Marijuana strains have been classified as either “indica” or “sativa” for decades in order to explain the type of effect they have when consumed.
While there is no simpler way to create an accurate system for classification, it seems the two may not have a difference in effects. Consumes and retailers must use the classification system because there is none other available.
According to botanist Jean Baptiste Lamarck, cannabis is broken into two species: Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa. By evolving in isolated locations, C. indica and C. sativa adopted distinct characteristics in how they look and how they feel when ingested.
In a 2015 study published in PLoS ONE, researchers examined the gene pools of 81 marijuana strains and found that there was only a moderate correlation between a marijuana strain’s genetic structure and its reported classification as “sativa” or “indica.”
“In the absence of any other useful system to classify marijuana, strain and indica-sativa dichotomy is all breeders and distributors have, kind of like what Winston Churchill said about democracy,” Jeff Chen, the Director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, told Insider. “It’s the worst system invented, but the best we have.”
