Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years for fiber, medicine, and psychoactive purposes. Its use spread from India to other cultures, and it has positive medical properties, but also negative effects. In the early 20th century, the US government criminalized cannabis, but debates about its legality continue today.
Cannabis, also known as hemp or marijuana, has been used by humans as a fiber, as a medicine, and as a psychoactive for at least 4,500 years. Its biological name is Cannabis sativa, with a subspecies, Cannabis sativa indica, used more often for recreational or medicinal purposes. The first milestone in the history of cannabis are charred cannabis seeds dated to 2500 BC found on a ritual brazier in Romania. In 2008, nearly two kilos of cannabis were found buried in the tomb of a Gushi shaman who lived about 700 BC in the Gobi Desert of northern China. Genetic analysis of the plants found that they were cultivated rather than wild.
The most famous early users in the history of cannabis were the Hindus of India and Nepal. Soma, a drug mentioned in early Hindu texts as an intoxicating hallucinogen, may have been a reference to cannabis. Spreading with the Indo-Aryan culture from India outwards, cannabis was introduced to the Assyrians (Iraq/Syria), Scythians (Eurasian steppe) and Thracians/Dacians (Greece and the Balkans) in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. shamans of the latter culture were called kapnobatai – “those who walk on smoke/clouds”. They used burnt cannabis flowers to induce a trance-like state. This practice is believed to have been inherited by Greek oracles and worshipers, including members of the cult of Dionysus.
Early users in the history of cannabis would also have been attracted to the plant by its positive medical properties, including the relief of pain, nausea, depression and as an agent to encourage appetite. Modern science has discovered additional benefits from cannabis, including inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and reducing memory impairment in the elderly. On the negative side, cannabis use has been found to be related to anxiety, but whether its role is causative or merely correlative is debated. There are harmful chemicals in marijuana smoke, so patients who consume the drug for medical purposes often do so orally or using a vaporizer.
After cannabis had been used freely for thousands of years, a major change in the history of cannabis came in the early 20th century when prohibitionists in the United States managed to get the government to criminalize the drug, starting with Marihuana Tax Act of 20. This was followed by subsequent legislation in 1937 and 1951 (the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1971). The leading figure in the criminalization of cannabis was conservative Harry Jacob Anslinger, who linked the drug to moral decline and even spontaneous homicide.
From the 1970s to the present, the legality of cannabis has been a contentious issue between those who supported repealing the ban and those who wanted to keep it. Medical marijuana is permitted in several US states, in defiance of federal anti-marijuana laws. Extensive debates are ongoing at the state and federal levels.
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