A Short History of Cannabis

Cannabis is widely considered to be among humanity's oldest cultivated crops. Some estimates place its first cultivation at more than 30,000 years ago. The history of this plant is the history of agriculture itself. Ancient humans grew Cannabis as a source of food, fibre, and fuel; using it to make textiles, paper, and more. Hemp clothing is considered to be one of humanity's earliest industrial accomplishments. 

The oldest known use of Cannabis comes from a Japanese tomb on the Oki islands dating back to 8000 BC. Cannabis was venerated as a sacred medicine in the ancient world. From Egypt to Greece, Asia, The Middle East and Africa, Cannabis was used as a spiritual enhancer and employed for religious rituals. In India, cannabis was said to have been created from the body of the Hindu God, Lord Shiva, to purify the elixir of life. It also had an impact on the emergence of Buddhism, with Buddha himself said to have spent years in meditation, surviving on just one hemp seed a day. 

The Medicinal Use of Cannabis 

The first documented case of the medicinal use of cannabis dates back almost 5000 years to 2800BC, when it was listed in the Emperor Shen Nung's (regarded as the father of Chinese medicine) pharmacopoeia. It discussed the uniquely balanced Yin/Yang properties of the plant and its usefulness in the treatment of gout, malaria, rheumatism, and forgetfulness. The Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest and most important ancient medicinal texts from Egypt and Mesopotamia mentioned cannabis as an effective treatment for inflammation as far back as 1550BC. 

The Ancient Greeks used cannabis for inflammation, earaches and swelling; while noble Roman women sought it out to help alleviate the pain of childbirth. Some scholars believe that evidence indicates the healing miracles of Jesus were due to his use of Cannabis oils. Napolean is credited with bringing cannabis to France from Africa in the late 1700s and it was used there for years as a treatment for coughs, jaundice and assisting with tumour reduction. Even Queen Victoria used cannabis to relieve menstrual pain after the plant was introduced to Western medicine in the early to mid-1800s. 

At this time, cannabis became widely accepted in mainstream medicine and was an ingredient in many treatments for several decades. By the end of the 19th century however, its use had declined, due partly to challenges in controlling dosages and potency, as well as the sharp rise in popularity of synthetic and opium-derived drugs. 

Reefer Madness 

The arrival of the 20th century brought an influx of Mexican immigrants to the USA, and with them came the recreational use of cannabis. Public prejudices against 'marijuana' were really just thinly veiled racist fears, perpetuated by the media, and the anti-drug crusade of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who needed a new focus following the end of alcohol prohibition. 

Propaganda campaigns demonised cannabis as a highly addictive drug that caused mental disorder and violence, though there was a lack of any evidence to support such claims. In Australia, anti-marijuana fervor escalated due to the introduction of ill-informed legislation in 1925. The ongoing 'War on Drugs', has resulted in the persecution of a plant that, prior to this, was one of our nation's main crops.