Mota

Mota is a Mexican slang term frequently used to refer to compressed bricks of low-grade, seedy cannabis generally grown outdoors and trafficked across the border from Mexico into the United States. Historically, the mota trade spread this inferior quality commercial cannabis to eager American consumers decades before more discerning connoisseur-grade buds became available domestically. The term likely penetrated broader American lexicon and culture initially through Mexican immigration into border states. Associations with incoming Mexican immigrants and laborers also contributed heavily to demonizing and criminalizing cannabis in the US during the early 1900s despite mota’s popularity. Despite its stigmatized history in prohibitionist rhetoric, mota endures as slang in cannabis culture today, although it typically denotes cheap, brick-packed schwag. The legacy of mota captures cannabis’ rich heritage of traditional cultivation and usage in Mexico. And the name reflects generations of lucrative black market transfers done under cover of darkness to satisfy insatiable demand from American consumers.