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NIDA Home > Publications > Marijuana Brochure > Facts for Teens > Page 1-2   



Marijuana: Facts for Teens

Marijuana fact: most teenagers do not use marijuana. Fewer than one in four high school seniors is a current marijuana user.Q: What is marijuana? Are there different kinds?

A: Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana.

Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it’s a Spanish word), hashish (“hash” for short), and hash oil are stronger forms of marijuana.

All forms of marijuana are mind-altering (psychoactive). In other words, they change how the brain works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuana’s effects on the user depend on it’s strength or potency, which is related to the amount of THC it contains(5). The THC content of marijuana has been increasing since the 1970s. For the year 2006, most marijuana contained, on average, 7 percent THC.


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Marijuana: Facts for Teens Marijuana: Facts for Teens (Revised)

La marihuana - Información para los adolescentes (Versión Revisada)

Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know (Revised)

La marihuana: Lo que los padres deben saber (Versión Revisada)

These publications may be reprinted without permission.



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