History of medical cannabis
The history of medicinal cannabis goes back to the ancient times. Ancient physicians in many parts of the world mixed cannabis into medicines to treat pain and other ailments. In the 19th century, cannabis was introduced for therapeutic use in Western Medicine. Since then, there have been several advancements in how the drug is administered. Initially, cannabis was reduced to a powder and mixed with wine for administration. In the 1970s, synthetic THC was created to be administered as the drug Marinol in a capsule. However, the main mode of administration for cannabis is smoking because its effects are almost immediate when the smoke is inhaled. Between 1996 and 1999, eight U.S. states supported cannabis prescriptions opposing policies of the federal government. Most people who are prescribed marijuana for medical purposes use it to alleviate severe pain.
Ancient China
Cannabis, called má 麻 (meaning "hemp; cannabis; numbness") or dàmá 大麻 (with the compound Wikt:大, meaning "big; great") in Chinese, was used in Taiwan for fiber starting about 10,000 years ago.[1] The botanist
The flowers when they burst (when the pollen is scattered) are called 麻蕡 (Pinyin: máfén) or 麻勃 (Pinyin: mábó). The best time for gathering is the seventh day of the seventh month. The seeds are gathered in the ninth month. The seeds which have entered the soil are injurious to man. It grows in Taishan (in Shandong ...). The flowers, the fruit (seed) and the leaves are officinal. The leaves and the fruit are said to be poisonous, but not the flowers and the kernels of the seeds.[3]
The early Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (c. 140–208) is credited with being the first recorded person to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for administration prior to conducting surgery.[4] The Chinese term for "anesthesia" (mázui 麻醉) literally means "cannabis intoxication". Elizabeth Wayland Barber says the Chinese evidence "proves a knowledge of the narcotic properties of Cannabis at least from the 1st millennium B.C." when ma was already used in a secondary meaning of "numbness; senseless." "Such a strong drug, however, suggests that the Chinese pharmacists had now obtained from far to the southwest not THC-bearing Cannabis sativa, but rather Cannabis indica.[5]
The Dutch sinologist Frank Dikötter's history of drugs in China says,
The medical uses were highlighted in a pharmacopeia of the Tang, which prescribed the root of the plant to remove a blood clot, while the juice from the leaves could be ingested to combat tapeworm. The seeds of cannabis, reduced to powder and mixed with rice wine, were recommended in various other materia medica against several ailments, ranging from constipation to hair loss. The Ming dynasty Mingyi bielu provided detailed instructions about the harvesting of the heads of the cannabis sativa plant (mafen, mabo), while the few authors who acknowledged hemp in various pharmacopoeias seemed to agree that the resinous female flowering heads were the source of dreams and revelations. After copious consumption, according to the ancient Shennong bencaojing, one could see demons and walk like a madman, even becoming 'in touch with the spirits' over time. Other medical writers warned that ghosts could be seen after ingesting a potion based on raw seeds blended with calamus and podophyllum (guijiu).[6]
Cannabis is one of the
Every part of the hemp plant is used in medicine ... The flowers are recommended in the 120 different forms of (風 feng) disease, in menstrual disorders, and in wounds. The achenia, which are considered to be poisonous, stimulate the nervous system, and if used in excess, will produce hallucinations and staggering gait. They are prescribed in nervous disorders, especially those marked by local anaesthesia. The seeds ... are considered to be tonic, demulcent, alternative [restorative], laxative, emmenagogue, diuretic, anthelmintic, and corrective. ... They are prescribed internally in fluxes, post-partum difficulties, aconite poisoning, vermillion poisoning, constipation, and obstinate vomiting. Externally they are used for eruptions, ulcers, favus, wounds, and falling of the hair. The oil is used for falling hair, sulfur poisoning, and dryness of the throat. The leaves are considered to be poisonous, and the freshly expressed juice is used as an anthelmintic, in scorpion stings, to stop the hair from falling out and to prevent it from turning gray. ... The stalk, or its bark, is considered to be diuretic ... The juice of the root is ... thought to have a beneficial action in retained placenta and post-partum hemorrhage. An infusion of hemp ... is used as a demulcent drink for quenching thirst and relieving fluxes.[8]
Ancient Netherlands
In 2007, a
Ancient Egypt
The
Ancient India
Cannabis was a major component in religious practices in ancient India as well as in medicinal practices. For many centuries, most parts of life in ancient India incorporated cannabis of some form.[15] Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis' psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for treating a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth.[16] One Indian philosopher expressed his views on the nature and uses of bhang (a form of cannabis), which combined religious thought with medical practices. "A guardian lives in the bhang leaf. …To see in a dream the leaves, plant, or water of bhang is lucky. …A longing for bhang foretells happiness. It cures dysentery and sunstroke, clears phlegm, quickens digestion, sharpens appetite, makes the tongue of the lisper plain, freshens the intellect and gives alertness to the body and gaiety to the mind. Such are the useful and needful ends for which in His goodness the Almighty made bhang."[15]
