Hydrolife Magazine June/July 2017 (USA Edition)

enjoy
Just like dogs, cannabis came to hold great importance
due to its versatility. This one plant could cover many
crucial needs, including use as a high protein food source,
a medicine, oil for fuel, and fiber for cordage, nets, clothes,
and paper. Indeed, cannabis became one of the first known
agricultural crops. Considering the history of humans is
widely regarded to have begun 250,000 years ago, with
the development of agriculture coming only 10,000 years
ago, the cannabis plant could be considered one of the
catalysts of modern human civilization.
There is much evidence of cannabis use in ancient China.
It is also believed the first writings on the medicinal use of
cannabis appeared here in The Great Herbal. Dating back
to 2737 BCE and credited to Shen Nung, this reference book
is still used by many practitioners of traditional Chinese
medicine, although the validity of this text and its author
remain puzzling to historians. Also, The Book of Odes or
She King, a book of Chinese poetry from 2350 BCE, contains
numerous references to the use of industrial hemp. Modern
researcher Ethan B. Russo adds in his article “History
of Cannabis and Its Preparations in Saga, Science, and
Sobriquet” that “physical evidence of ancient cannabis
usage has been reported from the Yanghai Tombs in the
Turpan District of the Xinghian-Uighur Autonomous Region
in China. A large amount of cannabis radio-carbon dated to
2,500 years ago was found in the tomb of a Caucasoid male,
dressed as a shaman,” resembling other such findings
throughout the Tarim Basin.
Traveling with Chinese farmers into Korea, cannabis
eventually spread to India between 2000 BCE and 1000 BCE.
Promoted in the Hindu sacred text Atharvaveda (Science of
Charms), cannabis as one of the five sacred plants of India
used as medicine and burned ritualistically as an offering
to Lord Shiva. It was used for its psychotropic qualities and
became fully integrated in the Hindu culture as a religious
sacrament. As in other cultures, the plant also became a
common crop used to make flour, fabric, and cordage.
Over time, cannabis arrived in the Middle East between
2000 BCE and 1400 BCE. From here, cannabis spread
throughout Africa. The Scythians carried it into southeast
Russia and Ukraine. The plant was then picked up by
Germanic and Scandinavian tribes and brought into
Western Europe. (The importance of cannabis hemp was
not lost on the Europeans, but its usage did change. In
1484, Pope Innocent VIII declared cannabis use satanic and
sacrilegious, thus disconnected the European consciousness
from the medicinal and psychotropic uses of cannabis for
several centuries to come.)
Cannabis hemp also became of great importance for
rulers seeking to build empires and maintain massive
standing armies. Rome maintained huge hemp arsenals
throughout the Roman Empire and hemp production
assumed a place of great importance to European
superpowers like France and Britain. The French
developed a strong hemp growing culture over centuries,
while the British relied almost entirely on colonies in India
to provide for their substantial needs.
It was hemp sails, nets, and rope that propelled the great
European fleets and armadas, enlivening trade routes and
eventually bringing the cannabis plant to the Americas. The
first cargo of cannabis seed arrived with the Puritans in the
early 17 th century and in the colonies, British law required
settlers to grow cannabis hemp. By the 18th century, hemp
farming was well-established. It was considered a patriotic
duty to grow hemp. George Washington heavily promoted it,
while Thomas Jefferson bred different varieties of hemp and
began developing early technology to process hemp fiber.
In the 19 th century, the medicinal use of cannabis was inspired
by noted German, French, and British medical scientists
who came to obtain substantial quantities of the plant from
colonies in India and North Africa. By the latter part of the
Victorian era, and only decades prior to the onset of the
American prohibitionist mindset, cannabis medical products
were as common as today’s toothpaste and cold remedies.
Pharmaceutical companies such as American Druggist
Syndicate, Wm. S. Merrell Company, and Lloyd Brothers were
mass producing cannabis products such as corn plasters,
cough syrup, and elixirs for pain relief and numerous other
ailments. The Victor Remedies company even marketed a
soothing “infant relief” tincture that was one part cannabis
indica, one part “sweet spirits,” and one part chloroform.
Meanwhile, recreational use of the plant had made its
way to the art communities of Western Europe through
their colonial connections to Africa and Asia, and in the
case of the US, by way of immigration via poor migrant
workers south of the border.
“
With its myriad uses, and those yet to be discovered,
this highly vilified plant could very well turn its dark
reputation around and bounce back to take claim to
the title ‘man’s best friend’ from our furry comrade.“
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grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
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