India

Ganja in India: entre illégalité et sacré.

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Longtemps loué comme plante divine dans les textes anciens, le cannabis est depuis 1985 illégal en Inde. Une très relative prohibition puisque le haschich et la Ganja y sont toujours largement produits et consommés. A quand la (re)légalisation du sacré ?

C’est sur les contreforts de l’Himalaya que pousse un cannabis Indica qui produit un des haschich les plus prisé au monde : le Charas.
Longtemps vénéré avant d’être produit illégalement, ce cannabis made in India y est cultivé en abondance et trouve des consommateurs de tout âge et caste dans une société pourtant considérée comme peu souple.
Selon une étude menée par ABCD, pour Seedo, New Delhi, la capitale, se hisserait  -en nombre d’enthousiastes de la fumette-  au deuxième rang des villes les plus consommatrices de ganja du globe. Mumbai, la capitale financière, ne fait pas exception à la conso’ d’herbe puisqu’elle se place à la 6ème position des 120 villes les plus amateur de marijuana de la planète.

Plante bénite

Un penchant cannabique qui n’a rien de surprenant tant la large consommation de weed dans l’ancienne colonie britannique ne peut être isolée de la longue histoire du pays au 330 millions de divinités, avec une consommation de la belle plante qui remonte au moins  à 2000 avant JC.
Soit bien avant les élucubrations fumantes des communautés 60’s de Goa.
Le quatrième Veda de l’hindouisme appelé Atharva Veda parle ainsi du cannabis comme «l’une des cinq plantes les plus sacrées».
Quand au dieu porte-bonheur  Shiva, il aurait abonnement consommé l’herbe magique.

Shiva et Parvati préparant un Bhang

Le même  Shiva qui est souvent représenté avec un chillum (pipe indienne traditionnelle en argile).

Homme fumant le shilom

Le Bhang, boisson planante composée de feuilles de cannabis et de lait est aussi mentionné nombre de fois dans les textes religieux indiens. Inattendue intervention divine ou tolérance pragmatique? Toujours est-il qu’en vertu de la Convention unique sur les stupéfiants et de la loi sur les substances psychotropes 1985, le Bhang n’est pas classé comme stupéfiant dans le pays. Il est donc possible, légal et culturellement très correct de s’envoyer un space-cake liquide en Inde.

Outre le contexte religieux, le système de médecine indien, l’Ayurveda, est également connu pour largement avoir recours au cannabis comme ingrédient actif dans les préparations. Pas moins de 191 formulations et plus de 15 formes posologiques ont inclus la weed comme ingrédient premier pour traiter des problèmes allant de la constipation  à l’hypertension artérielle.
Médicalement, la consommation de cannabis est aussi recommandée par la médecine moderne pour traiter d’autre pathologies/conditions telles que les nausées et vomissements provoqués par les traitements chimiothérapiques, améliorer l’appétit des patients atteints du VIH / SIDA et réduire les  douleurs chroniques. La marijuana agit aussi en thymo-régulateur, son fonctionnement neurologique s’apparentant à celui d’un anxiolytique, sans addiction à la clef.

Herbe interdite

En vertu de la loi de 1985 sur les stupéfiants et les substances psychotropes (NDPS), le commerce et la consommation de résine de cannabis (charas) et de bourgeon (ganja) sont désormais illégaux et toute personne trouvée en possession de hasch ou d’herbe encoure  jusqu’à 20 ans d’emprisonnement. Cependant, l’illégalité du cannabis en Inde est des plus théoriques, comme le souligne le Rapport mondial sur les drogues 2019 publié par l’ONUDC, la section « stupéfiant » de L’ONU, qui nous apprend que plus de 3% de la population indienne âgée de 18 ans et plus et un peu moins de 1% de les adolescents âgés de 10 à 17 ans avaient consommé de la weed ou du hasch en 2018.
Bien qu’une certaine latitude en matière de tolérance  ait été accordée aux gouvernements régionaux pour fournir des licences permettant de cultiver du cannabis à des fins de recherche et à des fins médicales, seules quelques régions comme  l’Uttar Pradesh et l’Uttarakhand ont réellement reçus une licence de culture du chanvre.

