 The use of "marihuana" in American English increased dramatically in the 1930s, when it was preferred as an exotic-sounding alternative name during debates on the drug's use.It has been suggested that in the United States the word was promoted by opponents of the drug, who wanted to stigmatize it with a "foreign-sounding name".According to Lizzie Post, the word "marijuana" is deprecated because "in the early 1900s, the term marijuana was purposely used to negatively associate it with the Latino community."