Before being introduced to Africa, Europe and America, this plant originated in Central Asia. It can be concluded that they had a similar objective which is to benefit from this plant like making clothing and fiber out of this plant. When colonization took place in different countries like in the early 1600s, farmers were required to grow hemp because it was easy to cultivate. At that time, those plants were said to be low in THC and evidences even say that ancient people had an idea about the plant being psychoactive. They probably have used these for religious ceremonies. This coincide with the discovery of burned cannabis seeds in shamans’ graves at Siberia and China. It was very evident that cannabis back then was really beneficial to people in a good way. One maybe puzzled of this and may think “what happened?”. Well, the primary factor that led this to criminalization of this are the political and racial factors.

It is a known fact that marijuana is an illegal drug that people often abuse in the whole world. It’s very popular among teenagers and young adults probably because of the curiosity to this substance at first which then leads to addiction. Based on a report given by The Partnership on Drugfree.org, the number of teenagers using marijuana for recreational use is gradually rising wherein 1 out of 10 smoke more than 20 times a month. The pleasure they get from smoking marijuana and the feeling of gratification from it to get away from boredom can be a possible reason. Nowadays, teenagers also encounter difficulty in dealing with peer pressure and stress and they find comfort in this drug. In the entertainment industry, popular music and several music videos can even be considered a reason for this. Teens tend to worship the kind of lifestyles that they saw in these that’s why they are greatly influenced. With that, they’ll be inclined in portraying such lifestyle. Meanwhile, as stated in the book The Science of Marijuana by Leslie Iversen, the percentage of addiction is most likely 10 percent and there is also a probability that 10 to 30 percent of users who regularly engaged in this kind of drug might be dependent on it. The worst part is that, they are putting their future on the line and have a detrimental effect on it.