If you’re a seasoned cannabis user, there’s no doubt you’ve come across the stray cannabis fact on the internet, at a dispensary, or simple word of mouth from other pot-loving friends. But we wager to guess that there’s at least one item on our list that you haven’t heard before.
Read on to strengthen your cannabis trivia with these six interesting facts, and take your cannabis routine to the next level with Cannabolish. We created every one of our odor absorbing solutions with nature in mind, crafting our proprietary formula from plant essential oils so you can enjoy cannabis worry-free and keep your home smelling fresh.
1. Hops Is in the Same Plant Family as Cannabis.
It might seem counterintuitive to bring up hops when talking about cannabis plant facts, but there are actually a striking amount of similarities between Humulus lupulus (hops) and Cannabis sativa (cannabis). Many people point to the organoleptic (taste and smell) profiles of beer and cannabis as the primary source of the similarities, but they actually run much deeper than that.
True, both cannabis and hops are abundant in terpenes, but many plants that hold no familial ties also produce terpenes and even share very similar terpene profiles to cannabis and hops. In fact, the plants were originally placed into the same flowering plant family, Cannabinaceae, based on comparable physical traits like their palmately lobed leaves (think about the way your fingers connect to the palm of your hand), but taxonomists actually discovered decades later that cannabis and hops share DNA.
2. Cannabis Is Rumored to Have Been the First Online Sale.
Whether or not this interesting fact about cannabis is better as urban legend or reality, we’ll leave that up to you. Researchers however, are all but sure that the first online sale was a bag of cannabis. Between 1971 and 1972, Stanford and MIT students used ARPANET, one of the first distributed networks that became the basis for the internet, to coordinate a weed sale.
Some argue that because actual money was never exchanged digitally, this transaction cannot be considered the first eCommerce sale. But as cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, requiring dispensaries only to accept cash, one could argue that, even today, all of the money dispensaries have made from online orders cannot be considered eCommerce.
3. Some Soaps Can Cause Cannabis Screenings to Return a False-Positive.
When nurses at a North Carolina hospital noticed an alarming number of newborns were testing positive for marjuana exposure in their newborn screenings, researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, jumped in to get to the bottom of the strange occurrence, Time reports in full. Their discovery not only saved a number of parents from having to meet with social services, it also revealed an interesting connection between the ingredients of popular baby soaps and the organic structure of THC.
Researchers discovered that five baby soaps: Johnson & Johnson’s Head-to-Toe Baby Wash, J&J Bedtime Bath, CVS Night-Time Baby Bath, Aveeno Soothing Relief Creamy Wash, and Aveeno Wash Shampoo all resulted in a false-positive drug screening for cannabis. But why?
While researchers couldn’t point to one definitive reason for the faulty test results, they brought up two possible theories. The first posited that certain compounds in the soap’s ingredients could have a similar structure to that of THC. And second, researchers theorized a possible chemical reaction with the soap’s ingredients caused the tests to error and return a false-positive result.
Whatever the reason, researchers wanted to reassure health professionals and parents alike that the soap was not causing THC-like effects in any of the infants and it was completely safe to continue to use.
4. There’s Evidence of Citizens Growing Cannabis in North Korea.
While many sources on the internet like to repackage this interesting cannabis fact as “cannabis isn’t criminalized in North Korea”, the reality about cannabis use in one of the world’s most mysterious countries is a little more nuanced.
In 2013, an American consultant claimed to observe North Koreans growing cannabis and that the plant was even used for medical purposes and among working class individuals to relax at the end of the day. While it’s hard to substantiate the claim, the cannabis plant certainly does appear throughout North Korea, just not in the THC-producing form Cannabis sativa.
North Korea is the third largest hemp cultivator in the world. Although we may not definitively know if the use of cannabis is permitted in any other form in the country, it is highly likely that growing industrial hemp is permitted among the citizens of North Korea.
5. Cannabis Is One of the Main Ingredients in Bhang.
Bhang may sound familiar for obvious reasons. But instead of a smoking apparatus prone to spills, “bhang”, in this case, is actually a colloquialism for a popular drink served in India at traditional Hindu festivals like Holi, Janmashtami, and Shrivratri, Leafly reports.
Along with fennel, ginger, masala, and other fragrant Indian spices (you can find a complete recipe on Vaya) one of the main ingredients in this medicinal and ceremonial drink is, in fact, cannabis.
While the fact of the cannabis plant’s medicinal qualities are only just now starting to catch on in Western society, the plant has been used for thousands of years to cure fevers, stave off warriors’ nerves prior to battle, and even kickstart the libido.
6. In Colorado, Recreational Cannabis Facilities Outnumber Starbucks Locations.
Considering Starbucks is known for two things: coffee and being everywhere, this interesting cannabis fact really puts into perspective just how popular cannabis is in Colorado. In a 2017 report generated by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA), researchers discovered that in certain neighborhoods, dispensaries outnumbered Starbucks as much as four dispensaries for every one Starbucks location.
Perhaps even more remarkably, recreational and medicinal marijuana businesses are still banned in 66% of jurisdictions across the state. Which means, neighborhoods and cities where these businesses are permitted are successfully making up the difference. In Denver alone, there are twice as many dispensaries than Starbucks locations and that trend doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.
For more interesting facts about cannabis, or to incorporate Cannabolish into your next session, enjoying cannabis with friends or solo, check out our blog!
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