The Mysterious History Of 'Marijuana'
www.npr.org
The drug has been intertwined with race and ethnicity since well before the word "marijuana" was coined. Turns out there's an awful lot we don't know about the recent history of the cannabis plant.

Throughout the 19th century, news reports and medical journal articles almost always use the plant’s formal name, cannabis. Numerous accounts say that “marijuana” came into popular usage in the U.S. in the early 20th century because anti-cannabis factions wanted to underscore the drug’s “Mexican-ness.” It was meant to play off of anti-immigrant sentiments.