The difference between cannabis and marijuana is not always clear, because it’s really just semantics. The term “cannabis” refers to any plant in the cannabis genus, including plants grown for either their resinous medicinal flowers or their industrial uses such as paper, fabric, food, lotions, plastics, and building materials. Cannabis taxonomy is not settled. Although the genus Cannabis L. is generally agreed upon in scientific communities, species and subspecies are not as clearly defined. (See Indica/Sativa/Ruderalis for more clarification on the taxonomy debate.)
Because of the muddled traditional and legal definitions, reporting on the cannabis and hemp industries also becomes muddled. A common reporting mistake is to refer to hemp as a “cousin” to cannabis or “marijuana.” This is inaccurate. Hemp is cannabis but has separate legal and traditional botanical definitions.
The entire cannabis plant—flowers, leaves, seeds, and stalks—is usable. Traditionally, plants referred to as “hemp” or “industrial hemp” were bred to harvest their seeds and stalks, which can be manufactured into a long list of byproducts. Plants bred primarily for their resinous flowers, specifically the density of therapeutic compounds they contain, have been referred to as “marijuana” since the early twentieth century. Legally, it is the overall content of the psychotropic cannabinoid Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that distinguishes “hemp” from “marijuana.” Although the distinction is arbitrary and confuses traditional understandings of cannabis varieties, in the United States, plants that contain less than 0.3% THC are legally considered “hemp,” and those that contain greater than 0.3% THC are considered “marijuana” or “cannabis.” This arbitrary threshold to distinguish “hemp” from “marijuana/cannabis” ranges from 0.3 to 1% worldwide.
Due to arbitrary THC thresholds, the majority of the global and domestic hemp producers focus on low-THC cannabis flowers that contain more significant amounts of cannabidiol (CBD) and other therapeutic compounds, as opposed to growing the plant for its industrial uses.
Hemp can be defined as either:
- Cannabis flowers grown for non-psychotropic therapeutic compounds, including cannabinoids and terpenes, with an overall THC content arbitrarily set to less than 0.3% in the United States.
- Cannabis plants grown to harvest their seeds and stalks to make products such as foods, personal care products, fabric, plastics, and sustainable building materials, among many other uses.
Marijuana is defined as:
- A slang term used to describe the dried resinous flowers of the cannabis plant with a THC content greater than 0.3%.
Cannabis is defined as:
- The more appropriate term, as opposed to “marijuana,” to refer to the dried resinous flowers of the cannabis plant with a THC content greater than 0.3%.
- The entire plant and all of its uses.
In Oaksterdam’s Cannabis Terminology Style Guide, we recommend:
- Always default to the term “cannabis” when referring to what is commonly known as “marijuana.” “Marijuana” is a controversial slang term (See Marijuana).
- When referring to commercial industries, the term “cannabis industry” generally refers to products made from high-THC plants, and “hemp industry” refers to products made from low-THC plants. Again, to provide the reader with the best understanding possible, use the term definitions provided here to clarify the meaning of “hemp” in the context it is being used.
The term “cannabis” should be capitalized and italicized only when used in scientific nomenclatures, such as Cannabis Sativa L. In all other instances, do not capitalize “cannabis” unless it appears at the beginning of a sentence.