Why Weed Varieties Don’t Always Match Their Descriptions
If you’ve ever been to a marijuana store, whether medical or recreational, you know that there are usually ridiculous-sounding statements about every marijuana strain that is in the store. One may be “ideal for anxiety,” while the other is best for treating chronic pain. A lot of this is probably bullshit.
When it comes to weed varieties, there are two terms to know: sativa and indica . Both are different types of herb that usually promise two different effects; sativas are known for a more cerebral high, while indicas are meant to be zoned. A marijuana strain is a genetic mixture of the two, commonly referred to as a hybrid. Hybrids are all there is today, as a 100% pure sativa or indica strain is probably long gone. These hybrid weed strains usually get wacky names like Purple Kush or AK-47. The problem is that there may not be much difference between sativa and indica, at least genetically.
For legal reasons,as pointed out by John Oliver in Last Week Tonight , researching marijuana has been quite difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. One small study, published in Plos One, looked at 130 different plants at the genetic level in the hopes of finding out exactly what makes each strain different. It turns out, maybe not so much. In an interview with Wired, researcher Sean Miles explains it this way:
But the Indica / Sativa split hasn’t been well supported by the data. For example, Jamaican Lamb’s Bread, which is believed to be a Sativa variety, was largely identical to some Afghan Indica. “They’re not entirely wrong, but the separation is nowhere near as accurate as it would be for another horticultural crop with a formal classification system,” says Miles.
Speaking to Motherboard, Miles continues, pointing out that botanically, we just don’t know much about it:
We can freely call things “indica” or “sativa,” Miles continued, and this is a good rule of thumb for describing their physical properties and psychoactive effects. But since no one tracked marijuana with the methods of a modern agronomist around 5,000 years ago, we don’t know what a “pure” sativa or indica really is in terms of DNA, ”he said. Who can tell what the defining characteristics of a pure sativa or indica really are?
This is all to say that when you go shopping for weed, you probably shouldn’t count on these two effects. For example, you shouldn’t grab a sativa and then expect a sudden surprising revelation about the true meaning of the words ” Beauty and the Beast . “ Likewise, if you take an indica-dominated hybrid and don’t feel a calming effect, it doesn’t necessarily mean that another strain won’t work in the future, just that the particular strain you have doesn’t live up to those expectations. …
Even if these differences are of genetic significance, there is another problem: there is no weed naming convention. A sane person would expect all haze or kush to be similar, as if you were doing an IPA or lager. But this is not the case. These names mean absolutely nothing.
Since weed cultivation has been underground for so long, it has lost its sense of consistency. A farmer can clone a plant from another grower by cutting and they will know what they are getting, but if they grow from seed it is much more difficult to know for sure. Over the years, different manufacturers have made different combinations using a ton of different things. Things were pretty confusing at the time. Also, while marijuana is legal in a number of states, the product cannot cross state lines, so there is still no chance of any consistency outside of your local store.
So what do you do? Trust in what we know. We can see the levels of tetrahydocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in each plant, and most weed stores will show the percentage of each in the strain. Miles suggests looking at the percentage of THC and CBD in a strain, rather than the description, name, or whatever the dude at the marijuana store tells you. It will take you a while to figure out how these things affect you, but at least you will know what you are getting yourself into. Likewise, ignore any other branding because it means absolutely nothing. Strawberry Kush in California will be completely different from Strawberry Kush in Washington.