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