Le marché indien du cannabis, entre ses débouchés et un terreau des plus favorables, attire les convoitises de multinationales autant qu’il anime la volonté de légalisation de plusieurs collectifs et ONG, organismes qui ont déposé des requêtes en justice demandant sa légalisation pure et simple. Les entrepreneurs et pétitionnaires en question affirmant non sans fondement que les bienfaits médicinaux du cannabis ont été reconnus dans le monde entier, et que l’Inde offre des conditions climatiques idéales pour que la plante y prolifère largement.
Selon un rapport de Grand View Research Inc., le marché mondial de la marijuana légale devrait atteindre 146,4 milliards de dollars d’ici la fin de 2025. Un marché sur lequel le second pays le plus peuplé au monde, qui fait face à un défi économique et sociale de taille, a tout intérêt à miser.

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Cannabis Saves The Earth ! (But only literally)

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There’s really nothing cannabis can’t do; you can eat its seeds, treat disease with its extracts and essential oils, make clothes and paper from its fiber, and feel high and mighty after smoking its flowers. But did you know that cannabis can literally clean the earth ?

Phytoremediation is a process that uses plants to clean contaminated soil. And it turns out cannabis might be one of the best plants for phytoremediation. Keep reading to learn why.

Understanding Soil Contamination and Phytoremediation

Soil is a complex ecosystem and the heart of plant life. Unfortunately, our way of living is taking a hard toll on the ground beneath our feet.
Industry, manufacturing, land development, waste disposal, agriculture, and transport are some of the main human activities jeopardizing soil health around the globe. But even the daily use of shampoos, soaps, detergents, and toothpaste creates toxic runoff that’s detrimental to the quality of soil and the life of plants and animals. Luckily, soil remediation can help reverse some of this damage.
There are many different forms of soil remediation and they all have their respective limitations.
Offsite remediation processes (like the excavation and removal of soil from a contaminated site), for example, are very expensive and usually limited to smaller areas of land. Meanwhile, some on-site remediation processes rely on chemicals or processes that can create infertile soil.
That’s where phytoremediation comes in; by using plants to absorb contaminants from the ground, it offers a natural and extremely cost-effective way to recover the health of our soil.

Is Cannabis The Best Plant For Phytoremediation ?

Cost is a major concern for almost any human venture. In fact, you might argue that our obsession with cutting costs is one of the main factors driving the pollution of our planet. Luckily, phytoremediation with hemp might be one of the cheapest ways to start healing Mother Earth.
The term phytoremediation was first coined by Profesor Ilya Raskin in the 1990s after he and a team of researchers from Rutgers University found that hemp could remove accumulated heavy metals from the soil at Chernobyl. These results were confirmed again in 2001 by a team of German researchers.
In 2011, farmers in Puglia, Italy, put this same theory into practice again. Following years of pollution from an Ilva steel plant (which released extremely high concentrations of dioxins into the atmosphere), farmers in the area were forced to cull their livestock because it was no longer fit for human consumption. In an attempt to save their businesses, farmers started turning to hemp as a cash crop and a means to revive their highly contaminated lands. Today, Puglia is still home to countless hemp farms and shops.
But why hemp? After all, Indian mustard, willows, poplar trees, Indian grass, sunflowers, and even amaranth can absorb contaminants from soil. So, what sets cannabis apart from these other plant species?
First and foremost, cannabis is very effective at accumulating contaminants from its soil. Studies show, for example, that hemp plants can transfer several heavy metals (including arsenic, cadmium, copper, and zinc) from root to shoot. Plus, industrial hemp plants also develop especially long, complex root systems that reach much deeper into the ground than the roots of some of the plants mentioned above.
Secondly, hemp is very easy and cheap to grow. It is typically ready for harvest within 4 months and can withstand extremely poor conditions; even the plants grown at Chernobyl by Professor Raskin, for example, showed no signs of stress.
Finally, what sets hemp apart from all the other phytoremediators mentioned above is this; it produces a large and extremely versatile harvestable biomass.
Remember, hemp is and has long been a major cash crop. Not only can it be harvested for its seeds and fiber, but hemp also makes for great biofuel and can even be turned into a concrete-like construction material. It’s this versatility and potential return-on-investment that sets it apart as one of the best soil remediators on the planet.

