According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 18.1 million Americans over the age of twelve are current users of marijuana (Hittelman). Marijuana comes from the plant cannabis sativa, and doesn't need much to flourish. Most growers start their crop in late April or early May, right after the last frost of the year. Cannabis requires a minimum of eight hours of sunlight a day. Growers can plant cannabis inside or out, but the plant has proven to thrive with little attention in its natural habitat, outside. As long as the plant is exposed to sunlight, air, water, nutrients, and an average temperature, it can grow (Growing Cannabis). There are two components in the cannabis sativa plant that have a medical purpose. The brain-altering ingredient that gives the user that 'high' is called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The other is cannabidiol (CBD), which actually counteracts the psychoactive property of the THC in the nervous system (What is CBD?). The part of the plant that people smoke contains a higher percentage of THC compared to CBD, and hemp is vice versa. Marijuana consists of anywhere from 3% to 22% THC, and the ratio to CBD is less than one, while hemp has less than 1% THC (What’s the Difference?). In their 2004 textbook Drugs, Society and Human Behavior, an Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, Oakley Ray, PhD, and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming, Charles Ksir, PhD, noted: “There are over 400 chemicals in marijuana, but only 61 [80 as of July 9, 2009; see Editor's Note below] of them are unique to the Cannabis plant -- these are called cannabinoids. One of them, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was isolated and synthesized in 1964 and is clearly the most pharmacologically active. Take special note that the relationship of THC to Cannabis is probably more similar to the relationship of mescaline to peyote than of alcohol to beer, wine, or distilled spirits. Alcohol is the only behaviorally active agent in alcoholic beverages, but there might be several active agents in Cannabis" (Ray and Ksir). Clearly, THC and CBD are not the only cannabinoids in cannabis, but they are the most active. All of the chemical compounds work together to decrease anxiety, boost the immune system, kill respiratory pathogens, and increase cerebral blood flow. According to Heather Auld, a primary care physician from southwest Florida, human blood contains “an endogenous cannabinoid system, which decreases inflammation, increases immunity, decreases pain, and increases appetite” (Auld). People use the leaves and buds to ingest for relief of pain and/or stress. This part of the plant is commonly known as weed or marijuana, but its street names also include: grass, pot, ganja, Mary Jane, or bud. Others harvest the cannabis sativa plant for its hemp, hemp seeds, and hemp oil. Hemp includes seeds and fibers obtained by “subjecting the stalks to a series of operations-including retting, drying and crushing-and a shaking process that completes separation from the woody portion, releasing the long, fairly straight fibre, or line” (“Hemp (plant)”). Usually, people harvest their cannabis plants when the THC level has reached its maximum. They can tell when this has occurred by waiting “until 50%-80% of the white pistils (hairs) have turned dark (usually brown or red)” (“Harvesting Medicinal Cannabis”), or waiting until specific trichomes mature. These trichomes produced by the plant are rich in THC, and protrude off the buds, when they turn a “milky translucent color”. Professionals suggest the grower uses a magnifying glass in determining when to harvest, because the trichomes are so small they cannot be seen with the naked eye. On average, the plant takes anywhere from 7-12 weeks to harvest after flowering, depending on how it's grown and the conditions it's in. To harvest the plant, the grower is suggested to cut them just above where the base of the stem meets the soil, or wait until each branch has matured and remove them each separately. Once harvested, the plant must be manicured and dried before it's ready to be ingested (“Harvesting Medicinal Cannabis”). On October 9, 2001, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) decided that as of February 6, 2002, “even traces of THC in products intended for food use would be illegal” (“General Hemp Information”). This would mean any product hemp could help produce would be illegal. In contrast, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) filed a suit that explained that the DEA has no authority to regulate a natural resource that has no psychoactive property, and less than 1% THC. The Ninth Circuit District Court ruled in favor of HIA, but did allow the DEA to pass another similar law titled the Final Rule. This allowed industrial hemp to be legally sold and imported, but still illegal to grow, which ignores all the help hemp could bring: “No other natural