The Evolution of Cannabis

Cannabis has a long and perhaps, not well known history. For centuries, cannabis has been used to treat a vast array of illnesses. It’s incredible to think that even now, we still use cannabis for healing. Many of us watched the progression of cannabis, going from completely illegal to over half of the United States having some form of legality. But, that is only cannabis’ recent history, there is much more to the medicinal plant than controversy, 420, and high THC percentage.

To get to the start of cannabis’ long history, we have to go all the way back to 2800 BC. According to the University of Sydney (Australia), the first record of cannabis use as medicine was in central Asia or western China. This was listed in Emperor Shen Nung’s pharmacopeia. Emperor Nung is regarded as the father of Chinese medicine and agriculture. His legendary rule changed the way his people cultivated food by introducing grains and food, and his book “Materia Medica” included 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals. There have been other early texts that include cannabis like that of the Indian Hindus, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans. Each one reports a vast array of health issues like “arthritis, depression, amenorrhea, inflammation, pain, lack of appetite and asthma. ”

In one of the aforementioned Hindu texts, legend holds that Shiva, one of the most important gods in Hinduism, was given the title “The Lord of Bhang '' as cannabis plants were his favorite food. Due to this, cannabis is one of the most sacred plants, it is written in the fourth Veda that it is used for anxiety relief. Other texts, according to Sydney, “ attribute the onset of fever with the ‘hot breath of the gods’ who were angered by the afflicted person's behavior. Using cannabis in religious rites appeases the gods and hence reduces the fever.” THC has since been proven to act on the hypothalamus to reduce body temperature.

The next date cannabis had recorded usage was in 199 AD by Claudious Galen, a man of Greek descent who became a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher. In his book, “On the Properties of Foodstuff,” Galen wrote of his discovery of the hedonistic use of cannabis. According to Cambridge University's Powell Owen, “He compared hemp to the chaste tree, the sacred tree of Hera, which has a very similar appearance. He wrote that in Italy it was customary to serve small cakes containing marijuana for dessert. These increased the desire to drink; excessive use, however, had a stupefying effect.” Galen also added that hemp promoted high spirits, creating a feeling of warmth, if consumed in excess.

It then took a long stint before cannabis was introduced into western medicine in the later 1830s. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, after living in India, wrote of the many medicinal uses of cannabis, including a case where cannabis had stopped seizures in a child. His work was published in, “‘On the preparations of the Indian hemp, or gunjah (Cannabis Indica), their effects on the animal system in health, and their utility in the treatment of tetanus 6 and other convulsive disorders.” This was all after he compared India’s literature on the subject to all he could find in western literature and found we were severely lacking.

As cannabis had inevitably made its way into western literature, it slowly began to get into culture too. In 1936, the film Reefer Madness was released to sway public opinion away from cannabis by demonizing it as highly addictive, causing mental disorders, and inciting violence. IMDb’s description of Reefer Madness is a “cautionary tale that features a fictionalized take on marijuana use. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to ‘reefer’ cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music.” If you’re interested in the movie, you can find the whole thing on YouTube.

A year after Reefer Madness was released, 1937, the uses of cannabis for any purpose were fully taxed out of existence in the United States with the Marijuana Tax Act. Credit for this act passing went to the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, who testified that the use of marijuana “produces in its users insanity, criminality and death.” The Marijuana Tax Act regulated importation, cultivation, possession and distribution, and placed a tax on any sales. The first people arrested due to this act were in Denver for possession and dealing. Shoutout to Denver for being in the cannabis loop for so long!

Nearly 30 years later, in 1964, THC was isolated from the cannabis plant by Raphael Mechoulam, the Father of Cannabis Research. Mechoulam was an “Israeli chemist who is credited with opening the field of cannabis science after identifying the structure and function of the key compounds of cannabis,” according to the New York times, he passed this year in March. His groundbreaking research on cannabis and the endocannabinoid system was completed “just before the use of marijuana and other drugs exploded in countries around the world, bringing seismic changes to popular culture while also kicking off decades-long battles about health effects and enforcement.”

As the world began to more actively use cannabis, so did the United States. In 1970, we introduced the Controlled Substance Act that lists cannabis as “having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” a Schedule 1 drug. Cannabis is still on this list even though there are about 20 states that have fully legalized cannabis at this point. Federal legality is still iffy but we all seem to have high hopes each year that passes by. Let’s shoot for 2024!

In the United States, California was the first state to legalize medical cannabis. 1996 introduced the Compassionate Use Act which “provided for people to possess and use cannabis without legal consequences if they had a medical necessity that required the use of marijuana.” This was a huge moment for the US and has ultimately led to where we are now. Medical licenses were given out to people with illnesses like AIDS, cancer, anorexia, migraines, and arthritis. Thanks so much California for giving us the push ahead we needed.

It still wasn’t until 2012 that scientists were able to prove that cannabis can ease schizophrenia symptoms just as well as conventional antipsychotic drugs. Scientists all over the world have studied cannabis and progress can come slowly. We are still making breakthroughs to this day. Another big moment in cannabis research came 5 years later in 2017. CBD was shown to reduce seizures in a placebo-controlled trial. Absolutely mind blowing to think that this hypothesis was brought to the forefront of western medicine in the early 1800s. One can only imagine what we will prove as time goes on.

Another fun cannabis history fact is that the first country to fully legalize cannabis, growing, selling, and using, was Uruguay in 2013. As of today, Uruguay has completed over 3 tons of shipments, Forbes reports, the largest one was 2,000 pounds. The total commercial value of their exports are estimated at $2.5 million. If that isn’t a reason to make the United States fully legal, I don’t know what is. Cannabis’s history may be long but we can only go up from here.