The history of the cultivated plant hemp – from its beginnings to the present day

That is why we are taking you on a journey through time to show you where the universal healing and useful plant actually comes from, how cannabis has been used everywhere, and what exactly has happened to the image of hemp. Although cannabis is one of the oldest cultivated plants in existence, the history of cannabis as such is still not fully clarified. However, radiocarbon dating has shown through archaeological finds that cannabis was already used thousands of years ago. Thanks to consistent sources, it is now assumed that the cultivation of hemp as a useful plant probably began about 10,000 years ago in ancient China. At that time, hemp seeds were particularly widespread as a food, but the psychoactive, hallucinogenic effect of cannabis flowers with a relevant content of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; the cannabinoid responsible for the "high") was mentioned in numerous books, alongside its ability to alleviate senility. Also very interesting: 8,000 years later, Li Shih-Chen, who is still considered China's greatest herb specialist, describes more than 120 different applications of hemp.

Hemp in Antiquity: From India to Greece to Europe

The plant seems to have reached India around 1400 BC from China. There, it was valued in Ayurvedic culture for the hallucinogenic effects of THC, as the psychoactive effect played an important role in certain cultic practices. It is said that "the sacred drug" helped with meditation and alleviated anxiety and stress. Hemp was (and is again) a very controversial and contested commodity, which is why it took a long time to find its way to Europe. But eventually, the cultivated plant made its way from the Far East to Europe, specifically through the major trading sites in present-day Greece and Italy. The shipping also contributed to this. For hundreds of years, sails for ships, ropes, flags, or even the sailors' uniforms were made from hemp. In ancient Greece and Rome, cannabis was initially hardly used. The intoxicating effect was not given much importance. For example, the plant was not mentioned at all by Hippocrates, the probably most famous doctor of antiquity (ca. 460 BC). Dioscorides, who served as a military doctor around the birth of Christ, clearly reports on the effects of cannabis in his books.

Hemp in the Middle Ages: Paper, Medicine, and Everyday Life

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Muslim doctors also translated the works of Dioscorides and thus became aware of cannabis. Because alcohol was forbidden in Islam, the consumption of cannabis was widely accepted. Hemp, especially hemp fiber, also found its way to Europe for paper production through Spain. Since paper production at that time was not dominated by the raw material wood, hemp was one of the most important raw materials for paper production. Due to its high cellulose content, hemp paper is particularly durable and tear-resistant compared to other wood-based paper types. It can be recycled more often and requires less cultivation area than wood. Fun fact: famous works such as the Gutenberg Bible (1455) and the American Declaration of Independence (1776) were first printed on hemp paper.

From Decline to Prohibition: Hemp in Modern Times

Two centuries later, however, the image of hemp began to slowly crumble. The development of cotton spinning machines in the 19th century, as well as the cheap imports of cotton and jute, especially from Russia and Asia, ended the use of hemp and flax as textile fibers. Additionally, prohibition in the USA was taking its course. A fundamental movement led by a patriotic white upper class called for a fight against pleasure substances of all kinds. By 1929, 16 states in the southwestern USA had already enacted a ban on the use of hemp. Of course, all of this lacked any scientific basis, but the campaign had an effect, and the use of hemp was banned in practically every American state by 1935. When the first fully automatic hemp decorticator was finally introduced in the USA in 1938, leading American industrialists, including representatives from the cotton and pharmaceutical industries, imposed a hemp tax and ultimately a ban on hemp cultivation in the USA, effectively closing the markets for hemp. The demonization of cannabis reached its peak with the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961. An international treaty that is partly questionable from today's perspective, aimed at restricting the availability of certain drugs. Almost 30 years later, however, there was renewed hope for the now poorly regarded hemp plant. An Israeli research team successfully isolated and synthesized tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive main ingredient of cannabis. But even in the 1970s, both doctors and patients in most Western countries still risked condemnation when using cannabis. However, the pioneers were determined, and research on the non-"intoxicating" compound of hemp, cannabidiol (CBD), made significant progress. More about this here in the blog.

Modern Research: CBD, THC, and New Insights

When the CBD/THC medication known under the trade name "Sativex" was approved in many European countries in 2011, the plant, or rather its ingredients, had definitely arrived in Europe. In recent years, health organizations and the market demand for natural substances have further propelled the renaissance of the cultivated plant. And even at the United Nations, there is slowly but steadily movement in the old assessment from the 60s. A reassessment of cannabis, among other things at the urging of the World Health Organization (WHO) and pressure from the USA, brought the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs together again in Vienna in December 2020. This presents a unique opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past and acknowledge the scientific facts about cannabis.

Errors and printing mistakes reserved. The disease-related statements made are not related to HANAFSAN products.
References:
“Cannabis as Medicine - A Practical Guide for the Medical Use of the Hemp Plant" Michael Backes, Kopp Verlag ©2016
"Hemp and the Global Economy" Nadra O. Hashim, Lexington Books ©2017
"Commodifying Cannabis: A Cultural History of a Complex Plant in the Atlantic World" Bradley J. Borougerdi, Lexington Books ©2018
Image source: © 2020 Tabea Walch