Cannabis Terminology

Words have power, especially in the emerging cannabis sector. In this chapter, we cover the proper terminology for all things cannabis, and why it all matters.

As the legal cannabis industry becomes more socially acceptable and mainstream, we as professionals in the sector must understand the plant medicine as well as we can. This includes getting our terminology right.

Using the right words makes us sound more educated on the plant and helps to continue legitimizing cannabis consumption. For as far as we’ve come, we’ve got a way to go. And this includes cleaning up our words when it comes to describing various aspects of cannabis: the business behind it, and the plant itself.

Using the Right Words: How We Drop the Stoner Stereotype

Young professionals who happen to consume or be in favor of legal cannabis, especially those of us who are millennials, tend to be sick of the stoner stereotype. The fact is that most of us are educated, professional, responsible, and hard-working.

The modern-day cannabis consumer doesn’t live at home in their parents’ basement. They are equally male and female, they earn a solid living and are in long-term relationships. The numbers from a study conducted by a company called Miner & Co. prove this. Many consumers are tired of the mainstream portraying cannabis consumers as slacker stoners. Using the right words helps us shed this stereotype.

Word History of Marijuana

There is a plethora of information that you can get as far as the history of cannabis prohibition in the U.S. To start, Harry Anslinger formed the DEA back in 1937, making cannabis illegal in the process and injecting the slang word marijuana at the same time. The film Reefer Madness is laughable nowadays, but that’s exactly what they believed back then, and that’s what Anslinger got the majority of Americans to believe as well. There were many issues regarding racism and corporatism involved with the prohibition of cannabis, but we’re not going to get into that here.

If you’d like to dive as deeply as we like to, we recommend you check out the book The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer. You’ve probably heard about the cultivar (not strain) Jack Herer, but the man was a champion for spreading the truth about cannabis his entire life. The first edition of his book was published back in 1985.

Why Words Matter

The words we use to describe things in our daily lives matter, and the world of cannabis is no different. This is why we prefer to not use words like marijuana, stoner, and so on. Consuming this invaluable plant responsibly includes the way we talk about all aspects of consumption, and we hope we’ve done our part to convince you as such.

What We Learned: Cannabis Terminology

Our words have power, and this is especially true when it comes to the normalization of cannabis consumption. Here’s what we learned in our Terminology chapter:

• As the legal cannabis industry becomes more socially acceptable and mainstream, using the right terminology is imperative.
• Young professionals who happen to be cannabis consumers are sick of the stoner stereotype.
• Many regular cannabis consumers are educated, professional, responsible, and hard-working.
• Harry Anslinger formed the DEA back in 1937, making cannabis illegal in the process and injecting the slang word marijuana at the same time.
• One of the best books on cannabis history is Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer.

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