This History of Marijuana Cultivation

Last Updated on December 30, 2023 by Marie Kathleen

Marijuana is probably a lot older than you might initially think it is. Marijuana goes back much, much further than the ’70s! As a matter of fact, the plant might have even been among the first plants that were cultivated by humans. The cultivation of the marijuana plant goes back an estimated 7,000 years!

The cannabis plant, also known as the hemp plant, originated in Central Asia before it was taken to Africa. Initially, the plant was used for paper, clothing, rope, and sails. As a matter of fact, some American colonies required their farmers to grow hemp! However, these plants had very little THC in them.  

Early Evidence 

THC is the chemical found within the plant that gives its user that high effect. Hemp use dates all the way back to 5,000 B.C., shown by imprints of hemp on pottery found from that time period.  There is evidence found of hemp and cannabis use in Japan, Korea, Assyria, and Greece.

But there is some evidence that the drugs’ mind-altering effects were not unknown to the world. Some archaeologists believe that ancient cultures cultivated and bred the plants in order to increase the amounts of THC they produced. Additionally, burned cannabis seeds have been found in gravesites in both Siberia and China, dating back as early as 500 B.C. Herodotus reported on the recreational use of cannabis by his neighbouring city way back in 480 B.C.

Hemp and cannabis continued to spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, making their rounds brought by travellers and wars. The hemp plant finally made it to America from the Spaniards in 1545. It travelled quickly through North and South America, finally making it to what is now the United States. In 1619, there was an act passed in Virginia that required all farmers to grow hemp on their plantations.

Laws and Regulations

So how did one of the world’s oldest and most popular plants go from just that: old and popular to outlawed and distrusted? It was not as recently as you might think. The first ban on cannabis took place in the 1300s in Arabia. Cannabis had been outlawed in various places and at various times around the world since.

In America, the production of hemp and cannabis was first outlawed in 1937 by the Marihuana Tax Act, and it still remains illegal in many states to this day. Of course, the War on Drugs of the 1970s did not help matters much. During this time there was so much negative propaganda about cannabis and cannabis users that much of the historical and medical importance of the plant was lost. 

Instead, cannabis became heavily criminalized and remained so up until the past decade.  Within the past decade or so, many states and all of Canada have begun legalizing the production and use of cannabis, both recreationally and medicinally.

Cannabis, or hemp, has had a long, interesting history that has intertwined with human history for a very long time. Do you know what is better than learning the history of marijuana? 

That’s right! The answer is “getting high and learning about the history of marijuana! Hop on over to Matrix Extracts, the Best Legal Online Dispensary in Canada at https://matrixextracts.co/ and order something that’s mind-opening. Then read this post again!

* * All views expressed here are from a third-party source and do not necessarily represent the entity of Matrix Extracts itself. This blog post is intended to be used for informational purposes only