'The history of the Galaxy has got a little muddled, for a number of
reasons: partly because those who are trying to keep track of it have
got a bit muddled, but also because some very muddling things have been
happening anyway.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
'In the Western
world visionaries and mystics are a good deal less common than they used
to be. There are two principal reasons for this state of affairs - a
philosophical reason and a chemical reason. In the currently fashionable
picture of the universe there is no place for valid transcendental
experience. Consequently those who have had what they regard as valid
transcendental experiences are looked upon with suspicion, as being
either lunatics or swindlers. To be a mystic or a visionary is no longer
credible.
But it is not only our mental climate that is unfavourable to the visionary and the mystic, it is also our chemical environment - an environment profoundly different from that in which our forefathers passed their lives.'
But it is not only our mental climate that is unfavourable to the visionary and the mystic, it is also our chemical environment - an environment profoundly different from that in which our forefathers passed their lives.'
- Heaven and Hell, Aldous Huxley
Origins
According to Indian myths, the cannabis plant sprouted when a bead of sweat from Siva's brow fell to the ground. The cannabis plant was a gift from Siva for all who toil on this earthly paradise, offering them respite from the pain and suffering, and reminding them that this is heaven. Indians love to reminiscence on this, even as they treat the cannabis plant as an untouchable - destroying it wherever they find it - and imprisoning any person who grows or consumes the plant. They brand a cannabis user as a criminal and outcast, among the dregs of society. So that should tell you something their true feelings about Siva, the great god whose beloved herb is ganja, even as they search for lingas buried under civilizational progress to portray to others that they adore him. According to science, the cannabis plant is said to have diverged about 27.8 million years ago from the Humulus plant which gives us hops, the ingredient used to make beer. Mankind's relationship with cannabis started a very long time ago. We are still in the process of understanding the history and relationship of cannabis with humans. The earliest known evidence of cannabis usage by humans is from 10,000 year old tombs in Taiwan. Human usage of cannabis is said to have started in Asia and the Himalayas, and then spread all over the world, carried by migrating populations as they moved to different regions. There is evidence of cannabis usage in nearly every culture and in remote places of the world. There is evidence that humans and other animals evolved with cannabis based on the extensive endocannabinoid systems present in our bodies, and those of other mammals. A report says "Cannabis diverged around 27.8 million years ago from Humulus, the hop plant used to give beer its bitter and floral flavours, according to genetic analysis presented at the International Cannabis Research Society's 2010 meeting by botanist John McPartland and Geoffrey Guy of London-based GW Pharmaceuticals. Human influence on its diversity is more recent, but still stretches back millennia. The earliest archaeological evidence for human use of the plant comes from hemp ropes found in 10,000-year-old tombs in Taiwan. Cannabis now grows throughout much of the world, and humans have almost certainly had a role in shaping its many forms."
The use of cannabis for intoxication and spiritual purposes in Asia appears to be evident as far back as 3000 years ago, at least. Its use for medicinal, food and industrial purposes appears to have started much further back than that, going back at least 12,000 years ago. Marijuana Moment reports that 'Cannabis seeds macrofossils were found attached to pieces of broken ceramic in central Japan dating back about 10,000 years; Shen Nung, a Chinese emperor around 2,700 BCE who is also considered the father of Chinese medicine, reportedly regarded marijuana as a “first-class herb” that was not dangerous; [a]ccording to Vedic texts from around 800 BCE, cannabis was used in religious rituals but also for its “analgesic, anesthetic, antiparasitic, antispastic, and diuretic properties” and “as an expectorating agent, as an aphrodisiac, to treat convulsions, to stimulate hunger, and to relieve from fatigue”; [m]arijuana was considered a “holy plant” in Tibet and was used in Tantric Buddhism to “facilitate meditations.”' Live Science reports that 'From China, coastal farmers brought pot to Korea about 2000 B.C. or earlier, according to the book "The Archeology of Korea" (Cambridge University Press, 1993). Cannabis came to the South Asian subcontinent between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C., when the region was invaded by the Aryans — a group that spoke an archaic Indo-European language. The drug became widely used in India, where it was celebrated as one of "five kingdoms of herbs ... which release us from anxiety" in one of the ancient Sanskrit Vedic poems whose name translate into "Science of Charms."' I am not very sure about whether cannabis came to India with the Aryans. I believe that cannabis grew wild in the Himalayas for millions of years before this, and was domesticated by the people of the Neolithic period who eventually evolved into the Harappan and Mohenjodaro civilizations that migrated towards the south and east of India following the influx of migrants and invaders into India from Central Asia. The discovery of the proto-Siva seal among the Harappan ruins leads me to believe that cannabis for intoxication and spiritual purposes was already well established by the time the Aryan migrations came to India.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95, states in its report that 'In his "Report on the cultivation and use of ganja" which was issued when the Commission began their inquiries, Dr. Prain has discussed this question fully at pages 39 to 44. He is clearly of opinion that the hemp plant is not indigenous to India, but that "having reached India as a fibre-yielding species, the plant developed the narcotic property for which it is now chiefly celebrated there." Dr. Watt in his article on "Hemp or Cannabis sativa" is not quite so decided as the above authority in excluding the whole of India from the area of indigenous growth. He writes as follows: "It has been found wild to the south of the Caspian Sea, in Siberia, and in the desert of Kirghiz. It is also referred to as wild in Central and Southern Russia and to the south of the Caucasus. The plant has been known since the sixth century B.C. in China, and is possibly indigenous on the lower mountain tracts. Bossier mentions it as almost wild in Persia, and it appears to be quite wild on the Western Himalayas and Kashmir, and it is acclimatised on the plains of India generally. Indeed, the intimate relation of its various Asiatic names to the Sanskrit bhánga would seem to fix the ancestral home of the plant somewhere in Central Asia. On the other hand, the Latin and Greek Cannabis is apparently derived from the Arabic kinnab. De Candolle says that 'the species has been found wild beyond a doubt to the south of the Caspian Sea, in Siberia, near the Irtysch in the deserts of the Kirghiz, beyond lake Baikal, and in Dahuria.' He is doubtful of its being a native of Southern and Central Russia, but suspects that its area may have extended into China, and is not sure about the plant being indigenous to Persia." The only part of India included by Dr. Watt and his authorities in the area of indigenous growth is therefore the Western Himalayas and Kashmir, and that only in doubtful language. Dr. King, Director, Botanic Survey of India, has no hesitation in pronouncing the so-called wild growth of India to be an escape from cultivation; and when it is remembered that Kashmir is on the main line of trade between Central Asia and Hindustan, the wild growth in that country and its neighbourhood may fairly be attributed to accidental importation by the hand of man from the recognized habitat, if not to escape from cultivation carried on at one time or other in the country itself. The evidence of botanists, therefore, may be taken to exclude India from the area of indigenous growth, and it will be seen that the direct inquiries of the Commission tend to confirm this view.'
Historical usage as medicine
Regarding the historical use of cannabis as medicine, Science Direct reports regarding remains collected from the Laoguanshan Cemetery of the Han Dynasty in Chengdu, South China that 'Results: The botanical remains were accurately identified as cannabis. More than 120 thousand fruits were found, which represents the largest amount of cannabis fruit remains that have been statistically analysed from any cemetery in the world thus far. The cannabis fruits are suspected to have been used for medical purposes in a secular context and were most likely used to stop severe bleeding of the uterus and treat lumbago and/or arthralgia. Conclusions: The cannabis fruit remains reported here likely represent the first physical evidence of medicinal cannabis use for the treatment of metrorrhagia, severe lumbago, and/or arthralgia. This study emphasizes the importance of the evidence of the diseases suffered by the occupants of the tomb in determining the medicinal use of cannabis in a secular context and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ancient history of medicinal cannabis.' NCBI reports that 'Assyrian manuscripts from the second millennium BCE recommended cannabis to “bind the temples,” and Ayurvedic preparations in the third and fourth centuries BCE were indicated for “diseases of the head” such as migraines. The prescription of cannabis was even recommended in ancient Greece, with Pedanius Dioscorides describing its use in his De Maternia Medica as a treatment for “pain of the ears.” Other citations documenting the use of cannabis for headache disorders arise from the ninth century in the Al-Aq-rabadhin Al-Saghir, the earliest known document of Arabic pharmacology. Further recommendations are found in Persian texts from the 10th and 17th centuries. Prominent physicians of the Middle Ages, including John Parkinson and Nicholas Culpeper, also recommended the use of cannabis for headache. The reintroduction of cannabis to the West in 1839 began a century of its use as an effective treatment for headache disorders until its illegalization in 1937. Notable physicians who espoused the benefits of cannabis for headache disorders included John Russell Reynolds, the personal physician of Queen Victoria, American neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell, the president of the New York Neurological Society Edouard C. Seguin, William Gowers, a founding father of modern neurology,and Sir William Osler, often considered the father of modern medicine'.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 states that "Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica." having been used by Indian native physicians for hundreds, and possibly thousands, of years. In its summary on ancient literature regarding cannabis usage as medicine, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission reports that '459. Before alluding to the use of hemp drugs by native physicians in
the present day, the Commission consider that it will perhaps be of
interest to give a brief résumé of the medicinal properties assigned to
hemp by some of the ancient writers. Mr. George A. Gricrson, I.C.S.,
informed the Commission that having searched through all the Sanskrit
and Hindi books accessible, he found the first mention of bhanga as a
medicine in the work of Suçruta, written before the eighth century A.D.
