The World of Hash and Marijuana

2009.04.27

Hash, marijuana, ganja, are all different forms of the product of the common hemp plant – Cannabis.

Occurring as Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis rudelaris, this species is endemic to Central Asia. Although there are other uses of this plant – as in a fibre and medicinal drug producer, but it is best known as the source of ‘recreational drugs’.

The parts of this plant are characterized by their psychoactive properties. Its main ingredient that confers this characteristic to hemp is delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Marijuana is produced from flowering tops of pistilloid Cannabis plants, apart from its stem, leaves and seeds, that may have 1% to 22% THC. It is a dry, shredded green and brown powder. It is a very popular ‘getting-high’ drug, often smokes as a cigarette, joints, cigars or pipes. When ordinary tobacco cigarettes are emptied of their usual contents and filled with marijuana instead, the drug forma an even potent combination with nicotine. Ordinary cigars refilled with marijuana are called Blunts.

Marijuana smoke has a distinctive pungent, sweet and sour odour. It can also be brewed and drunk like tea or mixed with food.

A more concentrated and resinous form of marijuana is Hashish. Trichomes or surface hair obtained from Cannabis flowers and other parts is used to prepare hashish, often abbreviated as hash and also christened charas in India. Cannabis trichomes are rich in granules, which contain resins. It is this resin that contains the THC.

Hash is the most potent preparation obtained from hemp.

Preparing hash – how to make hash

Resin-bearing trichomes are separated from the plant by:

  • Sieving by hand or use of mechanical tumblers (Dry sift hash)

  • Rolling the flowers of Cannabis and collecting the juice that sticks to the fingers (Finger hash)

  • Ice water separation – plant is submerged in iced water and mixed. Ice makes trichomes brittle and they break off easily. A series of bag-in-bag filtration processes yield the fines possible hash that bubbles when heated. (Bubble hash or Ice hash). Hence, these are also called Bubble Bags

  • Dissolving cannabinoids in fat, filtering off the other parts and evaporating the fat to get the pure hash (Hash oil)

  • Hash granules may be compressed using a hash press which is a T-shaped pressure-producing instrument that yields hash blocks shaped like an average round medicinal tablet

Marijuana and hash are illicit drugs, banned in most countries. They are harmful for the body. Once ingested, they enter the blood stream and from there, into the brain. The brain tissue has receptors for THC – and the region of the brain richest in the receptor is the one concerned with memory, reasoning, pleasure and co-ordination. This interaction between THC and the brain receptors causes the ‘high’, and the subsequent intoxication in which the subject finds it difficult to think logically or move straight.