![\"cannabis](\"https:\/\/trailblazerseo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/cannabis-dispensary-vs-marijuana-dispensary.jpg\")
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No matter what business you\u2019re in, connecting with your customers is vital. Using the same language as your customers can help you convince them that you share common ground, while using different terminology can potentially alienate them.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re marketing your business using SEO, using the right terms can have another big benefit. Even subtle changes in searches, such as \u201ccannabis dispensary near me\u201d versus \u201cmarijuana dispensary near me,\u201d can reflect wildly different search volumes, attitudes, and types of customers.<\/p>\n
So, when marketing your business, should you call it cannabis or marijuana?<\/p>\n
Prior to the 1930s, the plant was largely known as \u201ccannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was around that time that William Randolph Hearst, founder of the Hearst media empire, began the push to demonize cannabis. While many believe this was to protect his interests in wood paper production, which were being threatened by new methods of hemp paper production, his primary tactic was to tie cannabis usage to anti-Mexican racism. Referring to cannabis as \u201cmarihuana\u201d or \u201cmarijuana\u201d helped Hearst\u2019s publications to cast the plant as a \u201cforeign menace\u201d that influenced violent crime.<\/p>\n
Today, many in the cannabis industry avoid the word \u201cmarijuana\u201d altogether, arguing that \u201cmarijuana\u201d is tied to racism and pseudoscience that stand in the way of cannabis legalization and cultural acceptance.<\/p>\n
Given the racist roots of \u201cmarijuana,\u201d why would you ever want to call your organization a \u201cmarijuana dispensary?\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact is, \u201cmarijuana\u201d is still the most common name for the plant by a landslide. In the U.S., the term \u201cmarijuana\u201d is used in Google searches roughly 2-3 times as often as the word \u201ccannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n