Songs like Rick James’s “Mary Jane” and movies like “Half Baked” have contributed to embedding the term in American pop culture. These references often serve as a coded language, enabling discussions about the substance in environments where it might be stigmatized or illegal. Marijuana (also known as pot, weed, reefer, ganja, Mary Jane, and other slang terms) refers to the dried leaves, flowers, and stems from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. They contain the psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), as well as a number of other related compounds called cannabinoids. But attitudes were changing, and pot culture was becoming mainstream. “We were proud to be stoners,” says Halperin, who previously worked for High Times magazine.
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Terms like cannabis and ganja go back centuries, and have long been used to describe the plant and its medicinal properties. Depending on where you live, you may recognize other names for cannabis. For instance, brown, chronic, alfalfa, dank, and ditch weed are also regional names for cannabis.
The connection between the words marijuana and Mary Jane
Let’s take a closer look at the historical background and origins of marijuana. Of course, all of this assumes the word “marijuana” was, is, and always has been a simple portmanteau. But there’s a chance that’s possibly not the case at all — and that the real story behind the slang is a lot more complex than it seems. Whether you choose to spend your 420 at a corporate-sponsored festival or in your own backyard, the most important thing is that you enjoy it. Cannabis is already a billion-dollar industry, which makes the incentive to turn 420 into a money-making holiday all the greater. So while the underground, alternative culture of cannabis might not be too keen on this idea, those with a more business-minded approach will likely jump at the chance.
Why Do People Use Slang Names for Marijuana?
The worst just e-mail their buddies and then write up a paper or grab some undergrads in an introductory psychology course. Some of the common terms you might know include pot, ganja, weed, and joint, among many others. Besides the cannabis plant, the nicknames range from the users, smoking, and accessories. With a vocabulary list of over 100 nicknames, you will learn different code names for cannabis and its users. Common names for smokers are potheads or stoners; you might have heard the terms from weed enthusiasts.
Slang names for marijuana, including “Mary Jane,” frequently appear in pop culture, particularly in songs, movies, and TV shows. This not only reflects societal attitudes but also serves to normalize the terminology and, by extension, the substance itself. Slang names can both reflect and shape public perception of marijuana. For example, names that are playful or humorous may minimize the perceived risks, while more clinical or formal terms may be used in medical or legal discussions. Slang names for marijuana often arise from the need for discretion, especially in jurisdictions where the substance is illegal.
As William S. Burroughs wrote in his 1959 novel Naked Lunch, catnip was “frequently passed on the incautious or uninstructed,” since it looked and smelled similar enough to the drug. Click here for an overview of the real risks of using marijuana. Research shows that year old girls who used marijuana every day were 5x more likely to suffer from depression when they reach their early 20’s. There’s also a significant increase in the reporting of depression and anxiety in young women who use daily – and 13% of young users become dependent on it. If our explanation didn’t quite hit the mark, we’d love to hear your perspective.
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- No matter what your proclivities are, a day dedicated tosmoking Mary Jane is surely a sight to be seen.
- However, in the 1930s, the term “marijuana” became more widespread.
- There’s also a significant increase in the reporting of depression and anxiety in young women who use daily – and 13% of young users become dependent on it.
- This euphemism, often used interchangeably with marijuana, has an interesting history and cultural significance.
Mary Jane is a slang term primarily used to refer to marijuana, which is the dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis sativa plant. Hashish, on the other hand, is a concentrated form of cannabis made from the resin of the plant’s flowers. While both marijuana and hashish come from the same plant, they smoking mary jane differ in form, potency, and often in how they are consumed. Names like “Mary Jane” have been popularized through various mediums such as music, film, and literature.
Marijuana is typically smoked in joints, pipes, or vaporized, whereas hashish can be smoked or mixed with food and eaten. Hashish is generally more potent than marijuana because it is a concentrated form of the plant’s active compounds, like THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). The terms “Mary Jane” for cannabis and “Mary Jane” for the shoe style may share a name, but their origins and cultural implications are distinct. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “Mary Jane” as a name for a style of shoe predates its use as slang for marijuana, with the shoe term appearing as early as the early 20th century. While both terms have widespread recognition, their connection is more coincidental than intentional. The term thus becomes a part of social vernacular, reflecting both collective and individual identities.
Starting with Cannabis
In 1978’s Up in Smoke, they drive a van from Mexico to Los Angeles that is made of resin from cannabis plants. In 1981’s Nice Dreams, they sell marijuana out of an ice cream truck. That imagery was part of an anti-cannabis movement and helped to prompt a crackdown on illegal cannabis use, which culminated in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Like anything, the history of pot, weed or whatever you want to call it is complicated. During the Jazz Age, when singers wrote odes to the plant, it was called dope, reefer and tea.
Also, a smoked marijuana high lasts about two hours, but eaten marijuana often lasts 4-8 hours. The reason marijuana is baked into brownies is that brownies taste good and this keeps you from getting the munchies. No, actually the real reason is that active ingredient in marijuana is THC, also called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and it needs to be extracted from the marijuana plant to have an effect on the body. The heat of smoking turns THC into a vapor which is inhaled.
“Mary Jane” and “Marijuana”
It does not have a sexual connotation and is not a typo or misspelling. Also, as you’ll read below, there are some serious and definitive physical and mental effects from smoking pot that need to be understood. It took some time–and a number of tries to leave it fully behind, but she did it. Now she’s reaping the benefits – as are her relationships, work, and family. While “Mary Jane” is primarily an American term, it is understood in many English-speaking countries.
Rainy day woman
Sure, you wouldn’t want your daughter to date one, but when a slow-moving, laconic, glassy-eyed, long-haired, character pops up on the screen—big or small—we’re all likely to crack a smile. I have a friend who smokes a lot of weed, and she even trained her parrot to say, “Where’s my marijuana? Cannabis by any other name would smell as sweet (or skunky, rather), and it’s definitely had its fair share of creative sobriquets over the years. From giggle smoke to Nixon, here are 18 old-fashioned slang terms to describe the ever-popular psychoactive plant.
There are many anecdotal reports of the amotivational syndrome among regular marijuana users, but no good science. My own experience as a physician is that daily or almost-daily marijuana users do sharpen up after they quit. The drug remains in the body in small amounts for several days, and this could be part of the problem.
And if you start using before the age of 18, you are 4-7x more likely to develop such a disorder as an adult. You can read more here about its addictive qualities – as well as how the potency of marijuana has significantly increased over the years and why that matters. Mary Jane, while a light-hearted and often whimsical euphemism for marijuana, plays a significant role in modern culture. Its evolution from a slang term to a mainstream reference mirrors the changing attitudes toward cannabis in society. As acceptance continues to grow, it’s likely that terms like Mary Jane will remain an integral part of cannabis culture and discourse worldwide. The nickname “Mary Jane” is thought to have been derived from the Spanish word for marijuana, “marihuana,” which could also be a play on the name “Mary” in English.