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The Real Difference Between Sativa and Indica Cannabis

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Ever since you took your first hit of a joint, you were taught one thing; sativa strains are euphoric and uplifting, while indicas will leave you glued to the couch and sleepy. Right? Well, not really.  The terms indica and sativa tell us a lot about a plant’s genetics and morphology. However, for years cannabis users have been using these terms to generalize the effects of different strains. In this article, we’ll show you what indica/sativa really tell you about your weed.

Classifying Cannabis – A Brief History Of Weed Taxonomy

To better understand what the terms sativa and indica really tell us about cannabis, it helps to take a brief look at the history of cannabis taxonomy. 

Cannabis was first classified in 1753 by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus was working with plants grown in Europe that were tall, had narrow, bright green leaves, and took up to 3 months to flower. They also grew particularly well in warm, tropical climates close to the equator. Linnaeus eventually classified this species as Cannabis Sativa L. 

Roughly 30 years later, French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck investigated cannabis samples brought back from India. These plants were notably different from those Linnaeus first classified; they were short, bushy, had wide, dark green leaves, and flowered very quickly (usually in under 2 months). They also originated from colder, mountainous regions with harsher climates. Lamarck eventually classified this species as Cannabis Indica Lam. 

In the 1920s, a third species of cannabis was identified in Southeast Russia. This variety, now known as Cannabis Ruderalis, is much smaller than sativa and indica varieties, and flowers automatically based on maturity rather than due to changes in its light cycle.

What Sativa And Indica Can Really Tell You About Your Weed

Carl Linnaeus and Jean Baptiste Lamarck used the words sativa and indica to describe two varieties of cannabis with very unique physical traits. Today, we can still use these terms, for example, when buying seeds and growing cannabis at home to have a better understanding of what type of plant we’re going to end up with in our grow room. 

Sativas can grow to large heights, easily reaching over 200cm. These plants have bright green foliage with narrow leaves and tend to stretch vigorously when they start flowering. Sativas produce big, airy, and whispy buds, and can take over 12 weeks of flowering to be harvest-ready. 

These plants are native to warm, tropical areas close to the equator. You can find sativas growing naturally in countries like Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, and even parts of Africa. They likely developed their unique physical structure to deal with the long, hot, and humid summers in these areas and protect themselves against the molds and pests that also thrive in these conditions.

Indicas, on the other hand, are native to mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and Afghanistan, where the summers are naturally short and cold. They grow shorter with smaller internodal spacing, wide foliage, and dense buds. Indicas also produce a thick resin and can be ready to harvest after just 6-8 weeks of flowering. Like sativas, they likely developed these unique traits to deal with the harsh climates from where they originate.

What Sativa/Indica DOESN’T Tell You About Your Weed

It’s high time we realize that whether a strain is indica or sativa won’t dictate a specific kind of high. What affects the specific effect of a strain is the chemical makeup of that plant, your own body chemistry, and your tolerance/sensitivity to the chemicals in what you’re consuming. 

Strains with a high amount of myrcene, for example, are more likely to produce that kind of relaxing, body stone we associate with indicas. However, there’s no conclusive evidence to show that indica strains produce more myrcene than sativas.

