Marijuana From Ancient History To Now ⋆ Patriots Hemp

Originating millions of years ago, Cannabis  has become one of the most familiar plants   in the entire world. Here’s how it got from a  humble weed to everyone’s favorite, well…weed. The origin of wild Cannabis sativa has been  debated for years. As a 2018 study published  

In Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research notes,  determining when the species first evolved was   complicated by the lack of fossil records. But, by  examining DNA mutation rates, scientists were able   to deduce that the genus Cannabis evolved  around 27.8 million years ago. Curiously,  

Its closest relative is the genus Humulus,  which includes the hop plant used to make beer. Scientists then studied tiny fossilized pollen  grains for more clues on the species’ evolution.   Because Cannabis pollen is remarkably  similar to that of its cousin, Humulus,  

Botanists used habitat to determine which was  which in the fossil record. They concluded   that the wild ancestor of modern Cannabis  sativa most likely evolved on East Asia’s   northeastern Tibetan Plateau, in what is  now China. Scientists believe that this   high-elevation steppe environment gave rise  to the species’ famous cannabinoids, as these  

Compounds protected the plant from both sunlight  and grassland herbivores like horses and rodents. According to a 2022 study published in  Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution,   and Systematics, the species then spread via  animals and waterways, its range expanding and  

Shrinking with glacial events. These events likely  caused the species to split from Cannabis indica –   considered by most botanists to be a subspecies  — about 1.05 million years ago. Sadly, as a   2021 study published in Science Advances notes,  marijuana’s wild ancestor has likely gone extinct.

People discovered the many benefits  of Cannabis sativa pretty quickly,   though its earliest uses were practical  rather than recreational. According to   a 2021 study published in Science Advances,  genetics indicate that modern Cannabis sativa   diverged from its wild ancestor around 12,000  years ago in present-day Mongolia and China,  

Meaning this is likely where the processes of  selective breeding and domestication began.   Incidentally, this also makes marijuana  one of the first cultivated plants. East Asia is considered a hotspot of plant  domestication and is the birthplace of many   modern crops, including rice, soybeans, apricots,  broomcorn, and peaches. As noted in a 2006 study  

Published in Cell, domestication alters favorable  existing traits in wild plants to better suit   human needs. In the case of Cannabis sativa,  plants were initially bred for their oily seeds,   which served as a food crop. Later,  selective breeding produced taller  

Plants full of stem fibers, which were used  to make textiles like paper, rope, and cloth. According to a 2019 study  published in Science Advances,   the levels of psychoactive components in  early-cultivated Cannabis sativa were low,   indicating it was not yet valued as a drug plant.  Sorting through history to determine how and where  

Different varieties of the species came to be  is a challenge. As a 2022 study published in   Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and  Systematics notes, it’s possible there were   multiple domestication sites, including one  in Europe between the Caspian and Black Seas. “These two characteristics:   strong fibers and psychoactive effects  are largely due to domestication.”

Though they originally cultivated  it for its nutritious seeds,   ancient China soon found many additional  uses for Cannabis sativa. Archaeologists   discovered imprints of rope made from  the plant pressed into old pottery,   evidence that hemp was in use about 12,000  years ago. Fibers from the plant were also  

Used to make clothing and paper, an invention  that advanced Chinese culture significantly. Growing Cannabis sativa also gave the Chinese  an advantage in battle, as hemp bowstrings were   greatly superior to the flimsier bamboo bowstrings  used by rivals. Stronger and more durable,   hemp bowstrings allowed Chinese fighters to  send their arrows sailing much further, and,  

As a result, hemp became the country’s  first war crop. But, as it turned out,   sturdy fibers were only one of the plant’s  useful features. Chinese doctors first   started using Cannabis sativa to treat  physical maladies around 6,000 years ago. A few thousand years later, in 2,700  BCE, Emperor Shen-Nung — known as the  

Father of Chinese Medicine — included Cannabis  sativa in his medical encyclopedia under the   name “ma.” Ma proved useful for treating  several ailments, including rheumatism,   constipation, gout, malaria, and,  oddly enough, absent-mindedness. Later,   a concoction of cannabis resins mixed with  wine was administered to patients during major  

Surgeries as a primitive anesthetic. Chinese  farmers were also the first to recognize that   female Cannabis sativa plants produced  more of these coveted useful medicines. Figuring out exactly when people first started  smoking Cannabis sativa for its psychoactive   properties has baffled historians for ages.  Luckily, recent findings have shed some light  