Bhanga is recommended with a number of other drugs as an antiphlegmatic.
In the same work Mr. Grierson points out that vijaya is mentioned as a
remedy for catarrh accompanied by diarrhœa, and as an ingredient in a
prescription for fever arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In
these two passages, however, vijaya is probably an equivalent of
haritaki, the yellow myrobolan, and does not mean hemp; and Dr. Hœrnle
informed Mr. Grierson that in the oldest medical works the word vijaya
is explained by commentators as referring to the yellow myrobolan. The
use of bhang between the fifth and twelfth century is frequently
mentioned in dictionaries, and the names used would seem to show that
its use as an intoxicant was then known. In the Rajanighantu of Narahari
Pandita, A.D. 1300, the effects of hemp on man are described as
excitant, heating, astringent: it destroys phlegm, expels flatulence,
induces costiveness, sharpens the memory, and excites appetite. In the
Carngadharasamhita, a medical work, the date of which is unknown, but
which must have been compiled during the Muhammadan period of Indian
history, bhang is specially mentioned as an excitant. In the
Dhurtasamagama, or "Rogues' Congress," A.D. 1500, the following passage
occurs: "Ganja, which is soporific and corrects derangements of the
humours, which produces a healthy appetite, sharpens the wits, and acts
as an aphrodisiac." In the Bhavaprakaça, written about A.D. 1600, bhang
is described as being "antiphlegmatic, pungent, astringent, digestive,
easy of digestion, and bile-affecting, and increases infatuation,
intoxication, the power of the voice, and the digestive faculty." In the
Rajarallabha, a materia medica of rather later date, ganja is described
as "Indra's food," is acid, produces infatuation, and destroys leprosy.
It "creates energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects
irregularities of the phlegmatic humour, and is an elixir vitæ." In
the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, hemp seeds are said to be "a compound of
opposite qualities, cold and dry in the third degree, i.e., stimulant
and sedative, imparting at first a gentle reviving heat, and then a
considerable refrigerant effect." The qualities of the plant are
stimulant and sedative. "The leaves make a good snuff for deterging the
brain; the juice of the leaves applied to the head as a wash removes
dandruff and vermin; drops of the juice thrown into the ear allay pain
and destroy worms and insects. It checks diarrhœa, is useful in
gonorrhœa, restrains the seminal secretions, and is diuretic. The bark
has a similar effect. The powder is recommended as an external
application to fresh wounds and sores, and for causing granulations; a
poultice of the boiled roots and leaves for discussing inflammations and
cure of erysipelas, and for allaying neuralgic pains. The dried leaves,
bruised and spread on a castor-oil leaf, cure hydrocele and swelled
testes." Rumphius in the Herbarium Amboinense, A.D. 1695, states that
the Muhammadans in his neighbourhood frequently sought for the male
plant from his garden to give to persons afflicted with virulent
gonorrhœa or with asthma, and the affection which is popularly called
"stitches in the side." He also adds that the powdered leaves check
diarrhœa, are stomachic, cure the malady named pitao, and moderate
excessive secretion of bile. He mentions the use of hemp smoke as an
enema in strangulated hernia, and of the leaves as an antidote in
poisoning by orpiment. '
Historical use for industrial purposes
The use of cannabis for industrial purposes seems to date back to at least 12,000 years. Science Magazine reports that 'Our genomic dating suggests that early domesticated ancestors of hemp and drug types diverged from Basal cannabis ~12,000 years B.P. (95% confidence interval: 6458 to 15,728 years B.P.; Fig. 2B and table S3), indicating that the species had already been domesticated by early Neolithic times. This coincides with the dating of cord-impressed pottery from South China and Taiwan (12,000 years B.P.), as well as pottery-associated seeds from Japan (10,000 years B.P.). Archaeological sites with hemp-type Cannabis artifacts are consistently found from 7500 years B.P. in China and Japan, and pollen consistent with cultivated Cannabis was found in China more than 5000 years B.P. Only a small number of early domesticated Cannabis strains expanded to later form hemp and drug types ~4000 years B.P., a time when multiple fiber artifacts appear in East Asia, and when fiber-grown Cannabis was spreading westward into Europe and the Middle East, as shown by Bronze Age archaeological evidence.' Wiley Publications reports the usage of cannabis for industrial purposes in Italy during the Early Bronze Age, stating 'From the dental calculus of two females with grooves and striations, we extracted three fragments of fibers, identified as hemp (Cannabis, sp.). Previously from Gricignano woven hemp fibers were found on both surfaces of a metal blade associated with a male burial. '
Historical use for intoxication and spiritual purposes
The use of cannabis for intoxication and spiritual purposes appears to have happened somewhere along the way, and this seems to have originated in India or China. While cannabis usage for food and industrial purposes seem to have originated around China and then moved to Europe, and subsequently to the Americas, cannabis for medicine and intoxication seem to have remained in Asia until the last 1000 years or so. Nature reports that 'As with other cultivated plants it is difficult to pinpoint the exact place of origin for C. sativa. It is likely that Cannabis spread to ancient Persia very early, assisted by Aryan and Scythian tribes expanding westward from central Asia. Evidence for this early spread comes from archeological studies of the Scythians, who occupied an area encompassing large swathes of what is now northwest Iran from the 7th century BCE to the 4th century CE, this culture was known to use Cannabis for entertainment and spiritual purposes. While all Iranian cannabis has been described as a complex of landraces of C. sativa, it is one of the countries with a high level of genetic diversity among cannabis populations.' It is interesting to note that it was from India that the use of cannabis as intoxicant spread to Africa in the 13th century and finally Latin America in the 16th century. Science Magazine reports that 'Ritualistic and inebriant use of Cannabis has in turn been documented in Western China from archaeological remains at least 2500 years B.P. (34, 35). The first archaeobotanical record of C. sativa in the Indian subcontinent dates back to ~3000 years B.P., the species likely being introduced from China together with other crops (36, 37). In contrast with East Asia, historical texts from India from as early as 2000 years B.P. indicate that the species was only exploited for drug use. Over the next centuries, drug-type Cannabis traveled to various world regions, including Africa (13th century) and Latin America (16th century), progressively reaching North America at the beginning of the 20th century and later, in the 1970s, from the Indian subcontinent.' This means that cannabis as intoxicant from India would have reached Europe also around the time it reached Africa and Latin America, i.e. between the 13th and 16th century.
I believe that the use of cannabis as intoxicant is tightly coupled with the use of cannabis as entheogen, especially in India. I believe that the intoxicating properties of cannabis enabled its users to perceive, and identify with, the eternal spirit who they began to recognize as personified in the great god, Siva. Siva is the Indian god most closely associated with cannabis. In fact, there are few gods, if any, that are more closely associated with cannabis than Siva. The Report of Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-95, states that "It is chiefly in connection with the worship of Siva, the Mahadeo or great god of the Hindu trinity, that the hemp plant, and more especially perhaps ganja, is associated. The hemp plant is popularly believed to have been a great favourite of Siva, and there is a great deal of evidence before the Commission to show that the drug in some form or other is now extensively used in the exercise of the religious practices connected with this form of worship. Reference to the almost universal use of hemp drugs by fakirs, jogis, sanyasis, and ascetics of all classes, and more particularly of those devoted to the worship of Siva, will be found in the paragraphs of this report dealing with the classes of the people who consume the drugs. These religious ascetics, who are regarded with great veneration by the people at large, believe that the hemp plant is a special attribute of the god Siva, and this belief is largely shared by the people. Hence the origin of many fond epithets ascribing to ganja the significance of a divine property, and the common practice of invoking the deity in terms of adoration before placing the chillum or pipe of ganja to the lips." This leads me to the conviction that the spiritual use of ganja began, or most definitely became pervasive, in India. The earliest evidence of Siva is the proto-Siva seal found among the ruins of the Harappan civilization. The spiritual use of cannabis can also be found among the Rastafarian communities of the Caribbean islands. If the theory is true that Siva was called Dionysus among the ancient Greeks, and Yahweh in the Middle East regions, and the Osiris of Egypt, then that explains cannabis usage for spiritual purposes among the communities that worshiped these gods in these regions. There are traces of evidence of cannabis usage in these parts, but I believe sufficient focus has not been given to this area of research, mainly due to cannabis prohibition. Marijuana Moment reports that 'However, this is the first time physical evidence has been identified that indicates the tribe of Judah participated in marijuana-infused ceremonies. Evidence of frankincense being burned was also found at the site. The team behind the study, from the Israel Museum and the Volcani Center, relied on two common methods of identifying cannabinoids: liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. They found components of marijuana known widely today such as THC, CBD, CBN and various terpenoids.'