When buying cannabis, use the terms indica and sativa to get an idea of the genetic lineage and physical properties of a particular variety. To anticipate its effects, on the other hand, look for lab reports that analyze the chemical profile of that specific strain. If you can’t find that information, consider researching the strain online or try it to gauge its effects for yourself.

Steven Mike Voser  

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The Real Difference Between Sativa and Indica Cannabis

Published on
///

Ever since you took your first hit of a joint, you were taught one thing; sativa strains are euphoric and uplifting, while indicas will leave you glued to the couch and sleepy. Right? Well, not really.  The terms indica and sativa tell us a lot about a plant’s genetics and morphology. However, for years cannabis users have been using these terms to generalize the effects of different strains. In this article, we’ll show you what indica/sativa really tell you about your weed.

Classifying Cannabis – A Brief History Of Weed Taxonomy

To better understand what the terms sativa and indica really tell us about cannabis, it helps to take a brief look at the history of cannabis taxonomy. 

Cannabis was first classified in 1753 by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus was working with plants grown in Europe that were tall, had narrow, bright green leaves, and took up to 3 months to flower. They also grew particularly well in warm, tropical climates close to the equator. Linnaeus eventually classified this species as Cannabis Sativa L. 

Roughly 30 years later, French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck investigated cannabis samples brought back from India. These plants were notably different from those Linnaeus first classified; they were short, bushy, had wide, dark green leaves, and flowered very quickly (usually in under 2 months). They also originated from colder, mountainous regions with harsher climates. Lamarck eventually classified this species as Cannabis Indica Lam. 

In the 1920s, a third species of cannabis was identified in Southeast Russia. This variety, now known as Cannabis Ruderalis, is much smaller than sativa and indica varieties, and flowers automatically based on maturity rather than due to changes in its light cycle.

What Sativa And Indica Can Really Tell You About Your Weed

Carl Linnaeus and Jean Baptiste Lamarck used the words sativa and indica to describe two varieties of cannabis with very unique physical traits. Today, we can still use these terms, for example, when buying seeds and growing cannabis at home to have a better understanding of what type of plant we’re going to end up with in our grow room. 

Sativas can grow to large heights, easily reaching over 200cm. These plants have bright green foliage with narrow leaves and tend to stretch vigorously when they start flowering. Sativas produce big, airy, and whispy buds, and can take over 12 weeks of flowering to be harvest-ready. 

These plants are native to warm, tropical areas close to the equator. You can find sativas growing naturally in countries like Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, and even parts of Africa. They likely developed their unique physical structure to deal with the long, hot, and humid summers in these areas and protect themselves against the molds and pests that also thrive in these conditions.

Indicas, on the other hand, are native to mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and Afghanistan, where the summers are naturally short and cold. They grow shorter with smaller internodal spacing, wide foliage, and dense buds. Indicas also produce a thick resin and can be ready to harvest after just 6-8 weeks of flowering. Like sativas, they likely developed these unique traits to deal with the harsh climates from where they originate.

What Sativa/Indica DOESN’T Tell You About Your Weed

It’s high time we realize that whether a strain is indica or sativa won’t dictate a specific kind of high. What affects the specific effect of a strain is the chemical makeup of that plant, your own body chemistry, and your tolerance/sensitivity to the chemicals in what you’re consuming. 

Strains with a high amount of myrcene, for example, are more likely to produce that kind of relaxing, body stone we associate with indicas. However, there’s no conclusive evidence to show that indica strains produce more myrcene than sativas.

When buying cannabis, use the terms indica and sativa to get an idea of the genetic lineage and physical properties of a particular variety. To anticipate its effects, on the other hand, look for lab reports that analyze the chemical profile of that specific strain. If you can’t find that information, consider researching the strain online or try it to gauge its effects for yourself.

Steven Mike Voser  

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Karma papers: vitamin enhanced rolling paper!

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Is it because of the « couch-lock » effect of some weed varieties or in order to get rid of the syndrome of low motivation that too many Ganja enthusiasts experience through their consumption that Vet and Chetna, the Indians partners-entrepreneurs had the idea of producing energizing rolling paper ?

