Marijuana has a rich history. The legalization of medical marijuana in California through Proposition 215, and the public debate surrounding it, has brought renewed interest in the cannabis sativa plant from which marijuana is grown. The growing public acceptance of medical marijuana is helping to dispel myths about cannabis.
Only recently has marijuana been treated as a dangerous drug. Ancient cultures appreciated the many practical and medicinal uses of cannabis. As a food, as a fiber, and as a medicinal preparation, cannabis has a fascinating history.
The history of marijuana use goes back more than ten thousand years to where it seems to have originated: in China. Hemp rope footprints on broken pottery dated around 10,000 BC. C. show one of the first known uses of the plant. Cannabis was cultivated and cultivated widely in ancient China.
The oldest know that the Neolithic culture in China made clothes, fishing nets and ropes with the hemp fibers separated from the stems of cannabis plants. The fibers can be spun into yarn or woven into fabric. Hemp fibers were used from the 2nd or 1st century BC to make the first paper, which was very strong and durable.
Cannabis seeds were counted as one of the “five grains” of ancient China, along with barley, rice, wheat, and soybeans. The marijuana seeds were roasted or used to make flour. Cannabis seeds can also be cooked into mush. These marijuana seeds remained an important part of the Chinese diet until they were replaced by higher quality beans in the 10th century.
The ancient Chinese learned to press marijuana seeds to obtain the oil, which could be used for cooking, lamps, or lubrication. The leftover cannabis residue provided food for the pets.
Medical marijuana was also used in ancient China. China’s oldest known pharmacological work described marijuana preparations to treat conditions from constipation to malaria. Marijuana treatments included grinding the roots into a paste to treat pain. The Chinese surgeon Hua To even used the cannabis plant for surgical anesthesia during the 2nd century.
The first records of the psychoactive effects of marijuana are also found in China, dating back to 2000 BC. C. This document, Materia Medica Sutra, notes that the cannabis seed “if taken in excess” will allow the user to see spirits. “If taken long term, it makes one communicate with the spirits and lightens the body.” Later writers such as the 5th century Chinese physician T’ao Hung Ching believed that the hallucinatory effects of cannabis, combined with ginseng, would allow users to see the future.
California marijuana laws are helping to return cannabis to its rightful place as a useful plant of medicinal value.
