World’s Favorite Drug

Hemp has been considered a medicinal plant in every region of the world where it can be found.

Hemp has been considered a medicinal plant in every region of the world where it can be found.

The evidence for its use in ancient medicine is extensive: literary, folkloric, historical, and archaeological. Dr Raphael Mechoulam, discoverer of THC and a Prof. of Medicinal Chemistry at Hebrew University states that cannabis, the most widely used illicit drug in the world, has been used for thousands of years: every piece of evidence about drugs in any language mentions it.

The earliest reference to the therapeutic value of cannabis can be found in a Chinese treatise on pharmacology attributed to the legendary emperor Shen Nung (2737 BC). He named hemp in his pharmacopoeia “liberator of sin” and taught its cultivation. At that time, soldiers’ battle wounds were bandaged with hemp leaves. Later Chinese surgeons would boil hemp in wine to produce an anesthetic. Cannabis is one of the fundamental herbs in traditional Chinese medicine and is prescribed to treat diverse conditions.

Hemp was known as a medicine in ancient India, Egypt, and Greece. Historian Diodorus Siculus reported that the women of ancient Egypt used Cannabis as a medicine to relieve sorrow and bad moods. The Ayurvedic medical system of India has long used Cannabis to treat dozens of diseases and medical problems. The Indian scripture of the Atharva Veda considers cannabis use to “preserve one from disease . . . and prolong the years we have to live.” Arab doctors also considered it to be a powerful medicine.

Throughout history wounds, skin diseases, or rheumatism were treated (and in many places still are) with hemp extracts, leaves, or flowers placed on the skin or joints. In European folk medicine, hemp was still used to treat alcoholics in the 1930s.  Considering the fact that local hemp lacked then (and still lacks) strong psychoactive and medicinal properties of today’s marijuana, such treatment holds great promise for the future.

The Wonder Drug?

“There’s a tendency to discount claims when something appears to be good for everything, but there’s a reason this is the case. The endogenous cannabinoid system acts as a modulator in fine-tuning a lot of these systems, and if something is deranged biochemically in a person’s body, it may well be that a cannabinoid system can bring things back into balance”, explains Dr. Ethan Russo,  a Senior Medical Advisor at the Cannabinoid Research Institute and GW Pharmaceuticals, a British drug company behind a marijuana mouth spray known as Sativex. We have endogenous cannabinoids in our bodies that turn out to be very effective at regulating many functions, from nerve to bone. 

Shen Nung, often called the “Father of Chinese Medicine” wrote of cannabis: “Ta Ma is one of the super elixirs for health”. Cannabis has been used to treat a wide variety of ailments throughout recorded history. It is esteemed as a safe, effective and non-addictive medicine. Our ancestors knew the effects of hemp from birth (pain-killer during child birth) till death (incense burnt close to a bed of a seriously ill person or oils with hemp extract applied to the skin). The greatest physicians of their day recommended its use. Until it was declared illegal in 1937, the drug had been successfully used by generations of doctors, as well in Europe and America, for relief of cough, rheumatism, asthma, migraine, chronic alcoholism, depression, epilepsy, menstrual discomfort, and many more conditions. In fact, cannabis was listed by the United States Pharmacopeia (the organization which sets quality standards for approved drugs in the United States) until the 1940s. 

Cannabis is finally being considered an effective medicament with multiple applications. It can be used against epilepsy, asthma, loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy, glaucoma (often it is the only effective remedy) which, untreated, may result in blindness; certain forms of paralysis; rheumatism; arthritis; pain; depression; and anxiety. Cannabis has been found to relieve symptoms of spinal cord injuries. Clinical trials provide evidence that THC reduces the motor and vocal tics of Tourette syndrome and related behavioral problems such as obsessive–compulsive disorders. Studies have also shown cannabis or cannabinoids may be useful in treating alcohol or opiates abuse, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), atherosclerosis, digestive diseases, hepatitis C, hypertension, Parkinson’s disease, multi-drug resistant bacterial infections, leukemia, skin tumors, and various types of cancer. Testing of cannabis or cannabinoids has also begun on type 1 diabetes, stroke, epilepsy, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Cannabis can help people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies of people with PTSD show that THC improves sleep and stops nightmares.

In Great Britain, painkillers derived from the cannabis plant are to be introduced into the market. Research suggests that they are effective in up to 80% of cases; often, total regression of pain can be observed. Medical marijuana advocate Claudia Jensen, M.D. says that about a large majority of the painkillers found in drugstores could be easily replaced by cannabis. It does not damage the liver or kidneys, nor does it cause ulcers and other harmful side effects like many over-the-counter drugs do.

Over 200 medical conditions respond favorably to cannabis. No other substance on the market today can provide as many medical benefits. Many scientists are deeply concerned why this major resource remains unutilized. They are worried that they cannot explore the vast potential of the new powerful strains of this ancient multi-purpose medicinal plant.