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classifiacation of drugs >>> cannabis >>>

Cannabis

History and usage

The narcotic properties of the hemp are well known to man from ancient times. In the different ages and cultures the psychoactive compounds that were made out of it have had different names therefore we shall call them as a whole cannabis. It looks like that the most probable place of birth of the hemp is China. The reason for this is that during some excavations on the island of Taiwan there have been found some ceramic utensils marked with a hemp rope. These utensils are thought to be 12000 years old. In ancient China they used to make threads and paper out of the hemp, the seeds were used for oil extraction and in medicine the stems were thought to be the best way to banish demons and evil spirits. 

The first scientific data on the hemp was recorded in the ancient book of medicine “Pen Tsao”, thought to be written by the emperor Shen Nun himself. According to the Chinese the hemp resembled the perfect match between Inn and Ian; they knew for sure that this was a dioecious plant, or in other words there were male and a female plants. Through the eyes of the Chinese philosophers the male plant, from which ropes were made, contained the male beginning called Ian and that’s why the ropes were so strong. The female plant on the other hand was giving seeds, which contained the female beginning Inn and therefore the swallowing of the seeds or the inhaling of their vapors makes people calm and relaxed. In  ancient Chinese medicine the hemp was used as an anesthetic, mostly taken in with wine. Apart from that people believed it might cure all sorts of diseases - from malaria to goitre. 

During the medieval ages the usage of the hemp in medicine was reduced, but this led to its usage as a narcotic. This happened in about 600 AD. Its main supporters were the deonistic monks. Even back then the most popular members of the society stigmatized cannabis as a “reliever of sins”. But the deonistic monks reckoned that the chewing of the hemp seed makes people see spirits, and if people do this long enough they may even contact them. They suggested that the seeds are thrown in the fire and then everyone should inhale the vapors. This was a procedure, which was thought to be very valuable and that it was supposed to help you achieve immortality. Cannabis in China was always a mere pleasure for the eccentric brainworkers and its usage was never widely spread; the only serious social problems were caused by alcohol and later by opium. 

From China the hemp was brought to India, where its psychotropic characteristics became an inseparable part of the culture of the country. Nowadays about 200 million people in India use cannabis. As the legend goes one day Sheeva (an Indian god) was resting under the shadow of the hemp and he tasted its leafs from curiosity. He liked it and from that moment on the hemp became his favorite food. From ancient times until today the leafs of the hemp are used for the making of a beverage called “bhang”, which is served in India, as tradition goes, to all the guests in the house. In many parts of the country people say that “a feast is no feast, when there is no “bhang” on the table”. Except leafs the “bhang” also contains milk, sugar and a wide variety of spices – from pepper to roses’ buds. In India the cannabis served the role, which the alcohol had in other societies. But some of the religious movements thought of it even more highly. The worshipers of the goddess Kali (the celestial wife of Sheeva) used it in their sexual rituals to achieve complete spiritual and carnal merging with the goddess. 

The hemp was also known in other Indo-European nations. Herodotous describes its usage in the burial rituals of the Scythians: “ …they put three wooden sticks, bent towards each other. Then they stretch three woolen covers over them. They also throw some hot stones in a cup-like utensil, situated in the middle of the so made tent. Then, over the stones, they throw seeds of a hemp, which looks very much like flax. The thrown seeds make such a smoke that no other smoke-bath in Hellas can compare to it. Then the Scythians get under the tent. They are so fascinated that they start yelling with all their strength…” This ritual that Herodoteous thought to be used for clarifying of the body, looks more like a spiritual clarifying under the influence of the enchanting vapors. Plutarh and some other ancient authors a similar ceremony in the life of the Thracians; according to them the Thracians threw the ends of the hemp into the fire and then inhaled through hollow reed stems. As a result they acted as if they were drunk and later they went to sleep. In Europe the hemp was replaced as an anaesthetic by the alcohol long time ago but parts of those rituals have been kept alive in Eastern Europe until not so long ago. In Poland and Lithuania the soup of hemp seed is part of the traditional ritual for appeasement of the souls of the dead. In some parts of the Balkan Peninsula the villagers used to dance around a fire in which hemp stems were burned. The villagers were singing: ”We were in the fire and we didn’t burn, there was a plague and we survived…”  

