Marijuana is defined as ôa preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoriaö (ôMarijuanaö). A more potent form of cannabis is found in hashish, which is a ôresin extracted from the flower clusters and top leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, and C. indicaö (ôHashishö). Hashish is grown in hot, moist climates and usually smoked in a pipe or water pipe (although in North Africa it can even be eaten), while marijuana is grown in cooler climates and usually smoked in cigarette form (ôHashishö). Hashish is an intoxicant that produces euphoria and an exaggeration of sensations; it is illegal in the United States and has no accepted medical use (ôHashishö). Both hashish and marijuana have as their active ingredient the chemical compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (TCH) (ôHashishö).
Both marijuana and hashish have been used since ancient times. Cannabis is one of the oldest psychoactive plants on earth and was first cultivated approximately 10,000 years ago, in central Asia, where it is native (ôMarijuana: Popular Culture Study Guideö). The first physical evidence that marijuana was used as a medicine in the ancient Mideast was reported by Israeli scientists in 1993 who found residue of the drug with the skeleton of a girl who apparently died in childbirth 1,600 years earlier (ôEvidence Found of Ancient Marijuana Useö). Researchers believe that the marijuana was probably used to speed the birth and ease the pain for the girl, who was 14 years old and who apparently died because her pelvis was too small to permit normal birth (ôEvidence Found of Ancient Marijuana Useö). The seven researchers, who were from Hebrew University, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the National Police Headquarters forensic division, ôsaid references to marijuana as a medicine are seen as far back as 1,600 B.C. in Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and Roman ...