Marijuana, Cannabis -- Evolutionary History

[Jonathanaronda]

Yes this is an actual question, not sure if this is the place to ask it though... but where does cannabis/marijuana (the plant) come from? How did it get here? I hear it's usage can be traced back to 3,000 BC, but how was the plant actually discovered and how did it get here? Is it still here because of human's using it for drug related purposes?

 

I know this is a weird question to ask, but I'm kind of curious. And this board has always been helpful with my odd questions

[iNow]

The Erowid site is pretty robust: http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml

 

Here's the page specific to the cannabis timeline: http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_timeline.php

[Geatar]

I would of thought its been around a lot longer than 3000 bc. Humans or cavemen used all kinds of shit to help illnesses etc. They would of picked the leaves one day hundreds of thousands of years a go and grunted at its smell than stuck it in a pot of boiling water and drank it and then lied back and had a giggle and than feel asleep. But seriously it was probably used back than to ease pain as getting stoned weren't an option back in those days. There may have been drugs back than that have long become extinct, what a sad thought.

[Moontanman]

I would of thought its been around a lot longer than 3000 bc. Humans or cavemen used all kinds of shit to help illnesses etc. They would of picked the leaves one day hundreds of thousands of years a go and grunted at its smell than stuck it in a pot of boiling water and drank it and then lied back and had a giggle and than feel asleep. But seriously it was probably used back than to ease pain as getting stoned weren't an option back in those days. There may have been drugs back than that have long become extinct, what a sad thought.

 

 

Cannabis sativa has many uses, it is likely that it was used for fiber before it was used for anything else, cannabis produces high quality fibers which have many uses, rope and cloth being two of them. The seeds can be ground into flour and also pressed for oil. Boiling it and drinking the resulting fluid will not make you high as the active ingredients are not water soluble. I'm not sure where the idea of it getting you high came from originally, wild cannabis is not particularly intoxicating but humans being humans would have figured it out eventually... possibly eating the flowering tops or burning them as incense did the trick...