14.5  Cannabis (hashish or marijuana)

Figure 14.6  Mother checking her son for smoking hashish.

Cannabis is a dry, shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds and leaves of the plant Cannabis sativa. It has many informal names (e.g. ‘ganja’, ‘weed’, ‘torpedo’, ‘dope’) and is usually smoked as a cigarette (Figure 14.6), but it can also be eaten. Marijuana smoke has a distinctive sweet smell. The active ingredient in cannabis is called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabionol (THC). THC has a direct effect on the brain.