Cannabis Tattoos

Cannabis tattoos or marijuana leaf tattoo are very popular tattoo designs. The plant is easily recognizable with its distinct spiky leaves.

Cannabis is actually one of the world’s oldest cultivated plants. It has been used as medicine and in rituals in many cultures: by Iranians, the Celtic druids, Sufis, Moslem and Arabian physicians, and others scattered throughout Persia, Central Africa, and Asia. The Sumerians imported the plant from India to Mesopotamia around 3,000 B.C. Hemp, as it’s also known, is also used to make a variety of rope and textile products.

In ancient druidic folklore, a girl who entered a churchyard in the evening and threw hemp seeds over her left shoulder could see a vision of her future husband.

On that note, you may be thinking, “Yeah, and if she smoked it, she’d probably see a lot more!” And that’s where today’s meaning for cannabis becomes unavoidable. Made popular as a symbol of Rastafarianism (and called ganja), the cannabis leaf image stands as a protest for those members of the “White Babylon” who would outlaw its recreational use.

If you want a marijuana leaf tattoo design, just remember this one thing. No matter how many historical, cultural, or even medicinal use explanations you give for your cannabis tattoo, it will symbolize smoking pot. Whether you do or do not inhale, it will still symbolize smoking pot. No question about it.

Cannabis Trivia: In prison tattoos, cannabis is sometimes symbolized as the number “13,” since “M” (for “marijuana”) is the 13th letter of the alphabet.

For more information on cannabis and Floral Tattoos, see the resources listed on our Reference Page.

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