HISTORY OF MARIJUANA

Marijuana or weed has long and interesting history, it has been present through most of the recorded history of human beings and for a long time it was denied by scientists that the plant had anything to do with human evolution because of the wars against drugs. But even with the demonization of the plant in the western world there are a lot of old civilizations that have historical and religious significance to the plant, a lot of cultures associate divine powers with the use of the plant while some cultures associate the plant with medical benefits. While the world is slowly waking up to the rich history and benefits of marijuana let’s take a look at some of the things, we know so far.

PRE-HISTORY OF THE PLANT

If we go to the mythological history of the plant then the Hindu mythology portrays lord shiva smoking hash made from the plant, but if we go to actual written history, the first use of the plant can be traced to China where the plant wasn’t smoked but was used in teas and drinks to help people heal from illnesses and to release stress. Although we don’t know exactly when humans started smoking the plant. In a lot of mythologies there have been talks about burning plants which led to people hallucinating, this plant can be a lot of things but considering how common the marijuana plant is in the whole world it wouldn’t be a surprise that the pant was actually marijuana. There have been a lot of guesses that one of the countries where smoking the plant was actually started was India considering it’s a part of the mythology and the fact that the plant is found in abundance in the country.

DEMONIZATION

The plant was looked at as something which has a lot of health benefits and good for the mind and soul for a long time, it was only recently in the past 100 years or so that the western world, specifically US started demonizing the plant as an evil substance. The US actually forced a lot of countries to make the substance illegal threatening to stop trading with them if they don’t do it. The demonizing process was done to make people think badly towards the Mexican or Latin American immigrants, when the plant was demonized it did two things, first it stopped any scientific research on the plant to tell the actual medical benefits associated with it and it also alienated a big part of the population.

THE PRESENT

We have come a long way in the past decade or so in terms of the marijuana industry, people can easily buy weed online now and get it home delivered. Although in the same country there are regions where hundreds of people are in jails because at some point they were caught with weed, and now people are enjoying the fruits of legalization. We can hope that the situation gets better with time.