Europeans appear to have discovered the intoxicating and medicinal properties of cannabis only around the 13th-16th century. Public Domain Review reports how the English are supposed to have discovered cannabis' intoxicating and medicinal properties. The report says 'Remembering his brush with death, Knox concluded that he would have died were it not for the anti-nausea effects of a certain South Asian antidote —cannabis. “At length we learned an Antidote and Counter-Poyson against the filthy venemous water, which so operated by the blessing of God, that after the use thereof we had no more Sickness", Knox would recall. “It is only a dry leaf: they call it in Portugueze Banga…and this we eat Morning and Evening upon an empty Stomach. It intoxicates the Brain, and makes one giddy”. After Knox reached London safely in September 1680, he retained a taste for this intoxicating “Counter-Poyson” and found a source able to procure it back home. We know this because, on November 7, 1689. Robert Hooke met with Knox at a London coffee house to obtain a sample of what Hooke called the “intoxicating leaf and seed, by the Moors called Ganges, in Portug[uese] Banga, in Chingales Consa”. Hooke added in his diary that the drug was reported to him as being “wholesome, though for a time it takes away the memory and understanding”. Significant quantities of ganja and charas were exported from India to European countries as a part of the trade between these regions, once the Europeans discovered the intoxicating and medicinal qualities of cannabis.
I believe that the use of cannabis as intoxicant is tightly coupled with the use of cannabis as entheogen, especially in India. I believe that the intoxicating properties of cannabis enabled its users to perceive, and identify with, the eternal spirit who they began to recognize as personified in the great god, Siva. Siva is the Indian god most closely associated with cannabis. In fact, there are few gods, if any, that are more closely associated with cannabis than Siva. The Report of Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-95, states that "It is chiefly in connection with the worship of Siva, the Mahadeo or great god of the Hindu trinity, that the hemp plant, and more especially perhaps ganja, is associated. The hemp plant is popularly believed to have been a great favourite of Siva, and there is a great deal of evidence before the Commission to show that the drug in some form or other is now extensively used in the exercise of the religious practices connected with this form of worship. Reference to the almost universal use of hemp drugs by fakirs, jogis, sanyasis, and ascetics of all classes, and more particularly of those devoted to the worship of Siva, will be found in the paragraphs of this report dealing with the classes of the people who consume the drugs. These religious ascetics, who are regarded with great veneration by the people at large, believe that the hemp plant is a special attribute of the god Siva, and this belief is largely shared by the people. Hence the origin of many fond epithets ascribing to ganja the significance of a divine property, and the common practice of invoking the deity in terms of adoration before placing the chillum or pipe of ganja to the lips." This leads me to the conviction that the spiritual use of ganja began, or most definitely became pervasive, in India. The earliest evidence of Siva is the proto-Siva seal found among the ruins of the Harappan civilization. The spiritual use of cannabis can also be found among the Rastafarian communities of the Caribbean islands. If the theory is true that Siva was called Dionysus among the ancient Greeks, and Yahweh in the Middle East regions, and the Osiris of Egypt, then that explains cannabis usage for spiritual purposes among the communities that worshiped these gods in these regions. There are traces of evidence of cannabis usage in these parts, but I believe sufficient focus has not been given to this area of research, mainly due to cannabis prohibition. Marijuana Moment reports that 'However, this is the first time physical evidence has been identified that indicates the tribe of Judah participated in marijuana-infused ceremonies. Evidence of frankincense being burned was also found at the site. The team behind the study, from the Israel Museum and the Volcani Center, relied on two common methods of identifying cannabinoids: liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. They found components of marijuana known widely today such as THC, CBD, CBN and various terpenoids.'
Europeans appear to have discovered the intoxicating and medicinal properties of cannabis only around the 13th-16th century. Public Domain Review reports how the English are supposed to have discovered cannabis' intoxicating and medicinal properties. The report says 'Remembering his brush with death, Knox concluded that he would have died were it not for the anti-nausea effects of a certain South Asian antidote —cannabis. “At length we learned an Antidote and Counter-Poyson against the filthy venemous water, which so operated by the blessing of God, that after the use thereof we had no more Sickness", Knox would recall. “It is only a dry leaf: they call it in Portugueze Banga…and this we eat Morning and Evening upon an empty Stomach. It intoxicates the Brain, and makes one giddy”. After Knox reached London safely in September 1680, he retained a taste for this intoxicating “Counter-Poyson” and found a source able to procure it back home. We know this because, on November 7, 1689. Robert Hooke met with Knox at a London coffee house to obtain a sample of what Hooke called the “intoxicating leaf and seed, by the Moors called Ganges, in Portug[uese] Banga, in Chingales Consa”. Hooke added in his diary that the drug was reported to him as being “wholesome, though for a time it takes away the memory and understanding”. Significant quantities of ganja and charas were exported from India to European countries as a part of the trade between these regions, once the Europeans discovered the intoxicating and medicinal qualities of cannabis.
The beginning of cannabis prohibition
This basic distribution of cannabis based on usage - Asia and Africa
using cannabis for intoxication, medicine and spiritual purposes; and
Europe and North America using cannabis for its industrial purposes -
continued well into the 19th century. Turkey was the first recorded country to prohibit cannabis in the 12th century under the influence of the religious orthodoxy. This had an influence on Egypt as well, but these were more or less isolated events. It was in the 19th century that Europeans, who had also developed a taste for alcohol, tobacco and opium for their medicine and intoxication, began to look at cannabis as a threat to the businesses that had started growing based on the European's drugs of choice. There was also the possible threat that cannabis would become a significant part of European culture based on its popularity and growing demand. Then there was the religious orthodoxy which desired to end all pagan practices among the colonies, and who viewed cannabis use for spiritual purposes as a sin. Cannabis prohibition resonated well with their ideals that intoxication and worship of pagan gods were against their religion. By this time, China had already been bullied by Britain to cultivate and supply opium, whereas American and Canadian businessmen and politicians had taken up tobacco businesses. The need was felt to grow the markets of these drugs - which brought in far greater revenue to businessmen and politicians than the freely available cannabis did - especially in Asia and Africa where cannabis had been a major intoxicant and medicine for thousands of years. Cannabis was prohibited in Burma (today's Myanmar) by 1850 to enable the smooth passage of opium from China to Britain, and possibly alcohol and tobacco from Britain to China. This was followed by prohibition of ganja and charas in India, which had been the home of cannabis for intoxication, medicine and spiritual purposes. Once cannabis prohibition was achieved in India, it was relatively easy to extend it across the world, especially using the erroneous data that helped create the cannabis causes insanity myth. As the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 stated in its report - "Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity."
Europe and North America continued to use cannabis extensively for industrial purposes. Popville reports that 'Hemp has a long history of cultivation in the U.S. Hemp was grown by most of the Founders, and in 2018, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate harvested its first hemp crop since 1799. All ships in every war prior to World War II had ropes and sails made from hemp grown in the U.S. Until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was found to be unconstitutional in 1969, hemp was a major agricultural commodity in the U.S.'
