Medicinal Cannabis History
Medical Cannabis History
Cannabis has been used as medicine for 6,000 years
For millennia, cannabis was revered as a healing plant. In China and India, it has been successfully used as a medicine and pain reliever for over 6.000 years. The ancient Egyptians valued the effects of cannabis so much that it was even found in their sarcophagi, meaning they wanted to continue to benefit from cannabis in their afterlife.
Cannabis and hemp have been used worldwide for a variety of purposes, from paper production, oil production to animal feed and textiles. The hemp industry flourished until the 19th century, and hemp was particularly valued in seafaring due to its high durability for sailcloth, nets, and ropes. Healers relied on the healing powers of cannabis for the treatment of pain, hepatitis, burns, and even the plague.
With the industrial revolution, cotton and synthetic fibers emerged, they were cheaper and easier to produce and process. Their triumph meant the end of hemp products.
Years of smear campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s eventually led to this valuable healing plant being nearly banned worldwide.
Thanks to many brave people, cannabis is shining again and on its way to reclaiming the world fame it deserves.
Medicinal Cannabis Today
The illegal legal medicinal plant
The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 made cannabis illegal in the USA until 1996 when the Californian Proposition 215 was the first step towards legalization. Legalizing, the cultivation, distribution, and use of cannabis for medical purposes in California. Patients were required to have a "written recommendation" from a medical doctor.
Currently, cannabis is only illegal in 11 states in the USA. All other states have legalized medical use, and 10 states plus DC have also legalized recreational use for people over the age of 21. Additionally, these countries worldwide have legalized cannabis in recent years. Although cannabis, remains illegal on a federal level, on October 6, 2022 President Biden pardoned all those federally convicted of minor cannabis possession. On December 2, 2022, President Biden signed the "Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act", marking the first legally binding regulation on cannabis reform.
Legalization has made cannabis the fastest-growing industry in the USA. Now socially accepted, thanks to recommendations, inhalers, gummies, tinctures, the hippie drug became by 2022 a $27 billion legal market worldwide.
Cannabis is now grown not only in the forests of Humboldt County, but worldwide using state-of-the-art technology, predominantly in climate-controlled greenhouses. Before sale/further processing, the harvest is tested for purity and THC/CBD content by an independent certified laboratory. Therefore, today's cannabis can be used to precision for medical and recreational use.
Medical cannabis was legalized in Germany on March 10, 2017. Since then, any doctor can prescribe cannabis, but neither doctors nor pharmacists can help with the application and dosage. With regard to the legal consequences of such a prescription, they are widely formulated and the widespread misinformation "RX – license axed" is refuted by this German lawyer.
Misinformation and prejudices still complicate the establishment of cannabis in many parts of today’s society, despite the fact that 6 tons of medical cannabis were used in Germany in 2021. Cannabis is still feared as a gateway drug, regardless of widely recognized studies worldwide that prove that cannabis is an exit drug and supports many long-term therapies.
Despite medical legalization, many patients still prefer the black market. It is obviously uncomplicated, and everyone knows someone who knows someone. This behavior, common worldwide, comes with many risks. You may think you know what you are consuming, but it is guaranteed to be untested cannabis and in most cases of questionable quality and plant variety! Hopefully, governments worldwide will soon agree on cannabis laws, so everyone can benefit from cannabis the way I do.
As a hobby gardener, I only consume my own products or products from regulated cannabis dispensaries. Cannabis isn’t just cannabis, even if it smokes and gets you high. I have seen the gardens and plants of other gardeners – please know your source!