The origins of cannabis

D.Anton

There are references to the use of cannabis several thousand years ago in its area of origin (India) and China. Around 2700 BC the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung encouraged hemp cultivation to produce fibers (perhaps also for other purposes), and in the third century bce Hoa-Thom, doctor of Chinese origin, recommended cannabis preparations wine as an anesthetic, noting that “ after a few days or end of the month, the patient feels is restored without experiencing any pain during the operation “.   .

It is thought that cannabis came to Europe around 1500 bc. There are references to its use by Scythians, nomadic herders natives of southeast Europe (areas of the rivers Don and Dnieper), who introduced it in Greece around the eighth century bc.

Herodotus described the Scythian custom as follows.

“ They have a type of grass that grows in this country (Scythian) as hemp ... When the Scythians harvest the sprouts of this hemp, they take refuge in their felt tents and throw the sprouts on  a hot stone, which produce smoke and steam stronger than the most energetic Greek sweat bath.  The Scythians carried by the vapor steam, they soon cry of pleasure ... ‘.

In another fragment the Greek writer said:

“ The Scythians have discovered other trees producing a special fruit and people gathering around a fire through it into the fire, sit around in a circle; and inhale the fumes of the burned fruit, they feel intoxicated in the same by its odourpir or feel the smell of mismomodo as the Greeks do with wine; and the more fruit is thrown become more intoxicated, until you get up to dance and sing. “   

From that time hemp was adopted by many Middle Eastern peoples who consume its products, including hashish.

Commenting on the description of Herodotus, Werner Keller 11   states: “ Herodotus must never felt personally the effects of hashish. Otherwise he would have known that it does not  produces only pleasure but ecstasy. And these “baths” were not intended for cleaning or healing. They were religious rituals of the Scitinas.

Keller’s comments are not acceptable. First the difference between pleasure and ecstasy is difficult to establish. Likewise also the distinction between “cleaning” and “healing”, and religious rituals are well appreciated. Many religious ceremonies are designed specifically for cleaning or healing.

The Roman naturalist Pliny (23-79 AD) quotes a fragment  of Democrates in relation to a plant called thalassaegle or potamaugis  that many think it was hemp.

“ Ingested in drink produces a delirium that includes beautiful visions of an extraordinary nature. “

At present, there are still groups in the region of Altai “who get drunk in the same way ... burning twigs of hemp in a closed tent “(Keller, 1975).

To this we must add the various modalities of  this type of ceremony,  from the Finnish sauna to the Mexican bathhouse. During these practices herbs or leaves that introduce smoke are usually added. They are often psychoactive, the concentrated vapor inside the tents. Probably the Scythians ceremonies were related to such practices.

In India there was a clear awareness of the role of cannabis as a psychoactive substance. For many centuries, both Hindu and Muslim, cannabis consumption was related to the esoteric aspects of spirituality, yoga practices and emphasis of their use as ways to access the experiences of the transcendent.

Due to the mentioned properties, according to McKenna, the cannabis plant was indicated to replace the oldest psychoactive plants (such as soma) when they were banned and forgotten. Indeed, this occurred in much of the Middle East. This author believes that the presence of cannabis in the Hindu and Islamic societies may have slowed the expansion of societies of domination in these countries.

In Europe the diffusion process was much more complex. The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, in their travel stories (1290), includes the popular tale “The Old Man of the Mountain” of Ibn Saba, leader of the cult of the hashishin consumers of hashish. From hashishin emerge the term “assassin” Then, in sixteen century Europe, Johannus Weier mentioned the use of hashish by certain witches, maintaining its character of prohibited or unknown substance for three hundred years.

In the seventeenth century the English introduced hemp in Virginia, and from that moment its use spread to all the English colonies of North America.

 It is known that the Declaration of American Independence was written on hemp paper and its editors, called “fathers of independence” of the country, were all consumers of this plant. 

In 1791 George Washington himself sought to promote domestic production of cannabis and somewhat later, President Thomas Jefferson proposed hemp plant rather than tobacco.

In the early nineteenth century when Napoleon’s armies conquered Egypt, the  administration of French invaded territories sought to restrict the consumption of hashish without success. The result was the opposite, due to contact between French soldiers and merchants to Egyptian society, cannabis use spread to certain intellectual sectors of French society.

In the 1840s several famous writers such as Baudelaire, Dumas, Balzac and others formed the “ Club des Hashischins “where dawamesc(a type of Algerian hashish) was consumed.  However, the prestige of the writers of this club failed to fully open the doors to the consumption of hashish. In 1848 during the rebellion of the Paris Commune, the students carried banners demanding free access to cannabis and ether.

The scientistic and naturalistic approach that prevailed in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century allowed cannabis for a time, and the use of cannabis began to expand to African countries.

Several doctors advocated its use as a remedy for various ailments. Some were O’Shaughnessy, England, Aubert-Roche in France, and finally JJ Moreau, also in France (Tours), who published a book entitled “Du Hashish Mentale et de l’Alienation” (Hashish and Mental alienation), triggering a wave of experimentation in certain circles of the Parisian elite.

Gradually, Europeans and Americans began to become familiar with hemp, and already during the first half of the twentieth century trade had become global.

At that time hashish was consumed in many different ways. Smoked in water pipes was only one of the modalities. Its consumption was much more common in candy ingestion, usually imported from the Middle East.

The effect of cannabis when “eaten” instead of smoking it, it’s very intense.

The description of Bayard Taylor published in Atlantic Monthly in 1854 is illustrative:

“ The sense of limits, the confinement of our senses in the borders of our own flesh and blood, fell instantly. The walls of my body fell exploded outward and demolished; without thinking that it was my way, I lost all idea of form, 

(to be continued)

From: "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones