The active agent of the plant Cannabis Indica has been inhaled or consumed in Asia for thousands of years.
It's alleged medicinal properties were brought to the attention of the Western medical world during the 1840s by W. O'Shaughnessy, a British doctor working in Calcutta, India.
In the United States, as an extract or tincture, it became widely used as a pain reliever and hypnotic. Cannabis preparations were often added to proprietary medicines, sometimes with narcotics and/or cocaine.
It was still included in the 1914 American Medical Association "Handbook of Useful Drugs" and the 1916 U.S. Pharmacopeia.
Potter, in his 1917 "Compend of Materia Medica", wrote that cannabis had fallen out of fashion, but might still be helpful for migraines, neuralgia, uterine affections, dysuria, insomnia, and even gonorrhea!
Legal restrictions on psycho-active drugs, including narcotics, alcohol, and marijuana, became more coercive in the early 20th century: The 1914 Harrison Narcotic Act, Prohibition in 1920, and the Uniform State Narcotic Act of 1934. Finally, marijuana was outlawed at the Federal level with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
In recent years, many States have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal --despite the absence of any controlled trials on its effectiveness. Such trials cannot happen until marijuana is removed from the Schedule 1 list of restricted drugs.
Click here to read more historical articles about Cannabis.
It's alleged medicinal properties were brought to the attention of the Western medical world during the 1840s by W. O'Shaughnessy, a British doctor working in Calcutta, India.
In the United States, as an extract or tincture, it became widely used as a pain reliever and hypnotic. Cannabis preparations were often added to proprietary medicines, sometimes with narcotics and/or cocaine.
It was still included in the 1914 American Medical Association "Handbook of Useful Drugs" and the 1916 U.S. Pharmacopeia.
Potter, in his 1917 "Compend of Materia Medica", wrote that cannabis had fallen out of fashion, but might still be helpful for migraines, neuralgia, uterine affections, dysuria, insomnia, and even gonorrhea!
Legal restrictions on psycho-active drugs, including narcotics, alcohol, and marijuana, became more coercive in the early 20th century: The 1914 Harrison Narcotic Act, Prohibition in 1920, and the Uniform State Narcotic Act of 1934. Finally, marijuana was outlawed at the Federal level with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
In recent years, many States have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal --despite the absence of any controlled trials on its effectiveness. Such trials cannot happen until marijuana is removed from the Schedule 1 list of restricted drugs.
Click here to read more historical articles about Cannabis.