A Brief History of Medical Cannabis
In modern society, Medical Cannabis is just starting to receive the recognition it deserves when it comes to treating diseases such as Epilepsy.
But Medical Cannabis actually has a long and storied history, dating back thousands of years. In this blog, we will examine the history of Medical Cannabis and how it has been used over time.
The use of Medical Cannabis can be traced back as early as 2737 B.C. Chinese legend states that the Emperor, Shen Neng, prescribed Cannabis to treat a variety of ailments including gout, rheumatism, malaria and poor memory.
Between 2000–1400 B.C. India also remained very closely tied to Cannabis for medical purposes, creating drinks to treat all types of diseases. One of the most popular of these drinks was ‘bhang’ made from Cannabis paste, milk, ghee and spices. This drink was said to release people from anxiety and is still available in certain areas of India to this day.
In Ancient Egypt, Cannabis was used medically to treat inflammation. This was noted as early as 1550 B.C. in Ebers Papyrus.
In 200 A.D. Chinese Surgeon, Hua Tuo was the first ever recorded physician to use Medical Cannabis as an anesthetic during surgery. In fact, the Chinese word for ‘anesthesia is ‘mázui’, which literally translates to “Cannabis intoxication.” During this time, it was also used to treat blood clots, tapeworms, constipation and hair loss.
In Europe during the Middle Ages (100–1000s A.D.) Cannabis was still used as folk medicine to treat tumours, cough and jaundice.
In the late 1700s, American medical journalists suggested that Cannabis could treat various health problems including skin inflammation, incontinence, rheumatism and nausea.
In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed in the US, declaring all non-medical Cannabis illegal. At the time, Medical Cannabis was still being used to treat a number of medical conditions.
In 1970, Cannabis was categorized as a Schedule I drug, comparing it to other, more dangerous drugs.
Since then, it was a long period of time before Medical Cannabis could be used legally. California legalised the use of Medical Cannabis in 1996, and so far, 28 other States in the US have now legalised it as well.
Back home in Australia, the use of Medical Cannabis was only legalised in February of 2016. Since then, many scientists have been hard at work, researching Medical Cannabis and what it can do to treat illnesses. Already, we’ve seen how effective it is treating epilepsy, with more research being done by MGC Pharma’s own Dr Neubauer, available here. and research is well under way at RMIT, in collaboration with MGC Pharma to determine whether it is effective in treating Melanoma Cancer, which you can see here.
After a long period of time where it was illegal to treat illnesses with Medical Cannabis, only now are we beginning to again see the medical benefits of this plant.
