When
cannabis
WHEN
HISTORY OF MEDICINAL CANNABIS
The cannabis plant has been used in medicine for thousands of years. Learn more about its long journey and how our knowledge about cannabis has grown significantly over the years.
When did people first start using cannabis for medicinal purposes?
Cannabis is one of the oldest plants in the world to be used for medicinal purposes. It is known that cannabis was cultivated in China as far back as 12,000 BC. The first documented evidence of medicinal cannabis dates to about 4000 BC. Medicinal cannabis reached Europe in the ancient times, having been used in the Greek and Roman civilizations.1
When was the medicinal use of cannabis abandoned from Western medicine?
During the 1920s and 1930s, two factors contributed to the withdrawal of cannabis as a medicine in the Western world. First, plant-based medicines were unable to deliver the needed quantification of active substances, so the pharmaceutical industry began to develop chemical-based pharmaceuticals. Second, cannabis was becoming stigmatized, particularly in the US, and especially related to its recreational use.1 Ultimately, these two factors led to the inclusion of cannabis in the list of UN Schedule IV substances, together with cocaine and heroin. In December 2020, the UN revised the classification of cannabis, as per the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that it is a substance with therapeutic value.2
What have we learned about medicinal cannabis in the past 100 years?
In the middle of the 20th century, researchers discovered chemicals in the cannabis plant that are responsible for its medicinal effects. One of the most important discoveries was the isolation and identification of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In the latter part of the 20th century, researchers began to uncover the biological targets of these chemicals, including the so-called cannabinoid receptors in the body.1 Since then, the amount of research interest in this field has grown tremendously. For example, in 1990, there were about 70 cannabinoid-related publications (per year) in scientific journals around the world; that number grew to more than 200 in 2000, more than 600 in 2010, and nearly 2,000 in 2019 and more than 2,500 in 2020.3
When did medicinal cannabis become legalized?
Medicinal cannabis may have a different legal status in each country. For information about the legalization of medicinal cannabis in certain countries, please follow the links below:
When was the first medicinal cannabis produced?
The history of medicinal cannabis may be different in each country. For information about the production of medicinal cannabis in certain countries, please follow the links below: