Marihuana, America's New Drug Problem

Abstract

THE hop plant (Humulus lupulus)and hemp (Cannabis sativa)are close botanical relatives and each secretes a physiologically active resin. The hop resin is, of course, important in Europe in the manufacture of beer, but hemp resin has found little application, the plant being normally grown only for fibre production. A different state of affairs exists in Africa, the Near East and India, where the resinous exudate of the hemp plant has been widely used (or abused) from remote times for its narcotic properties, under a variety of names according to mode of preparation, the best known of which is perhaps hashish. The virtual absence of hashish addiction in Europe can scarcely be attributed to difficulty of access, since hemp is readily cultivated, particularly in the Mediterranean area, and it has been frequently assumed that temperamental differences between Europeans and Orientals make the euphoric action of hashish less attractive to the former. A similar explanation has been advanced to explain the preference of the Chinese for the languorous dreams of opium rather than the wild ecstasy of hashish.

Marihuana, America's New Drug Problem

A Sociologic Question with its Basic Explanation dependent on Biologic and Medical Principles. By Prof. Robert P. Walton. Pp. ix + 223 + 12 plates. (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1938.) 12s. 6d. net.