Ancient Greece
The
In the 5th century BC Herodotus, a Greek historian, described how the Scythians of the Middle East used cannabis in steam baths. These baths drove the people to a frenzied state.[17]
Medieval Islamic world
In the
Modern history
In the mid 19th century, medical interest in the use of cannabis began to grow in the West.[20] In the 19th century cannabis was one of the secret ingredients in several so-called patent medicines. There were at least 2,000 cannabis medicines prior to 1937, produced by more than 280 manufacturers.[21] The advent of the syringe and injectable medicines contributed to an eventual decline in the popularity of cannabis for therapeutic uses, as did the invention of new drugs such as aspirin.[20]
An Irish physician,
At the turn of the 20th century the Scandinavian
Later in the century, researchers investigating methods of detecting cannabis intoxication discovered that smoking the drug reduced
In 1964, Dr. Albert Lockhart and
Later, in the 1970s, a
Voters in eight U.S. states showed their support for cannabis prescriptions or recommendations given by physicians between 1996 and 1999,[
Among the more than 108,000 persons in Colorado who in 2012 had received a certificate to use marijuana for medical purposes, 94% said that severe pain was the reason for the requested certificate, followed by 3% for cancer and 1% for HIV/Aids. The typical card holder was a 41-year-old male. Twelve doctors had issued 50% of the certificates. Opponents of the card system claim that most card holders are drug abusers who are faking or exaggerating their illnesses; three-fourths male patients is not the normal pattern for pain patients, it is the normal pattern for drug addicts, claim the critics.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-306-40496-2.[page needed]
- ^ Li, Hui-Lin (1974). "An Archaeological and Historical Account of Cannabis in China", Economic Botany 28.4:437–448, p. 444.
- ^ Bretschneider, Emil (1895). Botanicon Sinicum: Notes on Chinese Botany from Native and Western Sources. Part III, Botanical Investigations in the Materia Medica of the Ancient Chinese. Kelly & Walsh. p. 378.
- OCLC 71779118.
- ^ Barber, Elizabeth Wayland. (1992). Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton University Press. p. 38.
- ^ Dikötter, Frank, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun (2004), Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China, University Of Chicago Press, p. 200.
- OCLC 2646789.
- ^ Smith, Frederick Porter (1911). Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. pp. 90–91.
- ^ Cannabis van 4200 jaar oud in graf Hanzelijn (Dutch), NU.nl
- ^ "The Ebers Papyrus The Oldest (confirmed) Written Prescriptions For Medical Marihuana era 1,550 BC". onlinepot.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- ^ "History of Cannabis". reefermadnessmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 25 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Pain, Stephanie (15 December 2007). "The Pharaoh's pharmacists". New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd.
- ^ (Webley, Kayla. "Brief History: Medical Marijuana." Time 21 June 2010.)
- ]
- ^ a b Bloomquist, Edward (1971). Marijuana: The Second Trip. California: Glencoe Press.
- PMID 7024492.
- ^ .
- .
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4094-1780-4.
- ^ a b "History of Cannabis". BBC News. 2 November 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ The Antique Cannabis Book. antiquecannabisbook.com (16 March 2012). Retrieved 2012-05-19.
- ISBN 978-0-309-06531-3.
- ^ "The Newsweekly for Pharmacy". Chemist + Druggist. 28. London, New York City, Melbourne: Benn Brothers: 68, 330. 1886.
- ^ Adams, Samuel Hopkins (1905). The Great American Fraud (4th ed., 1907). Chicago: American Medical Association. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- ^ "Hurudan är Extract af Maltos". Kalmar (in Swedish). 1894-07-08. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
- ^ "Hasjisj, Nordisk familjebok, 1912". Runeberg.org. 2016-01-17. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
- ^ "Golden Guide". zauberpilz.com.
- ^ "Nad léčivými jointy s Lumírem Hanušem" (in Czech). blisty.cz. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- ISBN 978-0-87983-906-2.[page needed]
- ^ Dr Farid F. Youssef. "Cannibis Unmasked: What it is and why it does what it does". UWIToday: June 2010. http://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/archive/june_2010/article9.asp
- S2CID 8434292.
- ISBN 978-0-309-06531-3.[page needed]
- .
Further reading
- Zuardi, Antonio Waldo (2006). "History of cannabis as a medicine: A review". Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria. 28 (2): 153–7. PMID 16810401.
- Martinez, Martin (4 August 2008). "History of Medical Cannabis".
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help)