On the matter. According to a 2019 study  published in Science Advances, researchers   discovered evidence of burned cannabis within  10 braziers — basically mini barbecues — found   within eight tombs at the 2,500-year-old Jirzankal  Cemetery in modern Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains. What’s more, the plant residue found in the  braziers contained more of the psychoactive  

Compound THC than typical wild Cannabis sativa  of the time, indicating that it had possibly   been selectively bred for its mind-altering  effects. Researchers also observed the link   between the cemetery’s artifacts and the  writings of the Greek historian Herodotus   in his book “The Histories,” published around  the same time, which described how ancient  

Caspian Steppe people burned cannabis using hot  stones while sitting within enclosed tents. Such   a setup combined with high THC content would  certainly produce a pretty noticeable high. In the case of the Jirzankal Cemetery scene,  researchers concluded that cannabis was smoked  

During the burial, suggesting it was possibly part  of a ritual designed to invoke an altered state to   communicate with deities, or the dead themselves.  Because some of the tombs belonged to common   people, researchers believe that the findings  demonstrate that using cannabis to get high was no  

Longer an activity reserved for society’s elite,  as past records implied. It had become mainstream. For one reason or another, Cannabis  sativa proved to be a useful plant,   and people started trading it as  soon as it was domesticated. Nomadic   people first moved the species outside of  modern-day China and the Caucasus region,  

Two areas where it was widely cultivated,  starting around 10,000 years ago. As noted in a 2014 study published in Geographical  Review, wandering tribes like the Phrygians and   Scythians frequently traveled the Silk Road,  carrying the plant with them. The Scythians   especially enjoyed cannabis, cultivating  it, smoking it regularly during rituals, and  

Trading it with anyone they met. In his book “The  Histories,” Herodotus described their enjoyment: “They take some hemp seed, creep into the tent,  and throw the seed onto the hot stones. At once   it begins to smoke, giving off a vapour  unsurpassed by any vapour-bath one could  

Find in Greece. The Scythians enjoy it  so much that they howl with pleasure.” By way of their far-reaching travels,  the Scythians brought Cannabis sativa to   Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle  East. Starting around 2,000 years ago,   the drug variety of Cannabis sativa spread  into Africa and Southeast Asia by way of the  

Indian and Arab Empires. At the same time,  hemp-use cannabis made its way to Europe.   Europeans did not seem as taken with the drug,  preferring to stick with wine and beer instead. “Go to the Winchester, have a nice cold  pint, and wait for all this to blow over.”

Many others also took a strong  liking to Cannabis sativa. In fact,   the Hindus enjoyed it so much that they made it  an important part of their religion. Hinduism   likely began around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago  in the Indus Valley of modern-day Pakistan.  

It’s always been a melting pot of tenets and  traditions rather than a conventional religion   with a single founder, and one custom  its believers adopted was cannabis use. Starting around 2,500 years ago, the Hindus  began to pay homage to several deities,   including Lakshmi, Vishnu, and Shiva.  They also started consuming bhang,  

An edible paste made from female Cannabis  sativa plants that can be added to a variety   of foods and drinks. Bhang is prized  for both its psychoactive and medicinal   properties and is said to reduce nausea.  Bhang is also the preferred food of Shiva,  

The main god of many Hindu sects, and even  earned him the name The Lord of Bhang. Ancient Hindus attributed the medicinal qualities  imparted by bhang as a reflection of Shiva’s   approval. Likewise, health afflictions meant  that Shiva or another god was displeased with  

A person’s behavior. A fever, for example,  was deemed the “hot breath of the gods,” and   treating it required performing a ceremony and  consuming cannabis as an appeal to the deities.   This would often do the trick, as it just  so happens that THC lowers body temperature.

Another group that took to Cannabis sativa was  the Muslims. Islam started around 1,400 years ago   in what is now Saudi Arabia. According to a 1982  study published in the Bulletin of the New York   Academy of Medicine, Cannabis sativa first became  affiliated with Islam around 1,000 years ago, when  

Persian and Iraqi sects at the eastern edge of the  Islamic Empire got their first taste of the drug. A few centuries later, cannabis, called hashish  in Arabic, was commonplace in Islamic culture.   The Koran, Islam’s holy book, didn’t expressly  forbid it as it did alcohol use, so more and  

More Muslims began partaking of the edible  drug. The Sufis, a mystical faction of Islam,   claimed that hashish brought enlightenment and a  closer connection with Allah and quickly spread   the plant throughout the Middle East. Muslims  also valued cannabis for its medicinal qualities,  

