A Brief History
It's actually quite funny, learning about the history of weed. For instance, before I started this project I thought weed originated from Jamaica with Bob Marley. As I've discovered, that it very, very, VERY wrong. The use of Cannabis dates back to the Mesolithic, or the Middle Stone Age. However, it wasn't used to get high. In fact, it was harvested for it's strong fibre for everyday things, like a ship's rigging, or the noose when someone was being hanged. Actually, even in the 21st century industries are harvesting and using the Cannabis plant to make paper and clothing! Wait, WHAT? Does that mean we can get high from our clothes and the paper we write on??? No. Nowadays, with the use of good ol' science, we are able to separate the fibre found in Cannabis and the drug part (THC), so that we cannot get high off our clothes. Or our paper. However, we can still get high from regular, plain old weed. Truthfully, no one really knows where the heck weed came from. Some speculate that it came from central Asia, while other believe it originated in China (See, China DOES make everything) because of the large amount of medical agricultural documents found in Chinese Literature. Again, no one truly knows where the heck weed came from. However, there are many different opinions and speculations! This post will cover the theories of where it all began; In China, Ancient Near East, India, and Jamaica.
China
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| Cannabis Oil Joke |
All hail China, the makers of everything!!! Once upon a time, Archaeologists were digging (because that's what they do) in an ancient Chinese village when they first discovered the Cannabis plant. This village my friends, dates back to 10,000 years, during the Stone Age. Along with the Cannabis plant, the archaeologists found pots with patterns of twisted hemp (marijuana) fibre laced around them. This led to the reasoning that even since ancient times man has been using Marijuana in some sort of way. Funny enough, the Cannabis plant was originally considered one of China's 5 staple cereal grains. It was used in clothes, ropes, and fishnets. The Cannabis plant became so popular in the Chinese culture that priests and doctors started using it as a symbol of power to drive away evil spirits (damn those evil spirits). Over time as people learned how to extract things, the Chinese realized that the oil from the plant's seed was beneficial and began to use it in their medicines. It was used to cure menstrual pains and fatigue, gout, rheumatism, malaria, constipation, and absentmindedness. Over the years as more hallucinogens were found, Cannabis faded into the background, but it never quite disappeared.
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| The mention of Cannabis in the Bible |
Ancient Near East
Many studies have tried to prove that Cannabis was first used in religious practises because men were not able to properly self-reflect. Many people who believe this say it is because the Cannabis plant gave people the abilities to self-reflect. The religions that used to perform this act believed that the voice they heard while self-reflecting was not their own, but actually God's voice (was Moses high when he talked to the burning bush then? hmm). For example, the Sumerian culture who lived in the Ancient Near East believed in their own "personal Deity" and worshipped them daily by burning Cannabis. They did this because they believed that their Deity would provide them with courage and assist them in battle. In conclusion, Cannabis became a huge part of the Sumerian's lives because they believed it put them in touch with God, when actually the weed they were constantly inhaling just led them to listen to their inner thoughts.
India
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| Indian Bhang |
For thousands of years, Marijuana has been a big part in the Indian culture; it was used as magical, religious, medical, and social customs. Even today the Cannabis plant is used as an alcoholic drink. It's called Bhang, and is made of Cannabis leaves, milk, sugar, and spices. The drink was used for both special occasions such as festivals and weddings, as well as personal use in the home. Traditionally, when someone was getting married the father would have to bring a bottle of Bhang to the wedding to protect the future couple from evil spirits. The drug was also used socially to help people get the spiritual life they so desired. Now not to be inappropriate, but Bhang was also used in the Tantric religious sex acts. Basically, before they did the deed the man would pray to the Goddess Kali and they would both drink the Bhang. It was supposed to bring unity to the mind, body and soul, and the Cannabis in the Bhang helped achieve this. Much like the Ancient Near East people, Indians believed that Marijuana was medicinally powerful, and had the ability to connect them to their God.
Jamaica
Unlike what I had originally thought, Cannabis wasn't even available to Jamaica before the Indians brought it over. By this time, people had begun to smoke Cannabis not only for the religious and medical aspects, but because they realized how "good" it felt. Even though it's illegal to smoke Marijuana in Jamaica (SERIOUSLY?), the drug has been incorporated throughout all aspects of Jamaican culture and is conducted under a de facto rule that dictates the way to use them and to not abuse them. Now there is much, much more information about Cannabis and Jamaica's culture, but we'll cover that in a later post.
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| Jamaican Flag with Cannabis Plant |
Works Cited:
Spicer, Leah . "Historical and Cultural Uses of Cannabis and The Canadian "Marijuana Clash"." Parliament of Canada Web Site - Site Web du Parlement du Canada. N.p., 12 Apr. 2002. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/371/ille/library/spicer-e.htm>.
In my previous post, we went over the history of Marijuana in other parts of the world. Now, we're going to explore how North America and weed correlate!!! To do this, we have to start from the beginning; Before Columbus found us! Of course, this means archaeologists did some more digging. in 1985, a man named Bill Fitzgerald discovered 500 year-old pipes in Ontario that contained traces of hemp 5 times stronger than the average tobacco. Other archaeologists found stone and wooden pipes and hemp fibre pouches from around 800 A.D. It's said that some North American tribes used to use Marijuana in their rituals to thank their God's for everything the day would bring them. Even today, North American tribes (especially those from Mexico) use Cannabis (they call it Rosa Maria or Santa Rosa) as a gift for their Gods.
Cannabis was used in North America between 1840-1900, and was first introduced to medicine by a doctor from Scotland named W.B. O’Shaunghnessy. He introduced it to North America after spending time viewing its effects on people in India, and performing his own experiments on animals to ensure that it was safe for humans. Soon after he declared it safe, many North American doctors began to prescribe it to their patients for things like rabies, rheumatism, epilepsy, tetanus and for muscle relaxants. Doctors continued to prescribe Marijuana to their clients until the early 1890s, however during the same time doctors began to see that there were other options and introduced Aspirin, and even though in the beginning it faced many problems, the use of Cannabis for medicinal reasons was beginning to decline.
At the same time North America began to depend less and less on Cannabis as medicine, the United States was quickly learning that it could be used as a recreational hallucinogen. Soon medical experts began to see Marijuana as a drug, saying that it can cause overdoses and become a dangerous habit. In 1915, Marijuana became illegal in California, and by the 1920`s Marijuana had become the biggest underground drug.Since then, the general population of North America has been aware that Marijuana is an illegal drug not to be messed with.
It's actually quite funny, learning about the history of weed. For instance, before I started this project I thought weed originated from Jamaica with Bob Marley. As I've discovered, that it very, very, VERY wrong. The use of Cannabis dates back to the Mesolithic, or the Middle Stone Age. However, it wasn't used to get high. In fact, it was harvested for it's strong fibre for everyday things, like a ship's rigging, or the noose when someone was being hanged. Actually, even in the 21st century industries are harvesting and using the Cannabis plant to make paper and clothing! Wait, WHAT? Does that mean we can get high from our clothes and the paper we write on??? No. Nowadays, with the use of good ol' science, we are able to separate the fibre found in Cannabis and the drug part (THC), so that we cannot get high off our clothes. Or our paper. However, we can still get high from regular, plain old weed. Truthfully, no one really knows where the heck weed came from. Some speculate that it came from central Asia, while other believe it originated in China (See, China DOES make everything) because of the large amount of medical agricultural documents found in Chinese Literature. Again, no one truly knows where the heck weed came from. However, there are many different opinions and speculations! This post will cover the theories of where it all began; In China, Ancient Near East, India, and Jamaica. 
