The word sativa is a good example of one of the interesting quirks of language in certain cannabis communities and some parts of the adult recreational industry.
Those groups have claimed that since the 1970s the word sativa has changed from its original meaning to now mean a group of characteristics that describe how some plants seem to the observer.
The word sativa comes up as a matter of routine when studying plant science or botany as a way of describing something that was once wild but is now cultivated by people.
For example, Medicago sativa is the botanical name for Alfalfa but definitely doesn’t give you an uplifting effect in the way that is meant when the term is used alongside the word cannabis.
Fast forward to 1974 when an American Swiss scientist made the situation even more confused by classifying ‘indica’ which for over 2000 years had meant ‘an uncultivated wild plant from India’, as now meaning cannabis plants from Afghanistan and also decided that sativa which as previously mentioned means cultivated, instead to now sometimes mean plants from India.
Somehow, over the last 50 years these misunderstandings have made their way into the marketing language that dominates the cannabis industry today.
So we have this fascinating situation that exists now where every country around the world that studies cannabis as a medicine in a professional manner, uses the term cannabis sativa to describe all cultivated cannabis yet most recreational cannabis participants and industry professionals selling the seeds, plants, flowers and all associated products are using the term to mean a combination of neurological effect, physical characteristic and geographical beginnings of the plants genetics in a way that is often inconsistent and incompatible with the scientific evidence.
I hope that one day society looks at cannabis like all other plants. A decriminalised plant that can be grown by everyone, no differently to tomatoes or peppers but I think using terms like sativa and indica so differently to most people worldwide is a barrier. Using common language is important, it is how we can effectively communicate to share knowledge and advance our collective understanding.
Should Cannabis terminology be common with other plants so we can all discuss it without simple misunderstandings or spreading subpar education?
The vast majority of people who use the terms sativa and indica in their more recent adaptations are North American (or closely linked), Caucasian, men, with little interest in plant science or botanical terms and often recovering from mental health conditions so they do consume large amounts of high THC recreational cannabis products and consider themselves connoisseurs of the plant.
Most people worldwide still use the terms as they were originally intended. As you would expect really, the 1 billion people from India would probably use the word indica as part of the identification, classification and naming process of plants from their country and find the alternative use by a few thousand mostly American cannabis enthusiasts to be a form of cultural appropriation.
No wonder people are confused and very rarely get what they need consistently but I have a very simple solution and it really takes no effort at all. We just need to stop using the terms sativa and indica to describe effects, plant characteristics or where its distant relatives may or may not have been from.
For example, if you wanted to say ‘it has an uplifting sativa effect’ you could just say ‘it has an uplifting effect’ because that means something that everyone can understand. I am only suggesting removing the word sativa from the sentence because it’s unnecessary and confusing.
If you say ‘it has an indica dominant structure’ because it has a short wide structure and broad leaves’ you could just say ‘it has a short wide structure with broad leaves’ because that really means something to normal people.
If you say ‘this plant is a 50/50 sativa indica hybrid then you could try saying ‘it’s an unknown mix of genetics and I'm not sure what it’s going to look like or how it’s going to affect you when grown in your environment so, you’ll need to try it’.
If you say ‘this strain is an indica from Afghanistan with an uplifting effect’ you might try saying ‘this cultivar with Afghan genetics has broad leaves, can be a heavy resin producer and has an uplifting effect’ or whatever it is you are observing about that specific plant.
The large community of Chinese, Israeli, Dutch, Indian and other international plant scientists, plus other interested parties from around the world who use the term sativa as it was originally intended also massively outnumber those people who believe there are sub species of cannabis called sativa and indica. Maybe that means over time we will see a decline in the numbers of users of the terms sativa and indica to mean sub species of cannabis.
If we accept that a cannabis variety can change leaf morphology over multiple generations from broad leaf to narrow leaf or vice versa as a response to its environment or even if an individual cannabis plant can change from broad to narrow leaf production during its lifetime like the Durban poison variety mentioned previously, does that mean it’s changed from one sub species to another during its life?
This is just one of the many questions that immediately unravels the argument that those two sub species exist and furthermore might expose the level of understanding of the subject by those making the arguments.
It also creates an unwanted label of the plant being scary and difficult to understand. It often leaves consumers baffled about the medicine they’re using or considering using.
It leaves them asking questions such as, ‘Why does this ‘sativa effect’ make me sleepy and sedated? I thought that was ‘indicas’?’ and ‘Why does my indica have narrow leaves and is so tall with an uplifting effect? I thought that was Sativas?’ Or ‘Why does my Afghan cultivar have narrow leaves and an uplifting effect and my strain from India make me sleepy?’.
Well, the simple answer to all of those questions is because they are all one species, Cannabis Sativa; which has evolved over millions of years to have a huge variety of expressions and each cultivar depending on its genetics, its response to the environment and collaboration with your system will have a unique impact on how it expresses and ultimately affects you.
Someone said to me recently they weren’t reading the scientific papers I was sending them, ‘because they are all about cannabis sativa, but I’m only interested in growing indicas..’. This is because most scientists use the term cannabis sativa in their research papers to describe all cultivated cannabis.
Other interesting terms used differently to qualified scientists by those groups of high THC users include, strain, BX, F2 and genetic drift but we’ll save them for another time...
Happy 420