History of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system

Summary & key facts

This article tells the long story of cannabis — from about 12,000 years ago in Central Asia through its spread around the world, to how people used it as medicine, and to modern science that found how the body reacts to cannabis. It explains that a main active plant chemical, called THC, was identified in 1964, and that scientists later discovered the body's own system that responds to cannabis-like chemicals. That scientific knowledge changes how researchers and societies think about medical use and legal rules for cannabis, without resolving those debates.

Key facts:

• Archaeologists found evidence of cannabis about 12,000 years ago near the Altai Mountains in Central Asia.
• Cannabis seeds moved with nomadic peoples, helping the plant spread as humans migrated.
• Records show people used cannabis as medicine before year zero in places like China, Egypt, and Greece, and later doctors in the Roman world wrote about it.
• In the 1800s, European scholars and doctors who met Muslim and Indian cultures helped bring medicinal cannabis into Europe.
• In 1964, Israeli scientists Mechoulam and Gaoni worked out the chemical structure of THC, the main plant chemical that changes the mind.
• In the 1900s, researchers discovered the endocannabinoid system — a set of receptors and signals in the body that respond to cannabis-like chemicals — which shifted scientific views about cannabis and its medical and legal debates.

Abstract

This article retraces the story of cannabis from the earliest contacts of humans with the plant to its subsequent global expansion, its medicinal uses, and the discovery of the endocannabinoid system in the 20th century. Cannabis was attested to around 12 000 years ago near the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, and since then, cannabis seeds have accompanied the migration of nomadic peoples. Records of the medicinal use of cannabis appear before the Common Era in China, Egypt, and Greece (Herodotus), and later in the Roman empire (Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen). In the 19th century, orientalists like Silvestre de Sacy, and Western physicians coming into contact with Muslim and Indian cultures, like O’Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, introduced the medicinal use of cannabis into Europe. The structure of the main psychoactive phytocannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was determined in Israel by Mechoulam and Gaoni in 1964. This discovery opened the gate for many of the subsequent developments in the field of endocannabinoid system (ECS) research. The advances in the scientific knowledge of the ECS place the debate on cannabis liberalization in a new context.

Topics

Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Psychedelics and Drug Studies Sleep and Wakefulness Research

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Pharmacology

Tags

Ancient history Archaeology Cannabis Context (archaeology) Geography History Medicine Psychiatry Traditional medicine

Substances

Cannabis

Conditions & symptoms

Chronic Pain Depression Chronic pain Poor sleep Sadness or low mood