As someone who has spent a lifetime working as an editor, I know all too well that words really DO have meaning

And, that’s why the growing debate over the use of the word “marijuana” is no minor thing.

Westword, the Denver alternative weekly, ran an article recently that dug into the growing push to use the word “cannabis” rather than “marijuana,” primarily because some people believe that marijuana has a negative and offensive connotation because of its connection to the “stoner” culture.

Apparently, business owners in Aspen, Colorado are trying to eliminate the use of terms that they feel are derogatory, including “stoner” and “dope.” And, according to the newspaper, “a main focus of folks at LeafAspen dispensary is using the term “cannabis” in place of “marijuana” and encouraging others to do likewise.”

They are also pushing for the State of Colorado to “rename the Marijuana Enforcement Division as the Cannabis Enforcement Division.”

This is an interesting argument, because the Cannabis Industry (the preferred term we use here at CBE) is doing just about anything possible to present the present the push to legalize marijuana as something bubbling up from the mainstream and not from people who just like Cheech & Chong movies.

Probably the most thoughtful and persuasive argument for calling it cannabis comes from California’s Harborside Health Center, and Westword details their reasons for no longer using the term “marijuana”:

The “marijuana” term started off life as a Mexican folk name for cannabis, but was first popularized in the U.S. by the notorious yellow press publisher, William Randolph Hearst. Hearst was a racist, as well as being committed to the prohibition of marijuana, which threatened his timber investments. He used his control of hundreds of newspapers to orchestrate a vicious propaganda campaign against cannabis, which featured lurid (and false) stories about black and brown men committing outrageous acts of murder and mayhem. That campaign played on then-predominantly racist public opinion to make cannabis illegal at the federal level in 1937. Since then, “marijuana” has come to be associated with the idea that cannabis is a dangerous and addictive intoxicant, not a holistic, herbal medicine for helping people deal with the effects of cancer, AIDS, wasting syndrome and other conditions. This stigma has played a big part in stymying cannabis legalization efforts throughout the U.S.”

I use the terms “cannabis” and “marijuana” interchangably here at CBE, and I plan to continue that, although I understand the notion that marijuana does have a lot of negative baggage with it.

Still, Urban Dictionary (and you should use it if you don’t) lists in its top definition for marijuana that it is “God’s gift to mankind.”

It’s top definition for cannabis, on the other hand, says that “it is the accepted botanical Genus name for the plant we know by so many other slang and colloquial terms: Hemp, Pot, Marijuana, Ganja, Weed, etc. etc. (Cannabis sps. sativa, indica, and ruderalis).”

So, does it REALLY matter what we call it?

I don’t think it does, and although I understand what those who want to eliminate the word “marijuana” are trying to do, in the end it’s just more politically correct BS — and I’m already pretty tired of that.

We’ll keep calling it both cannabis AND marijuana here at CBE, because that’s what most of America does.

You can call it what you like, but at the end of the day, worrying about what you call it isn’t going to do much to get the Feds to act any quicker. It seems to me THAT should be where we put our real efforts rather than on some sideshow over what term we use.