By the 1920s, Canada and the US had also brought in cannabis prohibition to promote the competing industries, and also to suppress the intoxicant of the indigenous communities - the Native Indians and the Hispanics - and the black slaves, as the rulers claimed that it made these suppressed communities rebellious and troublesome. Once the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed in the US, it did not take long for the US and Europe to bully most of the other countries in the world to sign the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs that considered cannabis for intoxication and medicine as illegal. The new drug laws stated that cannabis was legal only for industrial purposes. This effectively introduced a global ban on cannabis, enabling the competing industries to grow greatly, with the fossil fuel industry and synthetic pharmaceutical industry also now benefiting immensely from the ban, besides alcohol, tobacco and opium. In 1969, when the US Supreme Court overturned the US Marihuana Act of 1937, based on legal action by Timothy Leary, the US President Richard Nixon quickly put in place the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. Leafly reports that 'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate — registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act. However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine. Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission” — to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act. Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today.' This Act was even more stringent than the Marihuana Act. The CSA has four schedules, and cannabis was placed in the most restrictive Schedule I along with heroin, with the claim that cannabis was a very harmful and dangerous drug with no medicinal value. Again, like the Marihuana Act, the US quickly ensured that the CSA was reflected in global drug laws with the UN placing cannabis in its own most restrictive Schedule IV that mirrored the US CSA's Schedule I. Again, global nations were bullied or seduced into signing on to what became known as the UN's Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In 1984, the US government managed to get India to create its own Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. By this time, cannabis had already more or less gone completely underground in Indian culture.
Europe and North America continued to use cannabis extensively for industrial purposes. Popville reports that 'Hemp has a long history of cultivation in the U.S. Hemp was grown by most of the Founders, and in 2018, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate harvested its first hemp crop since 1799. All ships in every war prior to World War II had ropes and sails made from hemp grown in the U.S. Until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was found to be unconstitutional in 1969, hemp was a major agricultural commodity in the U.S.'
By the 1920s, Canada and the US had also brought in cannabis prohibition to promote the competing industries, and also to suppress the intoxicant of the indigenous communities - the Native Indians and the Hispanics - and the black slaves, as the rulers claimed that it made these suppressed communities rebellious and troublesome. Once the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed in the US, it did not take long for the US and Europe to bully most of the other countries in the world to sign the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs that considered cannabis for intoxication and medicine as illegal. The new drug laws stated that cannabis was legal only for industrial purposes. This effectively introduced a global ban on cannabis, enabling the competing industries to grow greatly, with the fossil fuel industry and synthetic pharmaceutical industry also now benefiting immensely from the ban, besides alcohol, tobacco and opium. In 1969, when the US Supreme Court overturned the US Marihuana Act of 1937, based on legal action by Timothy Leary, the US President Richard Nixon quickly put in place the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. Leafly reports that 'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate — registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act. However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine. Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission” — to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act. Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today.' This Act was even more stringent than the Marihuana Act. The CSA has four schedules, and cannabis was placed in the most restrictive Schedule I along with heroin, with the claim that cannabis was a very harmful and dangerous drug with no medicinal value. Again, like the Marihuana Act, the US quickly ensured that the CSA was reflected in global drug laws with the UN placing cannabis in its own most restrictive Schedule IV that mirrored the US CSA's Schedule I. Again, global nations were bullied or seduced into signing on to what became known as the UN's Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In 1984, the US government managed to get India to create its own Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. By this time, cannabis had already more or less gone completely underground in Indian culture.
The situation today
Most current generations in the world today have been born in a world where the plant has been prohibited, and where the propaganda and misinformation
regarding the plant is at its peak. Even literature regarding the
plant's history have been removed from the public discourse. Many
cultures that were traditional cannabis consumers for long periods of history
succumbed to the international pressure of prohibition and sanctions
and seem to have removed cannabis and its history from their surviving
records. It is only in the last few decades that active efforts
have been made to recover and revive literature regarding cannabis and
its history. Through dedicated efforts of some academicians, we are
slowly rediscovering cannabis' illustrious past.
The traditional users of cannabis for industrial purposes - who were instrumental in its prohibition for medicine, spirituality and intoxication - have continued to do so, uninterrupted, during all this. China is the world's biggest producer of cannabis for industrial purposes, and France is Europe's. The US legalized cannabis for industrial purposes through the 2018 Farm Bill.
The result of the prolonged prohibition of cannabis for intoxication and medicine is the precarious condition that the plant faces in terms of biodiversity. With cannabis prohibition, governments and the entities opposed to cannabis have been on a global rampage for the last 100 years or so (150 in the case of India). Wherever cannabis has been found growing, it has been destroyed, be it in the wild or under cultivation. This has resulted in a massive loss of cannabis biodiversity from what it was in the 19th century. Numerous varieties of cannabis are likely to have gone extinct. I would call this the greatest plant genocide (or phytocide, as I would like to call it) in the history of the world. No other plant has been subjected to this kind of discrimination and massacre. As a result of this, I am convinced that at least half the varieties of cannabis that existed in the 19th century are now extinct. Phytokeys reports that ''Collection and conservation of germplasm of indigenous populations of Central and South Asian landraces in their centers of diversity is urgently needed. The germplasm base outside their centers of diversity has become genetically contaminated by widespread crossbreeding. In the context of climate change and unpredictable future needs, in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity is much preferable for crop plants and their wild relatives, but given the precarious continued existence of unaltered aboriginal wild populations of Cannabis in Asia, preservation in seed banks is an immediate priority. Hopefully the unambiguous names provided may help prevent extinction of these taxa.' This collection and conservation of germplasm of indigenous Central and South Asian landraces is only possible with complete global legalization of cannabis. This has to be coupled with heightened global awareness of the precious plant varieties and what it means to the health of the human race and the planet. Of the remaining varieties, many have been doctored or hybrid to create cannabis of high delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content to cater to the needs of the black market, with the original strains disappearing. NCBI reports that 'The proportion of THC in the commonly used herbal cannabis (marijuana) and resin (hashish) was 3% or less in the 1960s, but subsequently it began to rise. Growers cross-bred plants to increase potency. Then, they found that preventing pollination increased THC, as in this situation the female plant converts its energy into producing more cannabinoids rather than seeds. This type of cannabis is referred to as sinsemilla, which means “without seed” in Spanish, but is sometimes colloquially termed “skunk”, because of its strong smell. Plants bred to produce a high concentration of THC cannot simultaneously produce a lot of CBD, so the product contains only traces of the latter.' While cannabis for industrial purposes has more or less managed to remain less impacted by cannabis prohibition, I am sure that this area too has suffered.
The cannabis culture, which remained underground through the 1970s until the 2010s, finally emerged in Colorado state in the US when it legalized cannabis for adult recreational purposes in 2012. This was the result of a sustained grassroots movement in Colorado and other states like California. This was quickly followed by Washington state, and other states followed so that today, at the time of writing, 24 US states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use and 38 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use. Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize adult recreational use of cannabis in 2014. This was followed by Canada in 2018, and subsequently by Malta, Luxembourg and finally Germany in 2024. The Supreme Court of Mexico and the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that cannabis prohibition goes against the fundamental rights of an individual. The governments in both countries however continue to delay implementation of legalization, citing various excuses. In December 2020, the UN moved cannabis from its most restrictive Schedule IV to its least restrictive Schedule I based on recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO). In May 2024, the US DEA agreed to moving cannabis from the most restrictive Schedule I to Schedule III based on recommendations by the US Health Department. Neither of these moves - by the US nor the UN - have any impact on the cannabis prohibition that the common man faces everywhere. These moves only benefit cannabis businesses and research that the elites and ruling classes hope will enable them to profit from cannabis.
The result of the prolonged prohibition of cannabis for intoxication and medicine is the precarious condition that the plant faces in terms of biodiversity. With cannabis prohibition, governments and the entities opposed to cannabis have been on a global rampage for the last 100 years or so (150 in the case of India). Wherever cannabis has been found growing, it has been destroyed, be it in the wild or under cultivation. This has resulted in a massive loss of cannabis biodiversity from what it was in the 19th century. Numerous varieties of cannabis are likely to have gone extinct. I would call this the greatest plant genocide (or phytocide, as I would like to call it) in the history of the world. No other plant has been subjected to this kind of discrimination and massacre. As a result of this, I am convinced that at least half the varieties of cannabis that existed in the 19th century are now extinct. Phytokeys reports that ''Collection and conservation of germplasm of indigenous populations of Central and South Asian landraces in their centers of diversity is urgently needed. The germplasm base outside their centers of diversity has become genetically contaminated by widespread crossbreeding. In the context of climate change and unpredictable future needs, in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity is much preferable for crop plants and their wild relatives, but given the precarious continued existence of unaltered aboriginal wild populations of Cannabis in Asia, preservation in seed banks is an immediate priority. Hopefully the unambiguous names provided may help prevent extinction of these taxa.' This collection and conservation of germplasm of indigenous Central and South Asian landraces is only possible with complete global legalization of cannabis. This has to be coupled with heightened global awareness of the precious plant varieties and what it means to the health of the human race and the planet. Of the remaining varieties, many have been doctored or hybrid to create cannabis of high delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content to cater to the needs of the black market, with the original strains disappearing. NCBI reports that 'The proportion of THC in the commonly used herbal cannabis (marijuana) and resin (hashish) was 3% or less in the 1960s, but subsequently it began to rise. Growers cross-bred plants to increase potency. Then, they found that preventing pollination increased THC, as in this situation the female plant converts its energy into producing more cannabinoids rather than seeds. This type of cannabis is referred to as sinsemilla, which means “without seed” in Spanish, but is sometimes colloquially termed “skunk”, because of its strong smell. Plants bred to produce a high concentration of THC cannot simultaneously produce a lot of CBD, so the product contains only traces of the latter.' While cannabis for industrial purposes has more or less managed to remain less impacted by cannabis prohibition, I am sure that this area too has suffered.