Using it to stimulate appetite and relieve  everything from epilepsy to pain to dandruff. Hashish became especially popular in Egypt,  where it was used by the oppressed and rulers   alike. However, by the 14th century, a few  Egyptian leaders viewed the drug as a threat  

To society and made serious efforts to curb its  use. Plants were burned, taxes were imposed,   and users were penalized. Many Muslims also  revisited the Koran, reinterpreting its text   to include hashish as a forbidden substance  akin to alcohol, but hashish endured. Sea travel made Cannabis sativa  a global phenomenon and was  

Facilitated by the group perhaps most  renowned for their maritime exploits:   the Vikings. The fierce Scandinavian Vikings held  sway over Europe from the 9th to 11th centuries,   using their advanced nautical skills to  navigate their longboats to new lands,   which they would then conquer. And along  their journeys, they carried a stash of weed.

According to a 2014 study published in  Geographical Review, Cannabis sativa   seeds were found aboard Viking ships in the  mid-9th century, over 1,000 years ago. But   exactly what were the seafaring barbarians  doing with the plant? A 2013 study published   in Scientific Reports notes that hemp fibers were  especially useful for making rope and sailcloth,  

Two things essential for sea travel. It was also  used in elaborate Scandinavian wall hangings,   likely because it produced better fibers than  flax when grown in nitrogen-rich Nordic soil. The Vikings also took advantage of the plant’s  medicinal benefits. Vikings used cannabis to  

Treat pain on their travels, such as that  from childbirth and toothaches. To date,   there’s no hard evidence that the Vikings partook  of the mind-altering aspects of the plant,   though in 2018 cannabis pollen was discovered  at a former Viking outpost in Newfoundland,   Canada, meaning they carried it farther and  wider than researchers previously thought.

It was only a matter of time before Cannabis  sativa made its way to the New World. But   surprisingly, its earliest widespread introduction  was strictly business. Europeans colonizing the   New World were predominantly focused on  using the vast expanse of undeveloped   land to grow hemp to make rope, sailcloth,  and other textiles for shipment overseas.

As Martin A. Lee notes in his book  “Smoke Signals,” England even passed   a law requiring all American colonists to  plant hemp crops, starting in 1619. The plant   flourished in the New World’s soil, growing  much taller than it did in England. And so,   Cannabis sativa became the first  crop widely cultivated in America,  

Its initial seeds planted by none other than  the Puritans, an English religious group known   for their strict moral code. Later on, George  Washington even tried his hand at hemp farming. Hemp was woven into the very fabric of  early America. Everything from clothing  

To paper to the hangman’s noose was  hemp-derived, and, at one point,   the fibrous plant could be used in place of money  or even as a ticket overseas. It was the nation’s   third-largest crop until the late 1800s when  steamships replaced sailboats. American hemp  

Farming experienced one last hurrah during World  War II when the need for textiles was great. Though Cannabis sativa was in every  American’s backyard at one point,   no one was smoking it. As Martin A. Lee notes in  his book “Smoke Signals,” the drug variety of the  

Plant first landed in Brazil in the early 1500s by  way of enslaved Africans traveling with Portuguese   sailors. Native South Americans, already familiar  with psychoactive substances, quickly took to the   drug and began smoking it during rituals. Its use  soon spread across South America and into Mexico.

Recreational cannabis, called marijuana in  Spanish, first entered the southwestern United   States alongside Mexican immigrants escaping the  effects of the Mexican Revolution, between 1910   and 1911. Almost immediately, the plant was viewed  as a threat, and by 1931, 29 states had banned its  

Use. A 2016 study published in U.C. Davis Law  Review notes, apprehension surrounding the drug   largely stemmed from racism against Mexican  Americans and Black citizens of the South. Since both groups smoked cannabis, the plant  became a scapegoat for racial bias in America,  

With everything from rape to murder being blamed  on the drug and the people who used it. In 1936,   “Reefer Madness,” a blatant  propaganda film, was released,   whipping the growing flames of  fury into a full-blown inferno. “Mae? Mae!” “Wadda ya want?”  “Bring me some reefers!”

Just a year later, the U.S. federal  government passed the Marihuana Tax   Act of 1937, which banned all  non-medical use of the plant. Americans, like many cultures before them, greatly  enjoyed Cannabis sativa. According to a 2017   report published by the National Academies Press,  marijuana use experienced a revival in the 1960s,  

With many young adults regularly smoking the  drug. The hippie movement of the ’60s likely   drove marijuana’s comeback, with many middle-class  white American youths shirking mainstream culture,   advocating for nonviolence and free love, and  enjoying spirituality and recreational drug use. Marijuana use increased, peaking in the late  1970s. Though it was still federally illegal,  

This did little to deter its devoted enjoyers.  In 1976, one in eight Americans over the age   of 12 admitted to smoking it within the last  month. Hippies in particular were fascinated   by the newfound drug of choice and began delving  into the complicated history of Cannabis sativa.

