controlled Substances Act#Schedules of controlled substances|Schedule I]] controlled substance, as determined by the [[Food and Drug Administration|U.S. Food and Drug Administration]]<ref name="LegerMari16">{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/11/dea-marijuana-remains-illegal-under-federal-law/88550804/ |title=Marijuana to remain illegal under federal law, DEA says |author=Leger, D.L. |work=USA. Today |publisher=Gannett Company |date=11 August 2016 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>, including extracts and other derivatives such as CBD that come from cannabis.<ref name="WallaceLegal17">{{cite web |url=https://www.thecannabist.co/2017/01/13/hemp-dea-extracts-marijuana-cbd-judicial-review/71387/ |title=Legal challenge filed against DEA’s new marijuana extract rule |work=The Cannabist |author=Wallace, A. |publisher=The Denver Post |date=13 January 2017 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> (However, the DEA moved CBD-based prescription drugs with a THC content below 0.01 percent to Schedule V classification in September 2018.<ref name="Romza-KutzCBD18">{{cite web |url=https://www.thompsoncoburn.com/insights/blogs/tracking-cannabis/post/2018-10-01/cbd-drugs-moved-to-schedule-5-no-promises-for-cannabis |title=CBD drugs moved to Schedule 5; no promises for cannabis |author=Romza-Kutz, D. |publisher=Thompson Coburn LLP |date=01 October 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> The status of CBD extracted from industrial hemp appears to be in a legal quagmire with the passage of the [[2018 Farm Bill]]; see ''The National Law Review'' from late 2018<ref name="StewartWillHemp18" />, the FDA's consumer update from late 2019<ref name="FDAWhatYouNeed19">{{cite web |url=https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/what-you-need-know-and-what-were-working-find-out-about-products-containing-cannabis-or-cannabis |title=What You Need to Know (And What We’re Working to Find Out) About Products Containing Cannabis or Cannabis-derived Compounds, Including CBD |author=U.S. Food and Drug Administration |work=Consumer Updates |date=25 November 2019 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>, and it's most recent regulatory news<ref name="FDARegulationOfCann20">{{cite web |url=https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-regulation-cannabis-and-cannabis-derived-products-including-cannabidiol-cbd#legaltosell |title=FDA Regulation of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products, Including Cannabidiol (CBD) |author=U.S. Food and Drug Administration |work=Public Health Focus |date=13 February 2020 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> for further details.) This federal classification continues to clash with changing state laws and regulations at an increasing pace, creating both opportunities and difficulties for involved citizens at all points along the industrial, economic, and social chain.
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
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