The cannabis culture, which remained underground through the 1970s until the 2010s, finally emerged in Colorado state in the US when it legalized cannabis for adult recreational purposes in 2012. This was the result of a sustained grassroots movement in Colorado and other states like California. This was quickly followed by Washington state, and other states followed so that today, at the time of writing, 24 US states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use and 38 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use. Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize adult recreational use of cannabis in 2014. This was followed by Canada in 2018, and subsequently by Malta, Luxembourg and finally Germany in 2024. The Supreme Court of Mexico and the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that cannabis prohibition goes against the fundamental rights of an individual. The governments in both countries however continue to delay implementation of legalization, citing various excuses. In December 2020, the UN moved cannabis from its most restrictive Schedule IV to its least restrictive Schedule I based on recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO). In May 2024, the US DEA agreed to moving cannabis from the most restrictive Schedule I to Schedule III based on recommendations by the US Health Department. Neither of these moves - by the US nor the UN - have any impact on the cannabis prohibition that the common man faces everywhere. These moves only benefit cannabis businesses and research that the elites and ruling classes hope will enable them to profit from cannabis.
The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here. All these states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, aimed specifically at improving public health, ensuring equity, reducing crime, decreasing the black market, improving law enforcement, reforming criminal justice, improving the economy, agriculture and industry,
to name just a few reasons. Cannabis for industrial use is not banned
as per the UN Single Convention Treaty, but most countries in the world
prohibit its use for industrial purposes as well. More and more nations, such as Jamaica, Switzerland, Mexico, South Africa, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Israel, Norway, New Zealand, the Caribbean countries, etc., are increasingly showing interest in lifting the prohibition of cannabis, as the legal recreational drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and illegal recreational drugs, such as heroin, cocaine , methamphetamine, synthetic cannabinoids, opioids, prescription drugs, etc take their toll on society.
China, with a rich cannabis culture comparable to India, is today enslaved to the fossil fuel industry, opium and synthetic pharmaceuticals. Its leaders have crushed the people, and use their authoritarian power to flood the world with cheap plastics while beating all global green house gas emission records in the search of some delusional goal of global dominance. The country is reeling under hundreds of billions of dollars of debt, while the authoritarian rulers live like kings. The US, continuing its European legacy of anti-ganja thinking, continues to resist its people's will to legalize ganja, while its leaders work with fossil fuel, synthetic pharmaceutical and arms industries to fatten themselves. Iran, another country with a rich cannabis past, has its religious orthodoxy working with the fossil fuel industry to ensure that the people remain oppressed. Russia, whose indigenous communities also had a rich cannabis culture in the past, is ruled by the dominant elites who work with the fossil fuel industry and arms industries to ensure that the elites stay rich and grow richer, while sending its people to war to sustain the arms industry. The UK, who started the whole ganja prohibition exercise to benefit its alcohol, tobacco, opium, pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industry industries, still clings on to its memories of Empire glory, despite the growing unrest among its working classes. India, the home of cannabis, has rulers who function as kings, increasing the wealth gap between the rich and the poor, while posturing to be worshipers of the god of ganja, Siva. All these countries remain strong opponents to global cannabis legalization, and legalization within their countries. They completely disregard the wisdom of their people, and the damage that their actions have brought to the entire world, still pushing the anti-ganja propaganda, despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary. The religious orthodoxy in all these countries play a major part in the propaganda, to ensure that the kings, priests and businessmen maintain their grip over, and enslave the people who form the majority.
Despite its prohibition cannabis continues to be the most popular drug by a huge margin, evidence of its safety and value as medicine and intoxicant. UNODC reports, in its World Drug Report 2017, that 'Equivalent to an estimated 183 million annual users in 2015 (range: 128-238 million), roughly 3.8 per cent of the global population (2.7-4.9 per cent) used cannabis in the past year. This proportion has not changed over the past decade and is only slightly higher than the prevalence of cannabis use estimated for 1998 (3.4 per cent). Nonetheless, as the world population has grown, so has the number of cannabis users (by 28 per cent since 1998). Analysis of the perception of changes in drug use, as reported by Member States, also suggests an increase in the number of cannabis users, although the increase appears to have slowed down since 2010. Cannabis use in Africa and in Asia, however, are perceived to have continued to increase relatively rapidly in the past five years.' New Frontier Data reports that 'Worldwide, an estimated 268 million people consumed cannabis at least
once during 2020. The estimated number of cannabis consumers per region
is heavily dependent on the population size, demographic age ranges, and
average rates of past-year cannabis use in the individual countries
that compose each region. While Asia – the world’s most populous region –
by default has the highest count of cannabis consumers (with an
estimated 93.8 million), the continent nevertheless has comparatively
lower cannabis usage rates than any other region, giving it both the
largest number but lowest density of cannabis consumers globally.' These are official figures, but I believe the actual users to be potentially twice this number. Cannabis is said to be cultivated in more than 150 countries world wide, despite its prohibition, showing not just its popularity, but also the plant's versatility to grow under diverse conditions. Eureka Select reports that 'Through a detailed analysis of the
available resources about the origins of C. sativa we found that its use
by ancient civilizations as a source of food and textile fibers dates
back over 10,000 years, while its therapeutic applications have been
improved over the centuries, from the ancient East medicine of the 2nd
and 1st millennium B.C. to the more recent introduction in the Western
world after the 1st century A.D. In the 20th and 21th centuries,
Cannabis and its derivatives have been considered as a menace and banned
throughout the world, but nowadays they are still the most widely
consumed illicit drugs all over the world. Its legalization in some
jurisdictions has been accompanied by new lines of research to
investigate its possible applications for medical and therapeutic
purposes.' Even though the image persists that it is predominantly men who use cannabis for intoxication, medicine and spiritual purposes, the usage of cannabis by women can be found through out recorded history. The low visibility of women's usage is primarily due to the fact that women generally consume cannabis in other forms, rather than the highly visible method of smoking. This is especially true in patriarchal societies that have dominated the world for quite some time now. As Nature reports, 'Fifty years ago, cannabis was known as the drug most emblematic of counterculture. Today, many people promote it as a fount of treatments for almost any ailment imaginable. This immense about-turn is reflected in changes in legal regimes: medicinal use of cannabis is now permitted in many countries, and some also allow the drug to be used recreationally. The times, they have a-changed.'
Related articles
The following list of articles taken from various media speak about the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of yours truly at the time of reading the article.
'Hemp has a long history of cultivation in the U.S. Hemp was grown by most of the Founders, and in 2018, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate harvested its first hemp crop since 1799. All ships in every war prior to World War II had ropes and sails made from hemp grown in the U.S. Until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was found to be unconstitutional in 1969, hemp was a major agricultural commodity in the U.S.
Given that hemp is legal and enjoys national, bipartisan support, now is an appropriate time for the Botanic Garden to display hemp plants.'
https://www.popville.com/2021/04/hemp-botanic-garden/
'Results
The botanical remains were accurately identified as cannabis. More than 120 thousand fruits were found, which represents the largest amount of cannabis fruit remains that have been statistically analysed from any cemetery in the world thus far. The cannabis fruits are suspected to have been used for medical purposes in a secular context and were most likely used to stop severe bleeding of the uterus and treat lumbago and/or arthralgia.
