The Different Ways Peoples around the World Have Used Medical Cannabis (And Still Do)

For thousands of years human beings have looked to plants for antidotes to their health problems, and for natural remedies to deal with diseases, or even prevent them. Although the origin of these practices centres in Asia, their current use by various peoples is due to the exchange of knowledge between ethnic groups throughout history.

In Africa, a relevant case is that of the Batwa, a small African tribe in Uganda, whose members have a curious habit to keep from getting sick: they believe that all diseases can be cured by continuously using marijuana and having sex. There are no documented cases of AIDS amongst its members. And, curiously, when a couple marries the groom's family must provide the bride with at least one kilo of cannabis.

The case of the Aka (or Byaka) is also well known, another pygmy people of hunters and gatherers who inhabit the Congo Basin. Recently researchers at Washington State University studied how these people use cannabis as a way to prevent intestinal parasites.

After interviewing 400 adult members and conducting an analysis to quantify the presence of THC in their blood, they found that 70% of men and 6% of women regularly consume. Their findings determined that the Akas have become accustomed to grass after realizing that those who smoke it most are least infected with parasites.

Back in 1891 the German explorer Hermann von Wissmann reported that some African tribes used marijuana, including the Bashilange, a violent and warlike people whose temperaments changed with the help of cannabis. Thanks to the therapeutic effects of the plant in certain psychological ways, they managed to become ever less barbaric - and to consider grass a symbol of peace, friendship and protection.

Among other things, they forbade cannibalism and the use of weapons. Smoking marijuana eventually became an obligation to prevent members from becoming aggressive or committing crimes; if caught doing so, they were sentenced to smoke cannabis until senseless. This tendency also gave rise to a sort of religion, as members of this tribe began to call themselves "children of hemp."

As for how they came to discover grass, it is believed that it was the nomadic pygmy people the Khoi-Khoi who introduced them to marijuana, after the Arabs, through their trade routes, introduced the plant into the Congo Basin and the Lake Victoria region. Black African slaves would later take cannabis to parts of Latin America, such as Brazil.

In North Africa, especially in the Rif area of ​​Morocco and parts of Algeria, the Berber tribe, or Amazighs (a nomadic people inhabiting the north of the continent), have also traditionally used the plant in the therapeutic sphere. The Berbers have used cannabis as a sedative and anaesthetic before operations, for amputations, and for different types of extractions. And they also use it as a product to endure great pain, usually mixed with other vegetables, such as henbane and mandrake.

It is known that the inhabitants of the Chinese village of Bama Yao are the longest-living in the world (many over 100 years of age), basing their diet on cannabis consumption. The high content of fatty acids in this product is primarily responsible for its beneficial effects and the secret to these people's health.

This is hardly surprising, as it was in Asia where the plant began to be used for therapeutic purposes, especially in modern-day Mongolia and southern Siberia. In fact, archaeologists in southern Russia recently found a treasure of Scythian vessels containing traces of cannabis.

This discovery demonstrates that the famous Scythian tribe (which occupied regions of what is today Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia, and descended from the Aryans, another ethnic group) consumed cannabis 2,400 years ago. This Indo-European ethnic group took cannabis-based remedies to the Middle East between 2,000 and 1400 BC.

The Chinese encyclopaedia of agriculture and medical plants, Shennong Ben Cao Jing, had already indicated something to this effect, containing stories about the use of cannabis in these areas, accounts that date from around 2700 BC. They mention the benefits of using the plant's dried and ground roots to create a paste with which to assuage the pain caused by fractures or surgery.

In 1993, in the Republic of Altai (Russia) the remains of Princess Ukok, a 2,500-year old Siberian mummy, were found. A year ago, new research revealed that, among other things, she suffered from breast cancer, a bone marrow infection, and a skull fracture that caused her severe pain. This finding was crucial to understanding why, along with the mummy, a bag of cannabis had been conserved there; researchers believe that it was surely used to treat the symptoms of her conditions.

In 2008 in the Gobi desert, between northern China and southern Mongolia, a 2,700-year-old tomb was found with traces of marijuana on a wooden bowl near the head of a Caucasian man. Researchers believe that Siberian people used it for medicinal and spiritual purposes.

Before this, the Aryans themselves took cannabis to India. Ancient doctors prescribed it to prevent congestion, reduce fever and fight diarrhoea, and used it as an analgesic and during surgeries. Moreover, according to The Great Book of Hemp: The Complete Guide to the Environmental, Commercial, and Medicinal Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant, ancient warriors used it to steady their nerves before battle. The plant is even mentioned in Assyrian texts, in which it is called a "remedy for grief."

Moreover, it seems that the Vikings and the medieval Germans used it to soothe toothaches.

Despite not being a distinct people, as such, perhaps the case of the Rastafarians in Jamaica is the best known, for the way they consume marijuana today. Adults believe that it helps maintain good health, and prevent diseases and all kinds of ailments. It is particularly used to treat respiratory infections, intestinal problems, glaucoma, malnutrition and infant diarrhoea, fevers, burns and even gonorrhoea. Even the children of Rastafarian families take it in the form of teas or tonics.

As we see, different peoples have put marijuana to a wide range of different uses. They did so naturally, without restrictions, guided by knowledge that was passed from father to son, and that helped them to survive under difficult circumstances. The rising generation should take into account the knowledge and traditions that have surrounded the plant since time immemorial.