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Marijuana in ancient China

Marijuana has a rich history. The legalization of medical marijuana in California through Proposition 215, and the public debate surrounding it, has sparked renewed interest in the cannabis sativa plant from which marijuana is harvested. The growing public acceptance of medical marijuana is helping to dispel myths about cannabis.

Recently, marijuana has been treated as a dangerous drug. Ancient cultures appreciated the many practical and medicinal uses of cannabis. As a food, fiber, and medicinal preparation, cannabis has a fascinating history.

The history of marijuana use goes back more than ten thousand years to where it seems to have originated: in China. Imprints of hemp ropes on broken pottery dating to around 10,000 B.C. C. show one of the first known uses of the plant. Cannabis was widely cultivated and cultivated in ancient China.

The oldest knows that the Neolithic culture in China made clothes, fishing nets and ropes from the hemp fibers separated from the stems of cannabis plants. The fibers can be spun into yarn or woven into fabric. Hemp fibers were used from the second or first century BC to make the first paper, which was very strong and durable.

Cannabis seeds were counted as one of the “five grains” in ancient China, along with barley, rice, wheat, and soybeans. Marijuana seeds were roasted or used to make food. Cannabis seeds can also be cooked into porridge. These marijuana seeds remained an important part of the Chinese diet until they were replaced by higher quality beans in the 10th century.

The ancient Chinese learned to press marijuana seeds to obtain the oil, which could be used for cooking, lamps, or lubrication. Leftover cannabis residue provided food for pets.

Medical marijuana was also used in ancient China. The oldest known pharmacological work from China describes marijuana preparations to treat conditions ranging from constipation to malaria. Marijuana treatments included grinding the roots into a paste to treat pain. The Chinese surgeon Hua To even used the cannabis plant for surgical anesthesia during the 2nd century.

The oldest records of the psychoactive effects of marijuana are also found in China, dating back to around 2000 BC. C. This document, Materia Medica Sutra, points out that the cannabis seed “if taken in excess” will allow the user to see spirits. “If taken long-term, it makes one communicate with the spirits and lightens the body.” Later writers, such as the 5th-century Chinese physician T’ao Hung Ching, believed that the hallucinatory effects of cannabis, combined with ginseng, would allow users to see into the future.

California marijuana laws are helping to restore cannabis to its rightful place as a useful plant with medicinal value.

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