Conclusions
The cannabis fruit remains reported here likely represent the first physical evidence of medicinal cannabis use for the treatment of metrorrhagia, severe lumbago, and/or arthralgia. This study emphasizes the importance of the evidence of the diseases suffered by the occupants of the tomb in determining the medicinal use of cannabis in a secular context and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ancient history of medicinal cannabis.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037887412100341X?via%3Dihub
'Our genomic dating suggests that early domesticated ancestors of hemp and drug types diverged from Basal cannabis ~12,000 years B.P. (95% confidence interval: 6458 to 15,728 years B.P.; Fig. 2B and table S3), indicating that the species had already been domesticated by early Neolithic times. This coincides with the dating of cord-impressed pottery from South China and Taiwan (12,000 years B.P.), as well as pottery-associated seeds from Japan (10,000 years B.P.). Archaeological sites with hemp-type Cannabis artifacts are consistently found from 7500 years B.P. in China and Japan, and pollen consistent with cultivated Cannabis was found in China more than 5000 years B.P. Only a small number of early domesticated Cannabis strains expanded to later form hemp and drug types ~4000 years B.P., a time when multiple fiber artifacts appear in East Asia, and when fiber-grown Cannabis was spreading westward into Europe and the Middle East, as shown by Bronze Age archaeological evidence. Ritualistic and inebriant use of Cannabis has in turn been documented in Western China from archaeological remains at least 2500 years B.P. (34, 35). The first archaeobotanical record of C. sativa in the Indian subcontinent dates back to ~3000 years B.P., the species likely being introduced from China together with other crops (36, 37). In contrast with East Asia, historical texts from India from as early as 2000 years B.P. indicate that the species was only exploited for drug use. Over the next centuries, drug-type Cannabis traveled to various world regions, including Africa (13th century) and Latin America (16th century), progressively reaching North America at the beginning of the 20th century and later, in the 1970s, from the Indian subcontinent.'
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/29/eabg2286
'Anything that happens, happens.
Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.
Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.
It doesn't necessarily do it in chronological order, though.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate—registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act.
However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine.
Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission”—to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act.
Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today.'
https://www.leafly.com/learn/legalization/marijuana-illegal-history
Given that hemp is legal and enjoys national, bipartisan support, now is an appropriate time for the Botanic Garden to display hemp plants.'
https://www.popville.com/2021/04/hemp-botanic-garden/
'Results
The botanical remains were accurately identified as cannabis. More than 120 thousand fruits were found, which represents the largest amount of cannabis fruit remains that have been statistically analysed from any cemetery in the world thus far. The cannabis fruits are suspected to have been used for medical purposes in a secular context and were most likely used to stop severe bleeding of the uterus and treat lumbago and/or arthralgia.
Conclusions
The cannabis fruit remains reported here likely represent the first physical evidence of medicinal cannabis use for the treatment of metrorrhagia, severe lumbago, and/or arthralgia. This study emphasizes the importance of the evidence of the diseases suffered by the occupants of the tomb in determining the medicinal use of cannabis in a secular context and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ancient history of medicinal cannabis.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037887412100341X?via%3Dihub
'Our genomic dating suggests that early domesticated ancestors of hemp and drug types diverged from Basal cannabis ~12,000 years B.P. (95% confidence interval: 6458 to 15,728 years B.P.; Fig. 2B and table S3), indicating that the species had already been domesticated by early Neolithic times. This coincides with the dating of cord-impressed pottery from South China and Taiwan (12,000 years B.P.), as well as pottery-associated seeds from Japan (10,000 years B.P.). Archaeological sites with hemp-type Cannabis artifacts are consistently found from 7500 years B.P. in China and Japan, and pollen consistent with cultivated Cannabis was found in China more than 5000 years B.P. Only a small number of early domesticated Cannabis strains expanded to later form hemp and drug types ~4000 years B.P., a time when multiple fiber artifacts appear in East Asia, and when fiber-grown Cannabis was spreading westward into Europe and the Middle East, as shown by Bronze Age archaeological evidence. Ritualistic and inebriant use of Cannabis has in turn been documented in Western China from archaeological remains at least 2500 years B.P. (34, 35). The first archaeobotanical record of C. sativa in the Indian subcontinent dates back to ~3000 years B.P., the species likely being introduced from China together with other crops (36, 37). In contrast with East Asia, historical texts from India from as early as 2000 years B.P. indicate that the species was only exploited for drug use. Over the next centuries, drug-type Cannabis traveled to various world regions, including Africa (13th century) and Latin America (16th century), progressively reaching North America at the beginning of the 20th century and later, in the 1970s, from the Indian subcontinent.'
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/29/eabg2286
'Anything that happens, happens.
Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.
Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.
It doesn't necessarily do it in chronological order, though.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate—registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act.
However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine.
Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission”—to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act.
Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today.'
https://www.leafly.com/learn/legalization/marijuana-illegal-history
'Collection and conservation of germplasm of indigenous populations of
Central and South Asian landraces in their centers of diversity is
urgently needed. The germplasm base outside their centers of diversity
has become genetically contaminated by widespread crossbreeding. In the
context of climate change and unpredictable future needs, in situ
conservation of agrobiodiversity is much preferable for crop plants and
their wild relatives, but given the precarious continued existence of
unaltered aboriginal wild populations of Cannabis in Asia, preservation
in seed banks is an immediate priority. Hopefully the unambiguous names
provided may help prevent extinction of these taxa.'
https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/46700/
https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/46700/
'Remembering his brush with death, Knox concluded that he would have
died were it not for the anti-nausea effects of a certain South Asian
antidote —cannabis. “At length we learned an Antidote and Counter-Poyson
against the filthy venemous water, which so operated by the blessing of
God, that after the use thereof we had no more Sickness", Knox would
recall. “It is only a dry leaf: they call it in Portugueze Banga…and
this we eat Morning and Evening upon an empty Stomach. It intoxicates
the Brain, and makes one giddy”. After Knox reached London safely in
September 1680, he retained a taste for this intoxicating
“Counter-Poyson” and found a source able to procure it back home. We
know this because, on November 7, 1689,
Robert Hooke met with Knox at a London coffee house to obtain a sample of what Hooke called the “intoxicating leaf and seed, by the Moors called Ganges, in Portug[uese] Banga, in Chingales Consa”. Hooke added in his diary that the drug was reported to him as being “wholesome, though for a time it takes away the memory and understanding”.
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/how-the-english-found-cannabis
'However, this is the first time physical evidence has been identified that indicates the tribe of Judah participated in marijuana-infused ceremonies. Evidence of frankincense being burned was also found at the site.
The team behind the study, from the Israel Museum and the Volcani Center, relied on two common methods of identifying cannabinoids: liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. They found components of marijuana known widely today such as THC, CBD, CBN and various terpenoids.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/proof-of-marijuana-use-discovered-at-ancient-biblical-site-in-israel/
'Results and conclusion: Through a detailed analysis of the available resources about the origins of C. sativa we found that its use by ancient civilizations as a source of food and textile fibers dates back over 10,000 years, while its therapeutic applications have been improved over the centuries, from the ancient East medicine of the 2nd and 1st millennium B.C. to the more recent introduction in the Western world after the 1st century A.D. In the 20th and 21th centuries, Cannabis and its derivatives have been considered as a menace and banned throughout the world, but nowadays they are still the most widely consumed illicit drugs all over the world. Its legalization in some jurisdictions has been accompanied by new lines of research to investigate its possible applications for medical and therapeutic purposes.'
https://www.eurekaselect.com/182145/article
Robert Hooke met with Knox at a London coffee house to obtain a sample of what Hooke called the “intoxicating leaf and seed, by the Moors called Ganges, in Portug[uese] Banga, in Chingales Consa”. Hooke added in his diary that the drug was reported to him as being “wholesome, though for a time it takes away the memory and understanding”.
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/how-the-english-found-cannabis
'However, this is the first time physical evidence has been identified that indicates the tribe of Judah participated in marijuana-infused ceremonies. Evidence of frankincense being burned was also found at the site.
The team behind the study, from the Israel Museum and the Volcani Center, relied on two common methods of identifying cannabinoids: liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. They found components of marijuana known widely today such as THC, CBD, CBN and various terpenoids.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/proof-of-marijuana-use-discovered-at-ancient-biblical-site-in-israel/
'Results and conclusion: Through a detailed analysis of the available resources about the origins of C. sativa we found that its use by ancient civilizations as a source of food and textile fibers dates back over 10,000 years, while its therapeutic applications have been improved over the centuries, from the ancient East medicine of the 2nd and 1st millennium B.C. to the more recent introduction in the Western world after the 1st century A.D. In the 20th and 21th centuries, Cannabis and its derivatives have been considered as a menace and banned throughout the world, but nowadays they are still the most widely consumed illicit drugs all over the world. Its legalization in some jurisdictions has been accompanied by new lines of research to investigate its possible applications for medical and therapeutic purposes.'
https://www.eurekaselect.com/182145/article
'Humanity just can’t make up its mind about cannabis. For thousands of years, humans have used the stuff as medicine or to travel on spiritual quests. That, though, didn’t quite suit the British, who banned cannabis in colonial India. Then in the 20th century, the United States government declared war on marijuana, and most of the world followed suit.
