Do different species of marijuana have different effects?
Officially, there is only one species of marijuana: cannabis sativa. The original cannabis sativa often grows to 6′ or more in height and takes some months to come to maturity. Though it can be forced to maturity more quickly under controlled conditions, it will still attain a substantial height or length of stem. It can be cultivated for higher THC content, or grown for fiber or hemp, with virtually no THC at all. Starting in the 60s and proceeding to the present day, serious marijuana growers have sought to breed a type of cannabis that would have a smaller habit and quicker maturation, and be better suited to indoor cultivation. And of course they also worked to increase potency. At some point, C. sativa was crossed with a plant called ruderalis, a cannabis cousin with virtually no THC content that grows on the steppes of Russia and in Hungary. Ruderalis is a small, upright bushy plant that tolerates cooler temperatures, and crossing c. sativba with it has yielded a distinctly diffe