In the antiquity the hemp was popular as an exotic plant with unclear properties. Homer in his “Odyssey” describes how the beautiful Helena was suffering from depression and how she was healed with a cure which came from Egypt called “nepente” (against pain), in which many of today’s linguists see the slightly changed Egyptian name for cannabis – “nebeji”. Not until, the time of emperor August came, was the ancient world acquainted with the hemp. But even then it was thought to be a mere fibrous crop. Its narcotic properties were not known to men; the Greeks and the Romans, in this sense, worshipped the mandrake, the deadly nightshade and the henbane.  

In the Islamic world the most popular of the products of the hemp is the hashish (it means “grass” in Arabic). The Koran strongly banned the alcohol but hashish very successfully has taken its place. People believe that it was brought to the Islamic world through Eastern Turkmenistan, but others think that the dervish Haidar is the one who made it all possible. He loved hashish so much that he even ordered his slaves to plant the hemp on his grave. Although the hashish was known to the Arabic world 10 centuries ago, its wide usage was connected to the prosperity of the mystical Islamic movement called “suffism”, whose followers were living as hermits, searching for ecstatic merging with God. The faithful Mohammedans were hostile towards the mystical quests of the suffists, because they thought that it is unnatural for people to live without sex. Something very interesting was the fact that hashish was blamed to be responsible for this withdrawal of people from sex. And about 1000 years later marijuana was thought to have the opposite effect – it was thought to be the reason for the aptitude of hippies to sex.  

During the time of the crusades, a new Islamic sect became popular in Europe, a sect which used the hashish for its own purposes. The base of this sect was in the mountains of western Iran. In the castle of the leader, who was referred to as “The old man from the mountain”, there was a wonderful garden, full of beautiful flowers, fruits and women. The followers of the “old man”, who where intended to perform important missions, were first intoxicated with hashish and when they woke up they found themselves in the heavenly garden. After one day of happiness and unconcern they were intoxicated once more and then they woke up once more in the cruel reality of 12^th century. The “old man” explained to them that they were in heaven and that Mohammed himself gave the “old man” the power to send people there for one day. After this experience the followers were ready to do anything, because they knew that after they die they would go into heaven. The sect was known by the name “Hashishists”, but the Europeans knew called them  “Assassins”. They became popular after a series of brutal murders of kings and sultans, who were standing in way of the “old man”. Their name was a symbol of terror for both Christians and Muslims, until the Mongolians – another wild and uncivilized nation, who had never heard of the “Assassins”, wiped them out.  

In 13^th century the lovers of the hemp started organizing in groups. Their favorite gathering place was Cairo, which made the city look like today’s Amsterdam. In Cairo the clans gathered in the gardens of Kafur where they bred the hemp. Gradually they became so many that the governor of the city, under the pressure of his indignant subordinates, was forced to take measures; the hemp was burned and the dervishes were exiled. But the villagers from the near by areas started breeding the hemp and then they sold hashish to those who wanted some. The actions of the army to eradicate the sowings were in vain, having in mind the strong resistance of the manufacturers, who were defending their profitable business. Not to mention that corruption in the different levels of power made it impossible for the people to deal with the hashish-problem. The writer Mac’rizi, in 1393 AD, even complained: “…As a result of the moral degradation, the modesty has disappeared, and every bad man was doing his job…”. The situation back then very much resembles the one in Columbia and Burma nowadays. 