But today, state after state is calling out the federal government on its absurd claim that weed should be a schedule I drug—an extreme danger with no medical benefits—and should fall in the same category as heroin. Even on the federal level, congressional reps like Elizabeth Warren are fighting to end the criminalization of cannabis use. The fact is, scientists have proven cannabis can treat a range of ills and that it’s actually much safer than alcohol. The twisty-turny journey of cannabis has landed us back at a central truth: It’s actually a powerful medicine that can help treat what ails the human body.'
https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-cannabis/
'For thousands of years cannabis has been valued as a versatile herbal medicine. In the twentieth century, prescription gave way to proscription. Might this ancient remedy be about to regain its healing reputation?'
https://www.nature.com/articles/525S10a
'Drug- taking, it is significant, plays an important role in every primitive religion. The Persians and, before them, the Greeks and probably the ancient Hindus used alcohol to produce religious ecstasy; the Mexicans procured the beatific vision by eating a poisonous cactus; a toadstool filled the Shamans of Siberia with enthusiasm and endowed them with the gift of tongues. And so on. The devotional exercises of the later mystics are all designed to produce the drug's miraculous effects by purely psychological means. How many of the current ideas of eternity, of heaven, of supernatural states are ultimately derived from the experiences of drug-takers?' - from Aldous Huxley's A Treatise on Drugs (1931)
Some history of the illustrious herb...
'—Cannabis seeds macrofossils were found attached to pieces of broken ceramic in central Japan dating back about 10,000 years.
—Shen Nung, a Chinese emperor around 2,700 BCE who is also considered the father of Chinese medicine, reportedly regarded marijuana as a “first-class herb” that was not dangerous.
—According to Vedic texts from around 800 BCE, cannabis was used in religious rituals but also for its “analgesic, anesthetic, antiparasitic, antispastic, and diuretic properties” and “as an expectorating agent, as an aphrodisiac, to treat convulsions, to stimulate hunger, and to relieve from fatigue.”
—Marijuana was considered a “holy plant” in Tibet and was used in Tantric Buddhism to “facilitate meditations.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/study-documents-humanitys-use-of-marijuana-over-10000-years-of-history/
As Grateful Dead sang in Truckin' - What in the world ever became of sweet Jane? She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same. Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine, All a friend can say is "Ain't it a shame?...Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.
'From China, coastal farmers brought pot to Korea about 2000 B.C. or earlier, according to the book "The Archeology of Korea" (Cambridge University Press, 1993). Cannabis came to the South Asian subcontinent between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C., when the region was invaded by the Aryans — a group that spoke an archaic Indo-European language. The drug became widely used in India, where it was celebrated as one of "five kingdoms of herbs ... which release us from anxiety" in one of the ancient Sanskrit Vedic poems whose name translate into "Science of Charms."'
https://www.livescience.com/48337-marijuana-history-how-cannabis-travelled-world.html
'As with other cultivated plants it is difficult to pinpoint the exact place of origin for C. sativa. It is likely that Cannabis spread to ancient Persia very early, assisted by Aryan and Scythian tribes expanding westward from central Asia. Evidence for this early spread comes from archeological studies of the Scythians, who occupied an area encompassing large swathes of what is now northwest Iran from the 7th century BCE to the 4th century CE, this culture was known to use Cannabis for entertainment and spiritual purposes. While all Iranian cannabis has been described as a complex of landraces of C. sativa, it is one of the countries with a high level of genetic diversity among cannabis populations.'
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15816-5
'However the concentration in cannabidiol (CBD) in high-potency cannabis is almost entirely absent. Due to its antipsychotic activity, CBD may potentially moderate some of the effects of THC. Changes in the source of cannabis plants used for resin has led to a drop in CBD content: in 2005 and 2008, the ratio of THC to CBD was 1:1, whereas in 2016 the ratio was 3:1. These changes are what have increased the potency of cannabis in the UK.'
http://volteface.me/young-peoples-brains-durably-damaged-high-potency-cannabis-becomes-overwhelmingly-available/
Stay natural..
'The proportion of THC in the commonly used herbal cannabis (marijuana) and resin (hashish) was 3% or less in the 1960s, but subsequently it began to rise. Growers cross-bred plants to increase potency. Then, they found that preventing pollination increased THC, as in this situation the female plant converts its energy into producing more cannabinoids rather than seeds. This type of cannabis is referred to as sinsemilla, which means “without seed” in Spanish, but is sometimes colloquially termed “skunk”, because of its strong smell. Plants bred to produce a high concentration of THC cannot simultaneously produce a lot of CBD, so the product contains only traces of the latter.'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5032490/
Legalize consumption, cultivation and trade of cannabis for recreational use world wide..
'Equivalent to an estimated 183 million annual users in 2015 (range: 128-238 million), roughly 3.8 per cent of the global population (2.7-4.9 per cent) used cannabis in the past year. This proportion has not changed over the past decade and is only slightly higher than the prevalence of cannabis use estimated for 1998 (3.4 per cent). Nonetheless, as the world population has grown, so has the number of cannabis users (by 28 per cent since 1998). Analysis of the perception of changes in drug use, as reported by Member States, also suggests an increase in the number of cannabis users, although the increase appears to have slowed down since 2010. Cannabis use in Africa and in Asia, however, are perceived to have continued to increase relatively rapidly in the past five years.'
http://www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/Booklet_3_Plantbased.pdf
'Psychedelic plant rituals are part of humanity’s ancient relationship to nature. Other psychoactive plant species, such as tobacco, are partner to those rituals. Each of these can carry potential wisdom, healing, yet also shadows, depending on human factors. Learn about the botany, chemistry, and indigenous ceremonial histories of these few species, which all evolved in the Americas. Their stories are rich with symbolic meaning and shamanic healing methods. As living ethnobotany, this knowledge is always evolving. Now that psychedelic plants are being cultivated, globalized, and adopted into contemporary roles, their indigenous traditions are transformed, and sometimes lost. We will consider our relationships to these profound ‘plant teachers’ as they appear in 21st century culture. '
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/bot.html?event_ID=123027&date=2019-03-03&filter=Event+Type&filtersel
'New studies on marijuana are churned out nearly every day, with most of them focusing on novel findings about the plant’s therapeutic potential and the implications of legalization.
But cannabis itself isn’t new. Far from it. And a study published this month in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology documents the fascinating evolution of humanity’s relationship with marijuana over the course of thousands of years of history.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/a-complete-history-of-marijuana-according-to-scientists/
Ganja by any other name is just as sweet...
'According to Merriam-Webster, the word “marijuana” originated in Mexican Spanish for the medicinal varieties of cannabis, but how the word really came about is a matter of debate. The dictionary also says that the slang “pot” is “perhaps [a] modification of Mexican Spanish potiguaya (1938),” which came from potación de guaya, a drink made by steeping marijuana leaves in wine or brandy. People began calling marijuana “weed” because the plant grows so easily and rapidly.'
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/marijuana-terminology-pot-cannabis.php
'From the dental calculus of two females with grooves and striations, we extracted three fragments of fibers, identified as hemp (Cannabis, sp.). Previously from Gricignano woven hemp fibers were found on both surfaces of a metal blade associated with a male burial. '
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajpa.23619
'It turns out, the terminology that linked 4/20 with smoking pot took root in Northern California in the early 1970s, said Steve Bloom, the publisher of CelebStoner and the founder of Freedom Leaf magazine. Bloom, however first came upon the connection when he was given a flier at a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 1990. The flier recounted the now-famous apocryphal tale that 420 was police code for a marijuana arrest in progress.
"The makers of the flier thought it was a good idea to turn that around and smoke on 4/20," Bloom told Live Science.'
https://www.livescience.com/58754-the-real-origins-of-420-marijuana.html
Explore the long and rocky relationship between Uncle Sam and marijuana.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/u/kckMOO8vzgE0eXO-_g97LRHzwGEGbgUBsaKezkGmtENproH5bglatQ/
Why ganja goes so well with beer...
