# Is marijuana (a) weed? Bonus query: do they still say "head shop?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209 "2017-05-22T15:10:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/21 "2017-05-23T01:40:52Z")
Wild hemp is certainly very robust, and will grow all over the place unless weeded out, but the varieties used for drugs have been selectively bred for that purpose to the exclusion of pretty much everything else, so they may well be less robust. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/22 "2017-05-23T01:45:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And yet bay is an herb … [snip] Bay leaves grow on a shrub, ten to fourteen foot tall with plenty woody stems … yet no one would think twice if someone called it an herb … How about this: A weed is some of that crap out there that I have no use for … An herb is some of that crap out there I _do_ have a use for … ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/23 "2017-05-23T22:09:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wild hemp is certainly very robust, and will grow all over the place unless weeded out, but the varieties used for drugs have been selectively bred for that purpose to the exclusion of pretty much everything else, so they may well be less robust. Although marijuana and hemp are nearly identical, they are IIRC different cultivars (like cabbage/Brussels sprouts). Hemp plants produce little if any psychoactive material vs commonly grown marijuana plants are less suitable for fiber production. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/24 "2017-05-24T02:18:14Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Although marijuana and hemp are nearly identical, they are IIRC different cultivars (like cabbage/Brussels sprouts). Hemp plants produce little if any psychoactive material vs commonly grown marijuana plants are less suitable for fiber production. Hemp, planted by the early goverment in the hope of providing hemp for the navy, later grew wild around NSW.Aus. The farmers cleaned it all out in the (???) 60’s, because they didn’t like hippies coming up from the city into their farming districts. I’m not sure that the difference was a clear as cabbage/sprouts at that time. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/25 "2017-05-24T02:31:36Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Although marijuana and hemp are nearly identical, they are IIRC different cultivars (like cabbage/Brussels sprouts). Hemp plants produce little if any psychoactive material vs commonly grown marijuana plants are less suitable for fiber production. I’ve heard it said that the variety of varieties of marijuana is comparable to the varieties of apples … and for much the same reason … where ever humans go there’s a need for hard cider and bong hits … ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/26 "2017-05-24T02:46:32Z")
I haven’t seen anything called a head shop in Oregon for a long time. I used to patronize the one in Ontario called The Red Eye Hut. We called it a head shop in the early 80s. Amazingly, it was still open for business last time I went through Ontario. This was a few years before legalization. My wife and I were driving to Idaho, and realized we’d brought some weed but nothing in which to smoke it. So we stopped by and bought a cheap glass pipe from them. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/27 "2017-05-24T12:58:35Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I haven’t seen anything called a head shop in Oregon for a long time. I used to patronize the one in Ontario called The Red Eye Hut. We called it a head shop in the early 80s. Amazingly, it was still open for business last time I went through Ontario. This was a few years before legalization. My wife and I were driving to Idaho, and realized we’d brought some weed but nothing in which to smoke it. So we stopped by and bought a cheap glass pipe from them. The Red Eye Hut was (?) a chain of head shops that unfortunately had stores in Idaho. A much more conservative state that Oregon. Those got raided in 2003. Not sure about what happened to all of them. There’s one still in Grant’s Pass that also sponsors concerts. In Ontario (that’s in Oregon folks), there’s Old School Hand Blown Glass and Happy Hippy. Located via [findheadshops.com](http://www.findheadshops.com/Oregon/head-shops-in-Ontario.html). Note site name. Looking for the listings for Oregon alone I see 4 shops with “head” in the name. Oregon, where the 60s never really ended. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/28 "2017-05-24T15:15:10Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Bay leaves grow on a shrub… OK, inevitable: what’s a shrub? Is _that_ a botanical term (as well as a culinary one)? Signed, the Knights ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/29 "2017-05-24T16:31:41Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > OK, inevitable: what’s a shrub? Is _that_ a botanical term (as well as a culinary one)? > > Signed, the Knights [QUOTE=Wikipedia entry for ‘shrub’] In botany and ecology, a shrub is more specifically used to describe the particular physical structural or plant life-form of woody plants which are less than 8 metres (26 ft) high and usually have many stems arising at or near the base. [/QUOTE] Colloquially, anyone can of course use it to mean whatever they want, but generally it means something perrenial that’s smaller than a tree, but bigger than grass or annuals. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/30 "2017-05-24T16:37:57Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > OK, inevitable: what’s a shrub? Is _that_ a botanical term (as well as a culinary one)? > > Signed, the Knights Well, we have the woody stems and branches … so what’s the difference between shrubs and trees … poking around the internet I’ll go ahead and say the distinction in arbitrary and subjective … I’m looking at a hazelnut tree right this second and it fits all the criteria for a shrub … shorter than 20 feet and branching out starting at ground level … although botany has such a term, it’s not always definitive of a species … For example, we _can_ say pumas have tawny colored fur, however we _cannot_ say grey wolves have grey fur … in the first the color is pretty much definitive, in the second it’s not … we’ll need to look at other characteristics to identify wolves … another example is the hawthorns, some grow as trees, some grow as shrubs … so we need to look at the leaf and if we see a double irregular serration along the margins, we can bet the farm it’s a hawthorn … ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/31 "2017-05-24T16:40:55Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > That actually nails one source of confusion–the “yet.” > > I would think that most people, like me before this thread, figure “herb” _means_ edible. > > ETA hijack: Plus I come across recipes–modern ones, not from previous centuries when it was more common–in which purslane figures. (Oh one _must_ have purslane). > > Never tried it or known anyone who has. So what’s it like? Huh, huh? First taste free? I eat purslane quite often. Purslane and Lamb’s Quarters grow like crazy in my garden so I just let a few patches survive. Purslane has a slight lemony taste and a nice crunchy texture. ---
**Author:** ![Pilgrim\_Shadow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Pilgrim\_Shadow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pilgrim_Shadow)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209/32 "2017-05-29T00:58:33Z")
We still call it “weed,” even though it’s an herb. And yes, we still call it “the head shop.” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-a-weed-bonus-query-do-they-still-say-head-shop/787209.md?page=1)