The way people refer to the Cannabis sativa plant differs around the world. In addition to the numerous global and local slang terms for the sticky green flowers, like Weed, Mota, Ganja, Herb, and many others, two of the most common terms continue to be “marijuana” and “cannabis”.

While “marijuana” (or “marihuana”) was often the most common search term over the past twenty years of Google searches, “cannabis” has been slowly becoming more common in Canada, the US, and other countries, which is often an indicator of a legal regulatory framework. 

Cannabis legalization, especially when Canada legalized in 2018, seems to have been a turning point. Legalization moves us from “marijuana” to “cannabis”.

The Americas

In Canada, “cannabis” began to replace “marijuana” as the most common Google search query in late 2016 and had fully eclipsed it by the summer of 2018, a few months before the beginning of legalization.

In the United States, “marijuana” continues to be the more common search term, but a similar trend can be observed where cannabis is slowly replacing it. By the end of 2024, the two terms were in an almost dead heat in terms of Google searches. In 2025, “cannabis” is poised to take the lead in the US.

In Mexico though, where the word is thought to have originated, the term “marihuana” remains the dominant search term by far. While “cannabis” became slightly more common in Mexico beginning in early 2013, there is no discernible trajectory similar to the US and Canada in terms of the two dominant terms switching places. 

Further south in Uruguay—the first country to formally legalize and regulate cannabis for adult use in 2013 (a year after similar state-legal laws were passed in Washington and Colorado in the US)—the term “marijuana” is also the dominant search term. Unlike Mexico, “cannabis” has been an increasingly common search term as well, beginning around 2011.

In Brazil, which decriminalized some aspects of cannabis in 2006, “cannabis” has tended to be a more common search term than “marijuana” but local terms such as “maconha” or “mota” are far more common than either. 

Cannabis in parts of Europe

In some countries across the pond in Europe, the term “cannabis” appears to have a more long-standing foothold. In the United Kingdom and France, “cannabis” has been the dominant search term of the two by far for the last twenty years. 

Germany shows a similar trend between the two search terms, although a recent spike in the use of “cannabis” as a search term coincided with recent legislative changes in the country. 

In Spain, “marihuana” has historically been a more common search term than “cannabis,” although, in the past few years, the two have been reaching a more even footing. Slang terms like “mota” were sometimes even more common, though. 

In Italy, “marijuana” was the more common term up until late 2013 when “cannabis” began to replace it. The local term “canapa” is also very popular. 

Elsewhere around the world

In Israel, which has allowed medical cannabis access since the 1990s, “cannabis” became a more common search term than “marijuana” around 2012, but “קנאביס” (cannabis in Hebrew) took off in 2013 and is now by far the most common of the three.

Australia saw the term “cannabis” begin to become more common than “marijuana” in Google searches around the time it legalized medical cannabis in 2016. 

In New Zealand, “cannabis” began to replace “marijuana” as a search term in the lead-up to a referendum on cannabis in 2020. Although the referendum failed, “cannabis” stayed on as the preferred search term. 

Note: This is, of course, not an exhaustive list of terms for cannabis. Many of these common slang terms like “weed” or “pot”, for example, would be too commonly used for non-cannabis products to measure in the same way accurately. Instead, the goal here is just looking at the terms “cannabis” vs “marijuana” and how legalization legislation appears to sway people towards replacing “marijuana” with “cannabis,” at least when searching on Google.

All charts via Google Trends