Cannabis is a Natural Medicine Proven by History
This is an extraction from the forthcoming book The Cannabis Cure (anticipated publication date, Jan. 2016). The history is all that is needed to prove the powers of the mighty cannabis plant. Even so, it does gain great traction as a result of scientific investigation, which fully substantiates the historical use. This is a “feel-good plant,” and this “feel-good” sensation can be had without smoking it, just by taking it as a raw extract, that is CO2 extract, via sublingual drops.
There is some 12,000 years of known use of the cannabis plant. Perhaps the first known internal use is recorded at 6000 B.C., which was the discovery of the use of cannabis seeds and oil for food in China. In about 2700 B.C. the first recorded use of cannabis as a medicine was established by Emperor Shen Neng of China.
Clearly, by that era the Chinese were using cannabis as a botanical medicine. Simultaneously, in India the dried leaves, stems, and seeds were used therapeutically by Hindu civilizations. It’s powers were revered to such a degree that the plant was deemed “Sacred Grass.”
By about 1500 B.C. the Chinese began cultivated it as a food, realizing its immense nutritional value, holding it as exceptionally invigorating and nutritious. Regarding the ancient Egyptians, they, too, held cannabis in high regard. In the Ebers Papyrus the drug is mentioned for its value topically for inflammation. In ancient Persia its use was well established, with Zoroastrian texts describing, about 700 to 600 BC, the drug as a “good narcotic.”
The ancients of Greece and the various Scythian tribes held it high, using the seeds as offerings in royal tombs. In archeological digs it is not uncommon to find the seeds, for instance, placed in urns. In one case the seeds were found in a decorated leather pouch, dated 500 B.C. Regardless, it was through such sources, the ancients of Greece, China, Turkey, and more, that hemp spread throughout Europe,.even to Russia where it was cultivated for use in rope.
Historically, for a variety of reasons hemp was invaluable. It was a major source for fine fabrics. More importantly, it was the original source for the creation of paper. The first evidence for hemp paper arises in 100 B.C., the paper and process being invented by the Chinese.
Then, there is paper. Yes, paper. Paper is probably one of the most significant Chinese inventions. Fragments of paper containing hemp fiber have been found in Chinese graves dating to the first century B.C. The Chinese made paper by crushing hemp fibers and mulberry tree bark into a pulp and putting the mixture into a tank of water. The tangled fibers rose to the top of the water, were removed, and placed in a mold. After drying, the fibers formed sheets that could be written on. The Chinese kept paper making a secret for many centuries. Eventually the secret became known to the Japanese during the 5th century A.D. and finally to the Arabs through Chinese prisoners in the 9th century.
By the 1st century A.D. the psychotropic properties of cannabis were fully established, mentioned in Chinese herbal medicine guides. Similarly, Pliny the Elder described its powers as a pain-reducing agent, while Plutarch, about the end of the 1st century, describes it as a decided intoxicant, causing aberrations of thinking. Despite this, it is listed in 1st century Roman medical works as a drug, Galen himself dispensing it for its medicinal properties. This was confirmed by the 2nd century Chinese herbal of surgeon Hua T’a, who used cannabis as an anesthetic. For instance, there is recorded history of in the 4th century a young woman in Jerusalem receiving cannabis as a pain-killer during childbirth. In the Islamic Era, about 900 to 1200 A.D., cannabis was used as a powerful anesthetic agent. Islamic doctors used it to sedate patients for up to a week as a post-op treatment.
Medieval herbalists dabbled in it extensively. They found it a moderately effective aid for hepatic jaundice as well as for lung disorders, including chronic cough. It also was found to decrease swelling in lymph nodes as well as aid in the dissolution of hard tumors. In the 1600s Culpepper described additional novel uses such as the value of hemp in the reversal of inflammation and rabies, as well as a pain-relieving agent, and as an anti-parasitic compound. Still other British herbalists found it useful in the treatment of mental derangement and also as an aid in alcohol and narcotic withdrawal. In this use alone its utility is invaluable. Regarding mental disorders it was the 1500s book Anatomy of Melancholy which recommended cannabis for the treatment of depression.
Later, it was British physician William O’Shaugnessy who in 1839 published an investigation into its powers, noting through research and case studies in India that it proved an essential therapeutic for the cure of seizure syndromes in infants as well as for combating tetanus, cholera, and joint aches. Thus, it was known in the early eras that hemp contains substances which reverse disease-related muscular spasticity. This gives substance to the modern claim of its use for seizure disorders, whether in infants, children, teens, or adults.
This medical hemp pioneer also describe an intoxication syndrome resulting from regular or over-use. This, he and others deemed, was a kind of delirious state, where people lost touch with time and space, while suffering visual illusions. Hemp still does this today in the form of specially bred marijuana plants, which retain the hallucinogenic properties.
The plant continued to find value in the West, for instance, in Victorian England, with the Queen herself making use of it for health complaints. In this regard it is reported she found in useful for “keeping down food” and for stimulating appetite. The Queen’s personal physician, J. R. Reynolds, described hemp in 1890 as “one of the most valuable medicines we possess.” In an 1890 Lancet article hemp was described as an effective treatment for in addition to the diseases mentioned insomnia in the elderly, migraine headaches, neuralgia, spasticity, convulsions due to spasms, that is seizure syndromes, and alcoholic delirium.
There is little history in ancient civilization for the smoking of cannabis. Much of this seemed to originate later, for instance, in the post 1st century A.D., like the use of hashish in the Middle East. Even so, in Africa women smoked it for its muscle relaxant and anesthetic capacities before childbirth.
In modern times it found significant use in both Britain and the United States. Cannabis sativa was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia until 1937, where it was recommended for a wide variety of disorders, especially as a mild sedative. It is no longer an official drug, as it was removed as the consequences of a plot by the pharmaceutical-industrial cartel.
A summary of the various uses for which cannabis has been used historically include:
PART II: How the industrial-pharmaceutical cartel crushed the medical hemp potential and who was behind it.