Sinsemilla


Cannabis sinsemilla also known as sensimilla, sinse or sensi is the female Cannabis plant that has not been pollinated and therefore does not develop seeds, increasing the concentration of cannabinoids and terpenes. This cultivation technique was developed in Sinaloa, Mexico, in the 1970s, by the drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero and consists of separating male plants as soon as they are known to be male, in order to avoid pollination of female pistils. The seeds are not useful for recreational purposes and require the plant to make a great expenditure of energy that could be invested in increasing the tetrahydrocannabinol of the inflorescences.
The technique became popular in the United States as sinsemilla, sinsemilia, sinse, or sense. In 1980, an American study indicated that the average THC of street marijuana was 1.8%, while sinsemilla reached 6%. Sinsemilla cannabis is a cultivation technique, so it should not be confused with skunk, which refers to strains with a high percentage of THC, of up to 34% THC content. The expression sinsemilla is practically obsolete since feminized seeds emerged in the 1990s. Feminized seeds are the outcome of a process entailing hormonally induced self-pollination of female cannabis plants, typically by silver ions.

Health risks

Regular use of high potency cannabis has been linked in several studies to an increased likelihood of psychotic disorders. A 2015 study looked at multiple users of skunk, sinse or other HPC cannabis strains in South London showed a corresponding relationship with adults presenting with episodes of psychosis similar to schizophrenia. Similar studies have been carried out in Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
New research, carried out since the liberalisation of the harsh laws prohibiting cannabis, suggest that rather than being a cause of psychotic conditions the non-psychoactive cannabinoid compound, cannabidiol, may in fact have an anti-psychotic effect.

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