Cannabis has been a cherished friend of an ever-increasing proportion af mankind since prehistoric times. The genus Cannabis contains indica and sativa, its appearance and psychedelic properties vary tremendously depending on growth conditions and strains. It seems to have originated in Asia, but its "medicinal" properties and the long fibers in its stem used to make rope (hemp) have led to its being carried all over the world. The earlier American colonies brought seeds with them and George Washington, "the father of our country," was amomg its cultivators.
 There is evidence for Cannabis use as early as 5,000 B.C. in Central Europe and there are probable references to it in the earliest writtings of China and Egypt. The frozen tombs of the inhabitants of Siberia in about 500 B.C. have yielded quantities of seeds along with a variety of devices for burning them. Today there are numerous hi-bred strains, designed for strenth of psychoactive properties, quikness of growth, climitization abilites, types of high, medicinal values, even smell and flavor.

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 Grass seems to grow best in loose, well fertilized (earthworm castings, bat guano, bone meal, blood meal, potash, super phosphates) neutral PH (7.0) soil. The more you can put into it, (without over doing anything) the more the plant will benefit, and the more will you get out of it. Keep in mind that any nutrient with to high a value, will block out other nutrients. Sow seeds 1/2" to 3/4" inch deep in your cups filled with soil 1/2" to 1" from the rim (some say to use a starter soil mix for this step). Start with small containers, 16 oz. styrofoam cups with drainage holes poked in the bottom are good. Some say to soak the dark (not green imature) seeds over night in water before sowing. They can be transplanted into gallon size containers in about 4 weeks or when root bound (when roots begin poking out the drain holes is the perfect time to transplant). In 4 to 6 more weeks they should be close to or are declairing their sex. Isolate or thin out any male plants at that time if pollination (seeding) of females is not desired. Then transplant females into their permanent containers, 3 1/2 gallon deep pots or equivalent are perfect. These procedures will vary from strain to strain and with growing conditions, use your best judgment.
 Cannabis is usually dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants). However they do hermaphrodite (male and female flowers on the same plant) though the male pollin sacks are not desireable for smoking and contain no thc. The plants defence mechanizm is the resin which contains the THC (the psycho-active ingredient). Once the plant has been pollinated it discontinues growth and production of pistols, and puts all its energy into manufacturing seeds and building defences, (more to protect, more resin). Thus a seeded plant has a higher concentration of THC than a sinsemilla plant (unpollinated female plant). Unpollinated plants can produce more THC simply because the plant will continue to grow as long as it is not pollinated, making more THC by volume, not concentration, (it is possible that strains may exist in which this does not apply). Male plants will produce pollin from 2 to 4 months and beyond depending on strain and growing conditions. The sex of plants can be influenced by soil conditions. Some experiments giving more male plants in moist, heavily manured soil. Long light periods tend to masculinize, whereas plants grown under short day conditions tend to produce intersexual flowers. It has been found that male plants will turn to female after early spraying with Ethrel (2-choloro-ethane-phosphonic acid). Female plants under stress may produce male pollin sacks (hermaphrodite) during flowering in order to insure its survival. This is an undesirable trait for plants grown for smoking. This all will vary from strain to strain and growing conditions. It cannot be over emphasized, knowing your particular strains behavior/growth habits is a huge part of successful growing. General knowlage of plants and good growing skills is the other part, after all marijuana is a weed. If you are growing in a controlled environment you can elevate the CO2 levels to 1250 ppm to 1500 ppm during flowering for an increase in your yeild, up to as much as 25%.
  For definative references on the cultivation and chemistry of marijuana, see MARIJUANA GROWERS GUIDE, and/or MARIJUANA POTENCY.

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 Some samples of cannabis have considerable THC acid. In order to extract this it is first necessary to decarboxylate it by heating it to 110^o F for fifteen minutes. Cannabis grown commercially for its fiber content, contains mostly the inactive cannabidiol and cannabidiolic acid. These compounds can be extracted and used to synthesize the active THC and THC acid (by smoking, not active orally) in one step.
 To extract, add 50g cannabis/liter petroleum ether or benzene: soak 12 hours with occasional shaking; filter and extract petroleum ether 3 times with a solution containing 5% NaOH and 5% Na2SO3. Acidify the aqueous extracts with cold dilute sulfuric acid and extract with ether or chloroform which is dried, evaporate in a vacuum to yield the cannabidiolic acid. THC and cannabidiol remain in the petroleum ether which can be dried and evaporated in a vacuum and the residue smoked. THC acid is converted to THC by boiling in benzene for 7 hours.

