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In India, the medical and religious use of cannabis likely commenced around 1000 years BC. The plant was used for innumerous functions, such as: analgesic (neuralgia, headache, toothache), anticonvulsant (epilepsy, tetanus, rabies), hypnotic, tranquilizer (anxiety, mania, hysteria), anesthetic, anti-inflammatory (rheumatism and other inflammatory diseases), antibiotic (topical use on skin infections, erysipelas, tuberculosis), antiparasite (internal and external worms), antispasmodic (colic, diarrhea), digestive, appetite stimulant, diuretic, aphrodisiac or anaphrodisiac, antitussive and expectorant (bronchitis, asthma) (Warf).
Cannabis entered Eastern Africa via Egypt and Ethiopia, most likely carried by Arab merchants. It was used in Ethiopia by the 13th century, where it likely entered via trade routes across the Red Sea. Its diffusion throughout the African continent included the central role played by Zanzibar and Arab settlements on the east African coast; indeed, for most of its African history cannabis was closely associated with migrant Muslim populations. Known as asdagga, psychoactive cannabis has been consumed for medicinal properties in southern Africa for at least five centuries (Warf).