When you buy through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it work .
From the sites where prehistoric hunters and gatherers live , to ancientChinaand Viking ship , cannabis has been used across the worldly concern for age , and a new report presents the drug ’s colourful history .
In the report , author Barney Warf describe howcannabis useoriginated thousand of yr ago in Asia , and has since find its way to many region of the world , finally spreading to the Americas and the United States .
This map shows how marijuana spread throughout the world, from its origins on the steppes of Central Asia.
" For the most part , it was wide used for medicament and unearthly purposes , " during pre - modern prison term , said Warf , a prof of geographics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence . For instance , the Vikings and knightly Germans used hemp for relieving botheration during childbirth and for toothache , he said .
" The idea that this is an evil drug is a very recent expression , " and the fact that it is illegal is a " historical anomaly , " Warf said . Marijuana has been effectual in many regions of the world for most of its history .
Where did pot come from?
It is important to distinguish between the two familiar race of the marihuana plant , Warf say . Cannabis sativa , known as marijuana , has psychoactive properties . The other plant isCannabis sativa L.(The L was let in in the name in honor of the botanist Carl Linnaeus . ) This subspecies is cognise as hemp ; it is a nonpsychoactive form of cannabis , and is used in manufacturing products such as oil , cloth and fuel . [ 11 Odd fact About Marijuana ]
A second psychoactive species of the plant , Cannabis indica , was identify by the French natural scientist Jean - Baptiste Lamarck , and a third , uncommon one , Cannabis ruderalis , was named in 1924 by Russian botanist D.E. Janischevisky .
Cannabis flora are believed to have evolve on the steppes of Central Asia , specifically in the regions that are now Mongolia and southern Siberia , according to Warf . The chronicle of cannabis habit goes back as far as 12,000 years , which places the plant amonghumanity ’s oldest cultivated crops , according to information in the Koran " Marihuana : The First Twelve Thousand Years " ( Springer , 1980 ) .
This map shows how marijuana spread throughout the world, from its origins on the steppes of Central Asia.
" It likely flourished in the nutrient - robust dump sites of prehistoric hunter and collector , " Warf wrote in his study .
Burned ganja seeds have also been found in kurgan burial mound in Siberia dating back to 3,000 B.C. , and some of the grave of noble people inter in Xinjiang part of China and Siberia around 2500 B.C. have include large quantity of mummified psychotropic marijuana .
Bothhemp and psychoactive marijuanawere used widely in ancient China , Warf wrote . The first record of the drug ’s medicinal use dates to 4000 B.C. The herbaceous plant was used , for illustration , as an anaesthetic agent during surgery , and stories say it was even used by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 B.C. ( However , whether Shen Nung was a real or a mythic figure has been contend , as the first emperor butterfly of a unified China was stomach much later than the supposed Shen Nung . )
From China , coastal farmers brought mint to Korea about 2000 B.C. or before , according to the book " The Archeology of Korea " ( Cambridge University Press , 1993 ) . Cannabis came to the South Asiatic subcontinent between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C. , when the region was invaded by the Aryans — a mathematical group that spoke an primitive Indo - European language . The drug became widely used in India , where it was fete as one of " five kingdoms ofherbs … which release us from anxiety " in one of the ancient Sanskrit Vedic poems whose name read into " Science of Charms . "
From Asia to Europe
Cannabis came to the Middle East between 2000 B.C. and 1400 B.C. , and it was belike used there by theScythians , a nomadic Indo - European radical . The Scythians also likely carried the drug into southeast Russia andUkraine , as they use up both territories for year , according to Warf ’s account . Teutonic tribes bring the drug into Germany , and marijuana went from there to Britain during the fifth C with the Anglo - Saxon invasions . [ Seemap of marijuana ’s spreadthroughout the universe . ]
" Cannabis seeds have also been discover in the remains of Viking ship date to the mid - ninth 100 , " Warf write in the study .
Over the next centuries , cannabis migrate to various region of the world , traveling through Africa , reaching South America in the nineteenth century and being carried north afterwards , eventually pass North America .
How did marijuana get to the United States?
After this really long " trip " throughout the pre - forward-looking and modern worlds , cannabis finally come to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century . It arrived in the southwest United States from Mexico , with immigrants fleeing that country during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1911 .
" Many early prejudices against marijuana were thinly obscure anti-Semite fears of its tobacco user , often promulgated by reactionary newspapers , " Warf write in his report . " Mexicans were frequently blamed for smoking marijuana , property crimes , seduce children and engaging in murderous sprees . "
Americans laws never recognize the difference betweenCannabis sativa L. andCannabis sativa . The industrial plant was first outlawed in Utah in 1915 , and by 1931 it was illegal in 29 state , accord to the report .
In 1930 , Harry Aslinger became the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics ( FBN ) and undertook multiple efforts to make marijuana illegal in all state . In 1937 , the Marijuana Tax Act put cannabis under the regulation of the Drug Enforcement Agency , criminalise possession of the flora throughout the state .
" Today , the federal government activity still classifies marijuana as a agenda I controlled substance , along with heroin and LSD , indicating it has mellow potential for abuse and dependency , no accepted aesculapian uses and no safe grade of use , " Warf wrote .
Originally write on Live Science .
