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History of medicinal cannabis Cultural histories of medicinal cannabis
Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use, with evidence dating back to 4,000 B.C.[1]
Ancient China & ancient Taiwan
Cannabis, called dà má (大 麻) in Chinese, is known to have been used in Taiwan for fiber starting about 10,000 years ago.[2] Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for approximately 4,000 years.[1] In the early 3rd century AD, Hua Tuo was the first known person in China to use cannabis as an anesthetic by reducing the plant to powder and mixing it with wine for administration.[3] Cannabis was prescribed to treat vomiting, plus infectious and parasitic hemorrhaging. Cannabis is one of the 50 "fundamental" herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.[4]
Ancient Egypt
The Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1,550 B.C.) from Ancient Egypt describes medical marijuana.[5] Other ancient Egyptian papyri that mention medical marijuana are the Ramesseum III Papyrus (1700 BC), the Berlin Papyrus (1300 BC) and the Chester Beatty Medical Papyrus VI (1300 BC).[6] The ancient Egyptians even used hemp (cannabis) in suppositories for relieving the pain of hemorrhoids.[7] The egyptologist Lise Manniche notes the reference to "plant medical marijuana" in several Egyptian texts, one of which dates back to the eighteenth century B.C.[8]
Ancient India
Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis' psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth.[9]
Ancient Greece
The Ancient Greeks used cannabis not only for human medicine, but also in veterinary medicine to dress wounds and sores on their horses.[10]
In humans, dried leaves of cannabis were used to treat nose bleeds, and cannabis seeds were used to expel tapeworms.[10] The most frequently described use of cannabis in humans was to steep green seeds of cannabis in either water or wine, later taking the seeds out and using the warm extract to treat inflammation and pain resulting from obstruction of the ear.[10]
In the 5th century BCE Herodotus, a Greek historian, described how the Scythians of the Middle East used cannabis in steam baths.[10]
Medieval Islamic world
In the medieval Islamic world, Arabic physicians made use of the diuretic, antiemetic, antiepileptic, anti-inflammatory, pain killing and antipyretic properties of Cannabis sativa, and used it extensively as medication from the 8th to 18th centuries.[11]
Western cultures
An Irish physician, William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, is credited with introducing the therapeutic use of cannabis to Western medicine. He was Assistant-Surgeon and Professor of Chemistry at the Medical College of Calcutta, and conducted a cannabis experiment in the 1830s, first testing his preparations on animals, then administering them to patients in order to help treat muscle spasms, stomach cramps or general pain.[12]
Cannabis as a medicine became common throughout much of the Western world by the 19th century. It was used as the primary pain reliever until the invention of aspirin.[1] Modern medical and scientific inquiry began with doctors like O'Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, who used it to treat melancholia and migraines, and as a sleeping aid, analgesic and anticonvulsant.
Modern medical use
By the time the United States banned cannabis in a federal law, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, the plant was no longer extremely popular.[13][citation needed] Skepticism about cannabis arose in response to the bill. [citation needed] The situation was exacerbated by the stereotypes promoted by the media, that the drug was used primarily by Mexican and African immigrants.[13]
Later in the century, researchers investigating methods of detecting cannabis intoxication discovered that smoking the drug reduced intraocular pressure.[14] In 1973 physician Tod H. Mikuriya reignited the debate concerning cannabis as medicine when he published "Marijuana Medical Papers". High intraocular pressure causes blindness in glaucoma patients, so he believed[weasel words] that using the drug could prevent blindness in patients. Many Vietnam War veterans also believed[weasel words] that the drug prevented muscle spasms caused by battle-induced spinal injuries.[15] Later medical use has focused primarily on its role in preventing the wasting syndromes and chronic loss of appetite associated with chemotherapy and AIDS, along with a variety of rare muscular and skeletal disorders. Less commonly, cannabis has been used in the treatment of alcoholism and addiction to other drugs such as heroin and the prevention of migraines. In recent years, studies have shown or researchers have speculated that the main chemical in the drug, THC, might help prevent atherosclerosis.
