CANNABIS HISTORY ►
Wild Crop to Household Staple
The Long and Winding Journey of Cannabis by Karla Deel , contributing writer
A
hearty welcome to 2022 , Missouri ! It ’ s a brand-new year ! A fresh start . It feels good , right ? As the tradition goes , the calendar resets — out with the old and in with the new — a time to usher in new first-time experiences for yourself . Maybe you ’ ll try tap dancing or , better yet , your first dab . Marijuana has evolved from an elusive wild crop in the Himalayas to a modern-day commodity present in most homes in the United States . But , how did it get here , and how many different things did it first have to go through along the way to find itself here ? It has withstood millions of years , thousands of miles , and piles of regulations , rules , and laws .
Due to the recent study of ancient cannabis pollen , we can pinpoint that the plant first evolved 28 million years ago on the eastern Tibetan Plateau , nearly 10,000 square feet above sea level in the heart of Asia . Ancient Tibet so valued the cannabis plant , its monastic texts were written on it . Even though cannabis has incredible origins in Tibet , present-day Tibet is under the control of the People ’ s Republic of China , which forbids its use with strict penalties .
Chinese farmers first farmed hemp 4,000 years ago for its versatile uses such as oil , rope , paper , and clothes . Fast forward : The hemp farming industry in the United States is proposed to exceed 26.6 billion by 2025 .
Recreational use of cannabis first existed 2400-2800 years ago , proven by a team of researchers at a dig site at the Jirzankal Cemetery on the Pamir Plateau . Here , the team discovered the first evidence of a group who likely smoked cannabis to get high , different from previous evidence of ritual and ceremonial use . By extracting charred material from ancient wooden braziers , researchers found a substance that not only contained THC but extremely high levels of it . Before this , the residues found contained low percentages of THC , suggesting this crop had been cultivated for psychoactive effects . * Note that THC was centuries away from discovery .
In the 1300s , the cannabis plant gained worldwide attention when it traveled alongside tradesmen on expeditions , making its way with Arab traders from India to East Africa , then from Spain to the Americas two hundred years later .
Cannabis had remained free from regulation until 1378 , when the Emir of the Joneima in Arabia , Soudoun Sheikouni , became the first to outlaw cannabis use from his jurisdiction , making this the earliest known prohibition on marijuana . He demanded that all cannabis plants in the region be burned and that anyone caught using cannabis would have their teeth removed . Over the next few centuries , countries the world over began to ban cannabis and implement harsh punishments for its use — including death .
In 1798 , Napoleon introduced cannabis to France after a trip to Egypt . In the same year , Irish doctor William O ’ Shaughnessy propelled cannabis onto the mainstage of medicine when he published On the Preparations of Indian Hemp or Gunjah , amplifying and contextualizing the plant as a medicine .
At the turn of the century , one hundred years later , the Western world finally explored cannabis and implemented it as therapeutic and medicinal , making it available in over-the-counter forms such as cough medicine . “ Piso ’ s Cure for Consumption ” was a popular overthe-counter product with listed ingredients such as opium , morphine , hashish , marijuana , chloroform , and alcohol .
Although the origin of the word “ marijuana ” is hotly debated , it debuted in the English lexicon in 1910 , during the Mexican Revolution . Battle songs of the Revolution made their way across the border , including the popular “ La Cucaracha ,” which in some versions contains the word marijuana . Some even speculate that the song inspired the nickname for the end of a joint or blunt — a roach . The lyrics of “ La Cucaracha ” explore the harsh conditions of Mexican soldier encampments .
La cucaracha , la cucaracha , ya no puede caminar porque le falta , porque no tiene marihuana pa ’ fumar . The cockroach , the cockroach , can ’ t walk anymore because it ’ s lacking , because it doesn ’ t have marijuana to smoke .
In 1913 , a push to prohibit cannabis stemmed from prejudice , racism , and cultural suppression of immigrants fleeing to the United States . Although federal Prohibition of cannabis wasn ’ t enacted until 1937 in the United States , California demanded it in 1913 . The racial biases of Henry Finger , who served on the Board of Pharmacy , first proposed the ban of marijuana to punish “ Hindoo ” immigrants , referring to a group of Sikhs who were commonly and wrongfully associated
18 January 2022