Mc dawn'sCannabis WRITTEN BY: DAWN MC GEE
MYSTERIES, MYTHS, & FACTS ABOUT
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
IF WE CALL CANNABIS BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET?
Cannabis is known by many names in the US and across the world. Marijuana, ganja, reefer, and more. Marijuana is probably the most common of all of them. So why do we call Cannabis, Marijuana? The indigenous people of Mexico introduced cannabis to the United States around 1910 after the Mexican Revolution. Ganja as it became to be known in San Francisco, appeared around 1911 due to the large immigration of Hindu people. Ganja was a part of Hindu traditions. The West Indies brought Reefer to New Orleans and much of the south. Cannabis was spreading everywhere in the United States and the government and people of the US wanted nothing of it. The US had been fighting a war on opium and cocaine for 70 years and now comes cannabis? It had to be stopped! Cannabis did not fit in with the social morals and mores of the time. California became the first state to outlaw cannabis (ganja) possession and its use after the spread of cannabis throughout California. Other states soon followed and developed their own laws. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was formed in 1925 and by 1936, the cult film, “Reefer Madness” was released to the public which instilled fear into society. Guard your children! Marijuana was fast becoming public enemy #1. Wait, backup, why is it called Marijuana and not Ganja? The US relations with Mexico were not at their best in the 1930’s.
The Mexican people who were hired in the US worked and toiled on farms as pickers, ranch hands and domestics; and were grateful for the work to feed their families. Corporate farmers loved them; they were helping their bottom line. Out of work Americans were angry at the Mexican people for taking their jobs; this was the era of the great depression that began on October 4, 1929, with the collapse of the stock market. Unemployment rose 23% during the great depression and a good amount of America was unemployed. Most Americans could not work for the same wages as the Mexican laborers. Mexican labor may have been cheap, but it was not unionized. Labor unions were not very happy and rallied against the Mexican labor force. Racial tensions were growing. The term Marijuana was being used to describe a sub group of society. Anyone who was associated with Marijuana was either Mexican, Black, Native American, immigrants or social deviants. If you didn’t fit society’s mold of that time, then you were probably a social deviant. It didn’t matter what color you were. thechronicmagazine.com
MARCH 2022
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