"Cannabis diverged around 27.8 million years ago from Humulus, the hop plant used to give beer its bitter and floral flavours, according to genetic analysis presented at the International Cannabis Research Society's 2010 meeting by botanist John McPartland and Geoffrey Guy of London-based GW Pharmaceuticals. Human influence on its diversity is more recent, but still stretches back millennia. The earliest archaeological evidence for human use of the plant comes from hemp ropes found in 10,000-year-old tombs in Taiwan. Cannabis now grows throughout much of the world, and humans have almost certainly had a role in shaping its many forms."
'Assyrian manuscripts from the second millennium BCE recommended cannabis to “bind the temples,” and Ayurvedic preparations in the third and fourth centuries BCE were indicated for “diseases of the head” such as migraines. The prescription of cannabis was even recommended in ancient Greece, with Pedanius Dioscorides describing its use in his De Maternia Medica as a treatment for “pain of the ears.” Other citations documenting the use of cannabis for headache disorders arise from the ninth century in the Al-Aq-rabadhin Al-Saghir, the earliest known document of Arabic pharmacology.Further recommendations are found in Persian texts from the 10th and 17th centuries.Prominent physicians of the Middle Ages, including John Parkinson and Nicholas Culpeper, also recommended the use of cannabis for headache.
The reintroduction of cannabis to the West in 1839 began a century of its use as an effective treatment for headache disorders until its illegalization in 1937.Notable physicians who espoused the benefits of cannabis for headache disorders included John Russell Reynolds, the personal physician of Queen Victoria, American neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell, the president of the New York Neurological Society Edouard C. Seguin, William Gowers, a founding father of modern neurology,and Sir William Osler, often considered the father of modern medicine'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5436334/
'Researchers
interested in the history of marijuana and medicine will appreciate
learning about the Tod Mikuriya Papers (1933–2015), a newly-available
archival collection here at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Tod
Mikuriya (1933–2007) was a psychiatrist and medical marijuana activist.
In addition to his work in addiction medicine and biofeedback, he is
well-known for compiling Marijuana: Medical Papers, 1839–1972, a master
bibliography of historical resources on marijuana, and for campaigning
for California Proposition 215 (Prop 215) which legalized medical
marijuana in the state in 1996. Dr. Mikuriya conducted research on
marijuana use and founded the California Cannabis Research Medical
Group, a non-profit educational organization.'
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2020/02/25/tod-mikuriya-papers-now-available-for-research/
'That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few minutes, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul. Art and religion, canivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory - all these haves served, in H.G. Wells' phrase, as Doors in the Wall. And for private, for everyday use there have always been chemical intoxicants. All the vegetable sedatives and narcotics, all the euphorics that grow on trees, the hallucinogens that ripen in berries or can be squeezed from roots - all, without exception have been known and systematically used by human beings from time immemorial. And to these natural modifiers of consciousness modern science has added its quota of synthetics - chloral, for example, and benzedrine, the bromides and the barbiturates.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
Ganja in the Indian sub-continent...
'The urge to transcend self-conscious selfhood is, as I have said, a principal appetite of the soul. When, for whatever reason, men and women fail to transcend themselves by means of worhip, good works and spiritual exercises, they are apt to resort to religion's chemical surrogates - alcohol and 'goof-pills' in the modern West, alcohol and opium in the East, hashish in the Mohameddan world, alcohol and marijuana in Central America, alcohol and coca in the Andes, alcohol and the barbiturates in the more up-to-date regions of South America.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
'In the Poisons Sacres, Ivresses Divines Philippe de Felice has written at length and with a wealth of documentation on the immemorial connection between religion and the taking of drugs. Here, in summary, or in direct quotation, are his conclusions. The employment for religious purposes of toxic substances is 'extraordinarily widespread...The practices studied in this volume can be observed in every region of the earth, among primitives no less than among those who have reached a high pitch of civilization. We are dealing therefore with not just exceptional facts, which might justifiably be overlooked, but with a general and, in the widest sense of the word, a human phenomenon, the kind of phenomenon which cannot be disregarded by anyone who is trying to discover what religion is, and what are the deep needs which it must satisfy.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
'In the Western world visionaries and mystics are a good deal less common than they used to be. There are two principal reasons for this state of affairs - a philosophical reason and a chemical reason. In the currently fashionable picture of the universe there is no place for valid transcendental experience. Consequently those who have had what they regard as valid transcendental experiences are looked upon with suspicion, as being either lunatics or swindlers. To be a mystic or a visionary is no longer credible.
But it is not only our mental climate that is unfavourable to the visionary and the mystic, it is also our chemical environment - an environment profoundly different from that in which our forefathers passed their lives.'- Heaven and Hell, Aldous Huxley, 1956
'Fifty years ago, cannabis was known as the drug most emblematic of counterculture. Today, many people promote it as a fount of treatments for almost any ailment imaginable. This immense about-turn is reflected in changes in legal regimes: medicinal use of cannabis is now permitted in many countries, and some also allow the drug to be used recreationally. The times, they have a-changed.'
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02523-6
'Important facts from Galactic history, number two:
(Reproduced from the Siderial Daily Mentioner's Book of Popular Galactic History)
Since this Galaxy began, vast civilizations have risen and fallen, risen and fallen, risen and fallen so often that it's quite tempting to think that life in the Galaxy must be
(a) something akin to seasick - space sick, time sick, history sick or some such thing, and
(b) stupid.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2020/02/25/tod-mikuriya-papers-now-available-for-research/
'That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few minutes, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul. Art and religion, canivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory - all these haves served, in H.G. Wells' phrase, as Doors in the Wall. And for private, for everyday use there have always been chemical intoxicants. All the vegetable sedatives and narcotics, all the euphorics that grow on trees, the hallucinogens that ripen in berries or can be squeezed from roots - all, without exception have been known and systematically used by human beings from time immemorial. And to these natural modifiers of consciousness modern science has added its quota of synthetics - chloral, for example, and benzedrine, the bromides and the barbiturates.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
Ganja in the Indian sub-continent...
'The urge to transcend self-conscious selfhood is, as I have said, a principal appetite of the soul. When, for whatever reason, men and women fail to transcend themselves by means of worhip, good works and spiritual exercises, they are apt to resort to religion's chemical surrogates - alcohol and 'goof-pills' in the modern West, alcohol and opium in the East, hashish in the Mohameddan world, alcohol and marijuana in Central America, alcohol and coca in the Andes, alcohol and the barbiturates in the more up-to-date regions of South America.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
'In the Poisons Sacres, Ivresses Divines Philippe de Felice has written at length and with a wealth of documentation on the immemorial connection between religion and the taking of drugs. Here, in summary, or in direct quotation, are his conclusions. The employment for religious purposes of toxic substances is 'extraordinarily widespread...The practices studied in this volume can be observed in every region of the earth, among primitives no less than among those who have reached a high pitch of civilization. We are dealing therefore with not just exceptional facts, which might justifiably be overlooked, but with a general and, in the widest sense of the word, a human phenomenon, the kind of phenomenon which cannot be disregarded by anyone who is trying to discover what religion is, and what are the deep needs which it must satisfy.' - The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, 1954.
'In the Western world visionaries and mystics are a good deal less common than they used to be. There are two principal reasons for this state of affairs - a philosophical reason and a chemical reason. In the currently fashionable picture of the universe there is no place for valid transcendental experience. Consequently those who have had what they regard as valid transcendental experiences are looked upon with suspicion, as being either lunatics or swindlers. To be a mystic or a visionary is no longer credible.
But it is not only our mental climate that is unfavourable to the visionary and the mystic, it is also our chemical environment - an environment profoundly different from that in which our forefathers passed their lives.'- Heaven and Hell, Aldous Huxley, 1956
'Fifty years ago, cannabis was known as the drug most emblematic of counterculture. Today, many people promote it as a fount of treatments for almost any ailment imaginable. This immense about-turn is reflected in changes in legal regimes: medicinal use of cannabis is now permitted in many countries, and some also allow the drug to be used recreationally. The times, they have a-changed.'
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02523-6
'Important facts from Galactic history, number two:
(Reproduced from the Siderial Daily Mentioner's Book of Popular Galactic History)
Since this Galaxy began, vast civilizations have risen and fallen, risen and fallen, risen and fallen so often that it's quite tempting to think that life in the Galaxy must be
(a) something akin to seasick - space sick, time sick, history sick or some such thing, and
(b) stupid.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
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