The only way to "learn" about the effects of cannabis, is to smoke it. You'll smoke good ones and bad ones, hopefully good ones.

As for growing, this isn't something that a person can just read up on, and bang! You're a grower. Read, then do it, read, then do it, read, then do it, etc...Reading is a good part of learning, but a guitar player can't just read a book and be a super good player. It takes practice, much like growing.

I'm not sure what too recommend for reading. I would suggest overgrow, but the site got shut down

Ummm, advice I guess, is too take one step at a time. They go in this order usually:

Germination/sprouting
Vegetative growth
Flowering
Harvest/drying
Curing *optional.

My advice is not to cloud your brain with every piece of info about growing. There's a lot of info., so be prepared. Take one step at a time.

Learn how to germinate, once you have the seed soaking and you are preparing for it to pop, this will give you a few days to learn the basics of the next step. One step at a time. Once you have the first, or second, or third step beat, learn and read up on the rest.

Check out the growing forums here. There are a lot of good growers who know what they're doing.

Look out for names like Latewood, HARDDON in the growing sections. There are many more good people, but I can't remeber them all right now.

Good luck. Peace