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Overview of the cannabis industry in the United States

Introduction

Cannabis is a rapid-growing, flowering plant that has been used for centuries for industrial, medicinal, and recreational purposes. The plant includes three species or subspecies: indica, ruderalis, and sativa. Both industrial hemp and recreational marijuana are derived from cannabis plants, but with important differences in biochemical composition. Hemp — which has historically been used to create clothing, food and feed, paper, textiles, and other industrial items — tends to have lower levels of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and higher levels of the non-psychoactive component cannabidiol (CBD). Some cannabis strains have intentionally been bred to produce low levels of THC, while others have been bred with the intent to maximize the psychoactive component.

Cannabis cultivation began in England's Jamestown colony of America in earnest around 1611, via formal orders. Several years later those orders turned into a royal decree, enacted by the Virginia Company, asking colonists to grow 100 hemp plants for export to England. Colonial American continued its growth, use, and exportation of hemp, even beyond the foundation of the United States. During that time, growers undoubtedly were using the female plant (which flowers and has higher levels of THC) to treat aches and pains as well as enjoy it recreationally. By the time of the U.S. Civil War arrived in the 1860s, however,the growth and use of industrial hemp declined as increased cotton and wood use took away much of the profitability of hemp. Around the same time, local governments began recognizing tonics, tinctures, and extracts from cannabis plants as potentially dangerous substances, labeling them as hypnotics, narcotics, or even poisons. In the early twentieth century, U.S. labeling and prescription laws — such as the the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 at the federal level as well as various state laws — saw further restrictions put on cannabis, effectively culminating in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. With the passage of those acts, hemp and marijuana essentially became illegal, controlled substances.