Later, in the 1970s, a synthetic version of THC, the primary active ingredient in cannabis, was synthesized to make the drug Marinol. Users reported several problems with Marinol leading many to abandon capsules and resume smoking the plant.[by whom?] Patients complained that the violent nausea associated with chemotherapy made swallowing capsules difficult. The effects of smoked cannabis are felt almost immediately, and is therefore easily dosed.[16] Marinol, like ingested cannabis is harder to titrate than smoked cannabis.[citation needed] Some studies have indicated that other chemicals in the plant may have a synergistic effect with THC.[17]
In addition, during the 1970s and 1980s, six U.S. states' health departments performed studies on the use of medical cannabis. These are widely considered some of the most useful and pioneering studies on the subject.[citation needed] Voters in eight states showed their support for cannabis prescriptions or recommendations given by physicians between 1996 and 1999, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, going against policies of the federal government.[18]
In May 2001, "The Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse Effects of Legal Clinical Cannabis" (Russo, Mathre, Byrne et al.) was completed. This three-day examination of major body functions of four of the five living US federal cannabis patients found "mild pulmonary changes" in two patients.[19]
On October 7, 2003 a patent entitled "Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants" (#6,630,507) was awarded to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, based on research done at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). This patent claims that cannabinoids are "useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."[20]
Bioethicist Jacob M. Appel has argued that the medicinal cannabis movement bears striking similarities to the medicinal beer movement of the 1920s.[21] Both efforts attempted to muster medical expertise in the face of a national Prohibition and both pitted the rights of physicians against the authority of the federal government.
References
- ^ a b c "History of Cannabis". BBC News. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
- ^ Abel, Ernest L. (1980). "Cannabis in the Ancient World". Marihuana: the first twelve thousand years. New York City: Plenum Publishers. ISBN 978-0-306-40496-2.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help)[page needed] - ^ de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 332. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0. OCLC 71779118.
- ^ Wong, Ming (1976). La Médecine chinoise par les plantes. Paris: Tchou. OCLC 2646789.[page needed]
- ^ "The Ebers Papyrus The Oldest (confirmed) Written Prescriptions For Medical Marihuana era 1,550 BC". www.onlinepot.org. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- ^ "History of Cannabis". www.reefermadnessmuseum.org. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Pain, Stephanie (2007-12-15). "The Pharaoh's pharmacists". New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd.
- ^ Lise Manniche, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, University of Texas Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0292704152[page needed]
- ^ Touw M (1981). "The religious and medicinal uses of Cannabis in China, India and Tibet" (PDF). Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 13 (1): 23–34. ISSN 0279-1072. PMID 7024492.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d "The Haworth Press Online Catalog: Article Abstract". www.haworthpress.com. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
- ^ Lozano, Indalecio (2001). "The Therapeutic Use of Cannabis sativa (L.) in Arabic Medicine". Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. 1 (1): 63–70. doi:10.1300/J175v01n01_05.
- ^ Mack, Allyson (2001). Marijuana as Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy. National Academy Press.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Marijuana - The First Twelve Thousand Years - Reefer Racism". Druglibrary.org. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ "Golden Guide". www.zauberpilz.com.
- ^ Zimmerman, Bill (1998). Is Marijuana the Right Medicine for You?: A Factual Guide to Medical Uses of Marijuana. Keats Publishing. ISBN 0879839066.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)[page needed] - ^ Baker, D. (2003). "The therapeutic potential of cannabis" (Reprint). Lancet Neurology. 2 (5). London: The Lancet Publishing Group: 291–98. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(03)00381-8. ISSN 1474-4422. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ McPartland, John M.; Russo, Ethan B. "Cannabis and Cannabis Extracts: Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts?". Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. International Association for Cannabis as Medicine.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mack,Alison ; Joy, Janet (2001). Marijuana As Medicine. National Academy Press. ISBN 0309065313.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[page needed] - ^ Russo, Ethan; Mathre, Mary Lynn; Byrne, Al; Velin, Robert; Bach, Paul J; Sanchez-ramos, Juan; Kirlin, Kristin A (2002). "Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse Effects of Legal Clinical Cannabis" (PDF). Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. 2 (1). The Haworth Press: 3. doi:10.1300/J175v02n01_02.
- ^ US patent 6630507, Hampson, Aidan J.; Axelrod, Julius; Grimaldi, Maurizio, "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants", issued 2003-10-07
- ^ Appel JM (2008). "'Physicians are not bootleggers': the short, peculiar life of the Medicinal Alcohol Movement". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 82 (2): 355–86. doi:10.1353/bhm.0.0005. ISSN 0007-5140. PMID 18622072.
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Replacement section for Medical cannabis article