Recently there have been lots of news reports about the benefits of CBD oil in treating certain diseases and health conditions. People have now started looking for more information about cannabis, hemp, and marijuana. It has led to some confusion as well because hemp has been legal while marijuana has been illegal. Now marijuana has been legalized in many states in the US. People new to this industry keep confusing between all these three terms. This confusion also arises due to heavy marketing done by the manufacturers that make products made with these substances. They know most people cannot differentiate between these three things so they keep using all these three terms interchangeably. If you are planning to buy hemp, marijuana or cannabis product, it is important to know the differences so you are not fooled into buying a less useful or wrong product.
Cannabis
It is a family of plants. It has two species, namely Sativa and Indica. Hemp belongs only to the Sativa species while marijuana can be either from Sativa or Indica species. Both hemp and marijuana share some biological similarities but there are also some distinct differences between these two species of cannabis. People who have not seen the cannabis plants or did not pay close attention when looking at these plants may find both hemp and marijuana plants looking the same. It requires some cannabis plant knowledge to differentiate between these two varieties. The marijuana plant has dense buds, broad leaves, short stature, and bushy appearance. On the other hand, the hemp plant has skinny leaves mostly on the top side. It looks skinnier and grows taller. The two plants can be identified clearly when placed side by side. There are chemical composition differences between these two species of cannabis plants.
Composition Differences between Hemp and Marijuana
Cannabis contains a variety of compounds known as cannabinoids. The two of its most important compounds include cannabidiol or CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. While both these compounds are beneficial, THC produces a psychoactive effect which gives the user a kind of “high” or “stoned” effect. The CBD does not produce any psychoactive effect. How do these two compounds help differentiate between hemp and marijuana? Hemp has a very low amount of THC (less than 0.3%) while marijuana has it in abundance. The THC concentration of marijuana can go as high as 15-40%. This is the main reason hemp is used extensively without restriction to make a wide variety of products including foods, drinks, consumer items, and industrial products. Marijuana with its high THC concentration is preferred for medicinal and recreational purposes.
Usage
Marijuana produces high psychoactive effects so it is used to treat certain medical conditions. It has traditionally been used to control and manage chronic pain but now it is used for many other medicinal purposes. THC extracted from marijuana is used to make capsules, edibles, vaporizers and other products. Marijuana itself is inhaled, smoked, ingested or injected. Hemp is used mainly for industrial applications because its fibers have high tensile strength on weight to strength ratio. It is used to make paper, textile, food products, oils, building materials and hundreds of other products. Hemp is also preferred now for making THC free CBD items. It has a domestic market value of about $450 million. The domestic market value estimate of marijuana varies wildly from $10 billion to $120 billion.
It is important to know that the laws regarding the sales, transportation, cultivation, and usage of hemp and marijuana vary from one country to another. The decision is based mainly on THC content. Hemp with its 0.3% THC content is classified legal in the United States, while in other parts of the world, the THC concentration should be less than 0.2%. Due to its low THC content, hemp is legal in most parts of the world. Marijuana remains illegal in most parts of the world due to its high THC content. However, some states in the US have recently legalized it due to its high medicinal and economic benefits as well as to reduce its illegal market.