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 Smoking seems to destroy most of the THC, but even so this is several times more efficiant than eating it, since the smoking dose of ¹ is about 2mg and the eating dose is about 10mg. Based on a 50% THC content, (killer kind bud is between 3% and 10% THC) 1g of hash efficiently used should (by smoking) mildly stone about 25 people.
 Partial tolerance to THC developes rapidly and most users observe that they get much higher the first time a given batch of cannabis is smoked than on subsequent occasions, leading some people to desire a different batch for each day of the week.

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 The ¹ and ¹(⁶) THC's with the n-pentyl in the 5' position (obtained by using olivetol in the synthesis) are naturally occuring and hence illegal, but the ³ THC's and the numerous isomers, homologs and analogs of the ¹ and the ¹(⁶) compounds are probably legal. Thats right LEGAL!!!
 Apparently, federal legislation outlaws delta-1, delta-1(6), delta-3,4-THC's, both cis and trans and D and L and compounds. This still leaves HUNDREDS of LEGAL cannabiniods.

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 THC refers to tetrahydrocannabinol, and refers to the position of the double bond. Various numbering systems were used, so the following equivalences should be noted:

¹THC = ¹3,4-trans-THC = ⁹THC and ⁶THC = ¹(⁶)THC = ⁸THC = ⁶-3-4-trans-THC.

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Only the first three methods below give the natural (-) isomer of THC. The other methods give the racemic produce and consequently their yeilds of active THC are actually one-half that indicated.

Method 1
(-)- ¹(⁶) THC

 This method gives about 50% yeild for THC and about 90% for the 1',1'-dimethylpentyl analog.
 Olivtol 4.74 g (or equimolar amount of analog), 4.03 g (+) cis or trans p-methadien (2,8)-o1-1 (the racemic compound can be used but yeild will be one-half), 0.8 g p-toluenesulfonic acid in 250 ml benzene; (or use 0.004 Moles triflouracetic acid and reflux five hours). Cool, add ether, wash with NaHCO3 and dry, evaporate in vacuum to get about 9 g of mixture (can chromatograph on 350 g silica gel-benzene elutes the THC; benzene: ether 98:2 elutes an inactive product; then benzene: ether 1:1 elutes unreacted olivetol; evaporate in vacuum to recover olivetol).

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 Disolve the olivetol or analog and p-menthadienol or p-methatriene (1,5,8) in 8 ml liquid SO2 in a bomb and fuse 70 hours at room temperature. Proceed as above to get about 20% yeild.
 Convert (-) alpha-pinene to (-) verbanol (see precursors section). Add 1M(-) verbenol (racemic verbenol will give one-half yeild), 1M olivetol or analog with methylene chloride as solvent. Add BF3 etherate and let stand at room temperature one-half hour to get approximately 35% yeild after evaperating in vacuum or purifying as above to recover unreacted olivetol. Solvent and catalyst used in Method 1 above will probably work. Either cis or trans verbenol can be used. The JCS paper adds 1 g BF3-etherate to a solution of 1 g olivetol and 1.1 g verbenol in 200 ml methylene chloride and let stand two hous at room temperature. JACS 94,6164(1972) recommends two hours at -10^o C, then one-half hour at room temperature and the use of cis rather than trans verbanol (the latter gradually decomposes at room temperature). The reaction is also carried out under nitrogen, using twice as much verbenol as olivetol, 0.85 ml BF3 etherate and 85 ml methylene chloride/g verbenol (both freshly distilled over calcium hydride) to give ca. 50% yeild.
 In the synthesis of THC with verbenol, the cis isomer is preferable to the trans since the latter decomposes at room temperature. Pinene or carvone give active THC's.

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Method 3
(-)-¹ and ¹(⁶) THC

 1m (+)-trans-2-carene oxide (2-epoxycarene), 1M olivetol or analog, 0.05 M p-toluenesulfonic acid in 10L benzene; reflux two hours and evaporate in vacuum (or can seperate the unreacted olivetol as above) to get 30% yeild THC. Olivetol can also be seperated as described below. For synthesis of 2-epoxycarene (⁴ carene oxide) from ⁴ carene (preperation given later) see p-methadieneol preperation (Method 2). 3-carene oxide gives 20% yeild of ¹(⁶) THC.

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