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National Institute on Drug Abuse

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Q: What is Marijuana? Are there different kinds?

Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant. Stronger forms of cannabis include sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah), hashish ("hash" for short), and hash oil.

All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs; they all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. There are about 400 chemicals in a cannabis plant, but THC is the one that affects the brain the most.

There are stronger forms of marijuana available today than there were in the 1960s. The strength of the drug is measured by the amount of average THC in test samples confiscated by law enforcement agencies.

• Most ordinary marijuana has an average of 3 percent THC.
  
  
• Sinsemilla (made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants) has an average of 7.5 percent THC, with a range as high as 24 percent.
  
  
• Hashish (the sticky resin from the female plant flowers) has an average of 3.6 percent, with a range as high as 28 percent.
  
  
• Hash oil, a tar-like liquid distilled from hashish, has an average of 16 percent, with a range as high as 43 percent.