From the Near East, through Ethiopia, cannabis was spread in eastern and later southern Africa. About 1600 AD the citizens of the south coast of Africa knew cannabis by the name of “dagga”. The story of the Bashilange people is very interesting. Their descendents live in today’s Namibia. Until the middle of the last century they were proud and warlike people, who lived at the expense of the other tribes. Then they became acquainted with the hemp, which fascinated them so much that they began worshipping it. The Bashilange people turned into a friendly and peaceful tribe, who even believed in the reincarnation of the soul. Even the judicature changed. The convicted one had to smoke until there was a confession of his or her crime or until he or she loses consciousness. But this peace, that everyone was enjoying so much, soon led to economic downfall, as for the vassals no longer paid out their taxes to the Beshilange. At last in 1876 AD the counsel of the elders was overthrown by the young strong people from the tribe, who restored the old traditions. 

After America was found, the new continent revealed to the Europeans new horizons. In Europe and in its American colonies, the hemp became an important fibrous crop, but before the wars of Napoleon its narcotic characteristics were just something the scholars would argue over. The travelers told stories about how in the East the hemp was used as a replacement of alcohol. But it was not until the veterans from the Egyptian crusade of Napoleon came back and brought with them the hashish to Europe, where later it became fashionable in the high class of the society.  

The story began with a French doctor named J.J. Moro de Tur. In 1845 AD he used the hashish as part of his treatment for melancholy, manias and other psychotic diseases. Meanwhile in Paris there were some rumors that some author promised a reward for the person who presents a new type of amusement. Dr. Moro decided to face this challenge and offered the author the first dose of hashish saying that this was the author’s part of the Heavens. The writer was astounded by the experience and later became the first member of “The Club of Hashishers”. The members of the club gathered once per month and some of them were from the highest rank of the then artistic class. Another writers and composers also wrote about hashish. The Cambridge students valued very much the so-called Turkish delight – bonbons with hashish, covered with sugar and gelatin. All kinds of cakes were made from hashish, all with different exotic names.

In the western hemisphere cannabis was known from ancient times, but it became widely spread in the USA at the beginning of 20^th century. People believe that the Mexican workers brought it into the country. Marijuana meant every type of cheap tobacco in Spanish. Its usage was accompanied by the development of  jazz and gradually from Louisiana through Chicago and New York, its path led throughout the whole country. In any case before the hippie-revolution cannabis was a type of amusement especially for the artists or for the poorest of black Americans. Because of this the campaign that was taken up by the Americans in the mid 30’s looked more like a racist act. The newspapers back then were full of frightening stories about black males who have smoked so much that they had turned violent and uncontrollable. As a result in 1937 AD a funny law was enacted: For every ounce of marijuana used for non-medical purpose the person had to pay $100. This was an enormous amount of money for the people who lived back then. Everyone who was caught with untaxed marijuana had to pay the absurd sum of about $2000 and most often those people went to jail for unpaid taxes. In the other developed countries there were no such laws - cannabis was simply banned together with the opiates and the cocaine. 

Nevertheless or may be just because of this ban, the popularity of cannabis was gradually escalating until the 70’s from then until know the statistics show that its usage is stabilizing. At the moment the usage of cannabis in the developed countries is thought to be not so dangerous and many discuss the probability of it to be legalized.  

Nowadays two completely different types of people use cannabis. The first one is the poorest stratum of some not so developed countries in the Middle and Near East, India and Jamaica. “The workers from the field of construction very often enjoy smoking their pipes full of ganja or drinking bhang. This makes them fell better, they don’t feel fatigue any more, they get hungry and it stimulates them, which help them overcome the burdens of the past day.” – states a report for the usage of cannabis in India. The other type resembles the educated young people from the industrial countries, for which the pursuit of new pleasures is actually a reflection of their dislike towards the requirements of the modern society. Although those two groups may look different, their members actually have a similar motivation. It is a result from the state of relaxation that cannabis leads to. It may not be able to help people get rid of their problems but at least to live with them. 

Some authors stress on the fact, that these groups of people still have one very essential difference. In the East the usage of cannabis is a generally accepted way of relaxation; the people there take in relatively strong cannabis, as the main goal is people to feel its effect. In the West people think more about the social aspect of its usage – the young people smoke cannabis, because this can distance them from the life of the others. The effect of smoking of not so strong cannabis depends more on the environment, in which people smoke, rather than the effect of the substance itself.