By Luke Sumpter


Ganja. This word permeates the global cannabis space. You’ll see these five letters plastered on websites, storefronts, smoking products, and seed packets. The casual use of this term means it often gets lumped in with many other stoner slang words. But ganja has ancient roots and a fascinating story. Discover the origins of the word and how it became so dominant in cannabis culture.

There Are Many Words for Weed

Think about this for a second: you likely know more synonyms for cannabis than any other noun. There are hundreds of names for the plant and the flowers it produces. While some of these names have botanical roots, many of them are classed as slang. Because cannabis has a controversial history, users often came up with names to conceal the topic of their discussions. Of course, as these titles gained traction, they had to switch to new ones in the interest of discretion. Some of the most widely used names for cannabis include:

Weed Ganja
Pot  Reefer
Bud Grass
Herb Green




But one of these words is not like the rest. Cannabis users often assume the word “ganja” descends from Jamaican slang. Although the term has a history on the Caribbean island, it spans much further back into antiquity.

India: The Roots of Ganja

Cannabis has a long and rich history in India. Although the herb likely originated in modern-day China[1], the plant eventually arrived within India’s borders, where it fulfiled a significant role as a holistic herb and religious sacrament. The use of the plant dates back to as early as 2000 BCE in the region.

Various ancient texts are thought to make reference to cannabis. Some scholars propose cannabis as a candidate for the intoxicating ritualistic preparation called soma during the Vedic period. The Rigveda, penned between 1700–1100 BCE, reveres this mind-altering concoction. The Atharvaveda, composed between 1500–1000 BCE, also mentions a sacred plant, known as “bhanga”, used to relieve anxiety.

However, these references remain contested. The documents are written in the ancient language of Sanskrit—one of the oldest and most systematic languages in the world. This antiquated linguistic system is complex; for example, it features around 70 synonyms for water and 100 names for elephants.

The term ganja originates from this mother language in the form of the word “gañjā”, which refers to a preparation made using cannabis. The term also carried over into Hindi, a newer Indo-Aryan language that descended from an early form of Vedic Sanskrit. The word looks extremely similar in Hindi—“gāñjā”.

But the word only refers to a certain product derived from cannabis plants. Gāñjā is the title given to the flowers, whereas “charas” refers to the resin, and “bhang” the seeds and leaves.

The impact of Sanskrit on cannabis terminology remains in the modern era. Not only do we still use these terms, but researchers have used the ancient language to name new cannabis-related molecules.

The esteemed cannabis researcher Raphael Mechoulam discovered THC—the main psychoactive constituent of the plant—in 1964. In 1992, in an effort to understand the effects of cannabis on the body, he discovered a critical endocannabinoid that he named “anandamide”. This term stems from the Sanskrit “ananda”, which translates to “bliss” or “joy”. Interestingly, researchers believe this molecule underpins the euphoric sensations of the “runner’s high”.

The word ganja has a rich history indeed. But how exactly did this ancient Sanskrit term become a key part of the global cannabis vernacular? It involves unbelievable cruelty, the merging of cultures, and the birth of a new religion.

India: The Roots of Ganja

A Flame in the Darkness: Ganja's Contribution to Rastafari

The word ganja didn’t reach the Western world through some kind of cultural outreach or mission. Instead, it arrived in shackles at the hands of colonialism and slavery. In 1845, the British Empire started to traffic enslaved Indians to the Caribbean to strengthen the workforce on sugar plantations. Over 40,000 of them arrived in Jamaica from India over the subsequent decades.

Captured slaves lost a lot during the voyage; family, freedom, and homeland. But the treacherous journey couldn’t quite shake away elements of their culture. Some of these slaves brought a little piece of home along with them, including ganja.

Slaves from elsewhere in the world arrived at the island hundreds of years earlier; victims of the Atlantic slave trade from Africa were brought to Jamaica in 1513. As the British trafficked Indians to the island, they unintentionally developed a melting pot of cultures. Their synergy would go on to affect the world, and all things cannabis, forever.

Christian missionaries spread the Gospel to Jamaica, and members of the large African population there gave it their own cultural spice. This fusion of religion and culture gave rise to Rastafari, a religion based on the Bible. However, Rastas hold some opposing views to many sects of Christianity. They believe that Heaven is on Earth, that God’s spirit manifests as Emperor Haile Selassie I, and they put a large emphasis on the spiritual significance of ganja.

The slave trade has left a dark strain on humanity. But there are silver linings in all things. Although defined by horrific acts of evil, a light flickered during this time. The meshing of cultures that occurred gave life to a new belief system—one grounded in hope, nature, and peace.

Overall, a blend of Christianity, African culture, and the Indian roots of ganja gave rise to Rastafari. Interestingly, the holy men of both Rastafari and Hinduism share a few things in common. For example, both devoted Rastas and sadhus sport dreadlocks and engage in ganja smoking using simple implements such as chillums and chalices.

The Modern Use of “Ganja”

Cultural figureheads such as Bob Marley popularised Rastafari and ganja through reggae music, and recognition of both quickly soared in Western culture. To this day, the word ganja is largely associated with Jamaican culture. Although the origin of the word receives little attention, the term itself appears almost everywhere in the Western cannabis space, from dispensaries and seed banks to music and films. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this, so long as we respect the history of this now-omnipresent term.

External Resources:
  1. Large-scale whole-genome resequencing unravels the domestication history of Cannabis sativa | Science Advances https://advances.sciencemag.org
Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes only. The information provided is derived from research gathered from external sources.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: