Here’s the opening of a fascinating and well told story on a broad historical canvas – written by a pain management doctor….
“Cannabis has been many things; from the most important agricultural crop in the world to the most vilified drug. Use of cannabis in the Americas for purposes other than industrial hemp production may have existed as early as the 16th or 17th century.
It is reported that slaves taken from Africa to work on sugar plantations in Brazil in the 16th century brought cannabis with them. They were allowed to plant it between the rows of cane and they would allegedly smoke it between harvests.
Over the centuries, the use of cannabis made its way up South America across Central America to Mexico.
By the mid-19th century, its use in Mexico, particularly amongst the poor, was popular. While written of in popular media, it was rarely discussed in upper-class media.
Exactly where the term marijuana itself came from is open to debate. Some say it came from the Spanish words for ‘Mary Jane,’ popularized by Mexican culture of the time.
Others point to the Portuguese word for intoxication, ‘marihuango’ or the Mexican ‘mariguana,’ which also means intoxication.”
…and the piece just gets more interesting from there. As in PS: Pancho Villa is an important part of the story. And this is part of why we hope you keep coming back to our blog. TRUCE: More than memes…. 🙂
#MMJ #History #Cannabis #Marihuana #UTpol #TRUCE
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See full article – How Cannabis Became Marijuana