On a classic rolling paper, the sticky strip is, at best, made of natural arabic gum, and more typically of a chemical substance. It is on that 100% organic and natural arabic gum that the two Karma founders had the idea… Vitamins!! With one lick, you will instantly get a dose of vitamins A/B1/B3/B6 and C, iron, calcium and even plant proteins! Regarding recommended daily intakes, you would still have to roll about twenty joints before getting the right amount of those vitamins and micro-nutrients…

Verdict : Even though karma papers wont make you healthy enough to run a marathon, you will still get to have a laugh with your friends so it should still be great for yours abs.

Karma Rolling Papers
100 long papers, 1,20€
available on www.karmafrance.com

www.karmafrance.com

L.O.

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Star Seed: Cannabis, from plant to leaf.

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It is well known that our species has always tamed the benefits of our dear mother nature.

Two stones in the hands? Let’s make a fire. A wave on a sea? Let’s go surf it. Snow on the mountains? Let’s go skiing. Grass under our feet? Let’s go smoke it. 

If the majority of humans today associate cannabis as a societal plague, it is important to point out that it is also one of man’s oldest exploitation. 

Cannabis has been part of our history since the Neolithic period, one of the most significant times in terms of technical and social change as a result of several improvements in agriculture and livestock.

MADE IN CHINA
The first green trace of cannabis dates back to 6 000 years ago in China, used for clothing, oils, and food.  Furthermore, various writings from Emperor Shen Nung already stipulated its medical values. (http://medarus.org/Medecins/MedecinsTextes/shen_nong.htm)

Later on, cannabis was found in India, Africa, Mexico and especially in the Middle East with its nomads participating to the arrival of cannabis in Africa and Europe. In turn, different countries around the globe start accepting and recognizing its value. 

At the beginning of the XXth century, the Mexican revolution caused the departure of thousands of migrants towards the United States, bringing with them cannabis, which then converted into a more recreational consumption. 

(https://www.mexico-voyages.com/histoire /guerre-civile-mexicaine.php)

 

 

Unfortunately, the usage of cannabis became the main cause of criminal acts committed by Hispanic immigrants, announcing later on its prohibition.

CUTTING GRASS UNDER FOOT
In 1915, Utah became the first state to ban its use, a year later France and Britain followed. As such, the trend began and 1931 saw cannabis become illegal in 29 US states. America becomes the precursor of mediatization prohibiting cannabis, several campaigns led by the Federal Office of Narcotics are launched: 

In 1937, the United States Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, a law that imposes severe penalties on the sale and possession of marijuana.

(https://definitions.uslegal.com/m/marijuana-tax-act%20/)

CULTIVATING ITS OWN GARDEN
In 1977 the Netherlands legalized the use and sale of cannabis in coffee shops. It showed for the first time in history a solid break, delineating soft drugs from hard drugs.  If the Netherlands began to recognize marijuana’s benefits, other European countries like Spain and the Czech Republic started, in turn, following the tendency as well. 

2005 marks the renewal of a laxer vision of the use of cannabis: through the relaxation of legislation in certain countries such as Canada, Uruguay and the United Kingdom. 

 

Medical prescription of THC is allowed and pharmaceutical companies have

for the first time officially bought cannabis in Morocco.

On January 20 2009, Obama becomes President of the United States and declares symbolically during a campaign interview that he had already consumed grass when he was a student.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington State are leading the way in the sale and use of marijuana for people over the age of 21.

On November 8, 2016, it is the most populated state of the USA: California which legalizes by referendum the marijuana for recreational use.

Today therapeutic cannabis is now on sale in Portugal, Italy, Romania, Spain, Poland, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany.

France, for its part, decides to stay distant thinking that a possible opening of cannabis for medical purposes is a first step towards its total legalization…

 

 

 

 

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