With the recent SCOTUS decision on medical marijuana and our coverage of a possible nonmedgadget, and as a part of our regular Friday “The Good Old Days…” feature, we have decided to take a look into the history of cannabis as medicine. Conveniently enough, CBS 5 TV of SF/Oakland/San Jose (where else?) brings us a short list titled “The History Of Marijuana As Medicine”, part of which we reproduce below:
2737 BC — Emperor Shen-Nung in China prescribes cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, ‘female weakness,’ gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness.
2000 BC — In Egypt, cannabis is used to treat sore eyes.
1400 BC — A Bronze Age drug trade supplied hashish and opium to ancient cultures throughout the eastern Mediterranean as balm for the pain of childbirth and disease.
1000 BC — Cannabis use begins in India to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants.
1000 BC — Bhang, a cannabis preparation (a drink, generally mixed with milk) is used as an anesthetic and anti-phlegmatic in India.
200 BC — In ancient Greece, cannabis is used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation.
200 AD — A Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribes cannabis as an analgesic in surgical procedures.
800 AD — Mohammed allows cannabis but forbids alcohol.
1000 AD — Moslems produce hashish as medicine.
1621 — The medical book The Anatomy of Melancholy by English clergyman Robert Burton claims cannabis is a treatment for depression.
pre-1700 — Cannabis is used in Africa to restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids. Its antiseptic uses are also known to certain African tribes. Various other uses, in a number of African countries, include the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.
1763 — The “New English Dictionary” says cannabis root applied to skin eases inflammation.
1799 — Napoleon’s army re-turns from Egypt with knowledge (and samples) of cannabis. The scientific members of Napoleon’s forces are interested in the drug’s pain relieving and sedative effects.
1839 — William O’Shaughnessy, an Irishman working in the service of the British in India, writes the first modern English medical article on cannabis.
1850 — Medical use of cannabis declines and cannabis begins to lose support of the medical profession as other medications, considered superior to cannabis in their effects and more easily controlled as to dose, come into wide use.
1854 — The U.S. Dispensary of 1854 lists cannabis compounds as suggested remedies for a multitude of medical problems, including neuralgia, depression, hemorrhage, pain relief and muscle spasm.
1860 — The Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society is convened. The Committee reports that their respondents claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorrhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite stimulation.
1893 — India establishes the India Hemp Commission to examine the question of cannabis use in India. The Commission reports the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an anti-diarrhetic. Cannabis is also mentioned in the report as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, testicular swelling, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis are prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention.
1922 — The Narcotic Drug Import and Export Act is passed by U.S. Congress. It is intended to eliminate use of narcotics except for legitimate medical use.
That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!
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