The worst possible move that the USA government did, regarding the medicine, is to categorize Cannabis as Schedule 1 drug and to list it as a plant that has no medicinal use. The reason behind this decision isn’t clear, but it brought negative consequences to the medicine. All ongoing research into the obvious health benefits of Cannabis oil was stopped, and it took more than forty-five years (the ban was issued in 1970) for the government to change this law.
Early history of Marijuana
Now, health benefits of the Marijuana have been known for over several millenniums, and many different cultures used this plant for healing. The history of cannabis oil is fascinating, and it starts in the ancient time. It all began in Ancient Chine, Almost five thousand years ago. They first used this plant for food, and clothes, but later they found about its medicinal uses.
Many Chinese doctors used this plant to heal a wide array of illnesses, but this nation wasn’t the only one who used cannabis during that time. This plant was considered as holy in India, and it had many medicinal purposes throughout the history of this country. People used cannabis to successfully treat fever, sunstroke, dysentery and many other medical conditions.
Marijuana through the medieval age
Asians introduced this plant to the Middle East and later to Europe in the medieval period. Muslims smoked cannabis (they called it hashish) because they couldn’t drink wine or any other alcohol. The plant also found its use in the Arabic medicine.
Europeans didn’t find any spiritual connection to the cannabis, but they did incorporate it in the folk medicine. “Doctors” and herbalists of that time used it to treat a cough, jaundice, and tumors. They did warn people not to use too much of the plant as they thought that it might cause sterility.
Modern view of cannabis
The marijuana reached America long before the 1700s, but it didn’t find its use until that time. Some Americans started writing about possible used of hemp and seeds, and that was the beginning of the medical use of cannabis in the North America. This was the golden time of this plant as everyone could use it freely.
Everything was OK until 1906 when the USA government created FDA to prevent a crisis similar to morphine addiction. Possession and drug use became a crime some eight years later.
In 1937 it was recorded that 23 states considered marijuana as a drug and it was a crime to use it. At that time the Marijuana Tax Act turned all non-medical marijuana use into a crime. All of this led to already mentioned 1970 when the government of the USA banned all use of Marijuana and declared no potential medical use of this plant and its derivatives.