This led youths the world over to the Middle East  and India on an odyssey that became known as The   Hippie Trail. On their travels, hippies  retraced the ancient Silk Road on foot,   rode on “magic buses”, and learned  exotic new ways to enjoy the plant,  

Such as smoking the concentrated cannabis  resin known as hash. Famous artists of the   time, like The Beatles and Jimi  Hendrix, also got in on the fun. But the fun was short-lived. As it turned  out, the plant still had its fair share of  

Haters. According to a 2014 study published  in Geographical Review, most of the marijuana   in America during the ’60s and ’70s came from  Mexico. In an attempt to stop its use, the federal   government began patrolling the Mexican-American  border for drugs in 1969. In 1975 they got even  

More aggressive with their tactics, ruthlessly  spraying herbicide on Mexican marijuana crops. This caused weed prices to skyrocket.  Unwilling to forgo the drug,   a generation of amateur horticulturists  started growing the plant themselves,   stowing miniature greenhouse operations in  basements, closets, and storage units. But  

Everything changed in the 1980s. President  Reagan escalated the war on drugs in 1982,   encouraging the streamlined arrest  of anyone in possession of an illegal   substance. But the lion’s share of  the policy’s focus went to marijuana,   while hard drugs like crack cocaine, meth, and  heroin continued to infiltrate the country.

“This, this is crack cocaine.” What’s worse, the motivation for enforcement  seemed to be racially motivated. Despite the   prevalence of traffickers, as well as  plenty of white individuals smoking pot,   the majority of arrests made during the  war on drugs were Latino and Black youths  

In possession of marijuana. Meanwhile, the  disproportionate focus on marijuana allowed   the growing prescription opioid  epidemic to continue unchecked. Throughout its history, one thing most cultures  seem to agree on is that Cannabis sativa is a   valuable medicinal plant. The Western  world was a little slow to embrace it,  

But one Irish doctor finally convinced  European cultures to appreciate the   plant. Dr. William B. O’Shaughnessy spent  years studying cannabis while stationed in   India in the 1830s, shadowing Ayurvedic  healers and observing its various uses. Before long, he started doing his own  experiments, administering cannabis to  

Patients suffering from then-incurable conditions  like tetanus, cholera, and rabies. He released   his findings in a British scientific journal in  1842, marking the first contemporary publication   extolling the medical uses of marijuana. By  1854, his “Indian hemp” was listed in the   U.S. Pharmacopeia and became regarded as  something of a miracle drug. Nonetheless,  

Medical marijuana research was later stifled by  negative stigma and controversy in the 1900s. But times are changing. Modern science lists many  benefits of medical cannabis. In addition to its   psychoactive properties, THC lessens nausea,  stimulates appetite, and prevents vomiting,   making it an ideal treatment for cancer  patients undergoing chemotherapy. CBD,  

Meanwhile, combats inflammation, anxiety,  seizures, and pain, but lacks the unwanted   mind-altering side effects. In 1996,  California became the first U.S. state   to legalize medicinal marijuana. As  of 2023, 38 states have done the same. The world is slowly relaxing its strict views on  Cannabis sativa use. Sections of North America,  

Africa, Australia, Europe, and South America   not only allow medical applications of  marijuana but have decriminalized it,   meaning recreational use is also permitted.  Oddly enough, most of Asia and the Middle East,   two regions responsible for making the world  aware of cannabis, still forbid its use.

The United States is currently in the process of  dismantling past prejudices regarding the plant.   Colorado became the first U.S. state to legalize  recreational marijuana use in 2012. As of 2023,   22 U.S. states have done the same. In states  where marijuana is legal, it can be grown or  

Purchased at dispensaries. Determining which  variety produces a desired effect is as easy   as ordering a drink at Starbucks, and CBD  products are available at most gas stations. Still, marijuana remains federally illegal and  classified as a Schedule I drug, right up there  

With LSD and heroin, which makes it difficult  for scientists to study it. But in December 2022,   President Biden signed a bill to make it  easier for researchers to obtain plants   for their studies. As U.S. representative  and physician Andy Harris told Science,

“We will now be able to treat marijuana  like we treat any other substance or   pharmaceutical for which we hope  there is a potential benefit.”