Cannabis Fun Club

History of Marijuana Use

Cannabis sativa, commonly known as marijuana, is a hemp plant found throughout much of the world. Cannabis plants are best known today as powerful psychoactive substances, but for many years they were harvested for their fiber. The strong hemp fiber was used to make rope, clothing, and ship rigging. They were also used for mind-numbing purposes in many countries for centuries until their psychoactive properties were discovered in the United States in the first third of this century. After that, the hemp plant became more widely harvested for its psychoactive effects.

The term marijuana comes from the Portuguese word mariguango, which translates as "intoxicating." Both marijuana and hashish come from the cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana is the leafy top portion of the plant. Hashish is made from the resin dust that the cannabis plant secretes to protect itself from the sun, heat, and to maintain fluid levels. Plants that grow in warm climates secrete more resin, which is a powerful psychoactive drug.

The earliest evidence of cannabis use dates back to the Stone Age, 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists in Taiwan have discovered pots believed to be made from cannabis plants. The earliest evidence of cannabis use for pharmacological purposes by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung dates back to the early third century BC. Shen Nung was a mythical Chinese emperor and physician who had knowledge of the medicinal use of cannabis plants. Cannabis was theoretically used during this period in China for its sedative properties, it was used to treat pain, illness, ward off evil spirits, and for a variety of purposes.

Cannabis quickly spread from China to all neighboring Asian countries. It was especially popular in India, where it was used for religious purposes. The Arhartva Veda, one of the oldest Indian written monuments of Hinduism, includes it among the five secret plants. Thanks to its cultural and religious use, the plant was protected and revered.

There is no recorded use of cannabis as an intoxicant outside of India and China in ancient times. Much later, cannabis use spread to the Middle East and North Africa. This occurred during the expansion of hashish into these regions. The use of hashish by the Arabs dates back to around the tenth century AD and to the eleventh century in Egypt.

The use of cannabis as an intoxicant in these parts of the world has been developing for a considerable period of time. In the nineteenth century, cannabis was introduced to the Western world through written accounts of the effects of hashish. These accounts appeared in medical sources or periodicals. In Great Britain, the use of cannabis was spread by William Ochannessy, an Irish physician. In India, he observed the medical use of cannabis and described it in his writings. In France, the use of cannabis was suggested by Dr. Jacques Mauriat, who suggested that cannabis could be used to treat mental disorders. Subsequently, the uses and effects of cannabis were described in more detail by many French authors. Perhaps one of the most notable was Théophile Gautier, who was introduced to cannabis by Mauriat. Gautier vividly described his visits to the Hashish Club, which was located in the posh Hotel Pimodan in Paris in the 1840s. Hashish was included in a sweet concoction called Davamesque. Gautier's vivid descriptions of the process of using hashish and the effects of the drug had a mystical tone, including intrigue, games, ecstasy, fear and rage.

Because the stories that emerged about cannabis and hashish were unsightly and repulsive, the spread of the drug's use across Europe was slow. It was not until the 1960s, when travelers from the United States brought them back, that they became widespread in Europe.

Marijuana in the New World

The introduction of cannabis to the New World dates back to 1545, when it was brought from Chile by the Spanish. In the North American colonies, cannabis plants were grown for their fiber in Virginia at Jamestown in 1611. Shortly thereafter, the hemp product became firmly established as a staple, cultivated by George Washington and many others. Cannabis was grown in New England from 1629 and remained a staple of the economy until the Civil War. The center of hemp production was Kentucky, where it remained a staple for many decades.

Despite its widespread use, the psychoactive properties of the marijuana plant were unknown. Following in the footsteps of European physicians, American physicians began using cannabis in the 1800s as a general medicine for a wide range of applications. The most widely used preparation was called Tilden's Extract of Cannabis Indica, which was produced by a factory in East Bengal. By the 1850s, marijuana was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia, which listed all legal drugs; marijuana remained illegal until 1942.

The year 1920 was marked by a particular surge in cannabis use. Edward M. Brecher, in General Consumer Reports on Legal and Illicit Drugs (1972), attributes this surge to the prohibition of alcohol. He writes: "After the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act of 1920 raised the price of alcoholic beverages, thereby lowering their quality and making their consumption less safe, a considerable commercial trade in marijuana developed." In New York City, for example, the number of marijuana dens (counted in Harlem alone) opened in the early 1920s was more than five hundred. The reasons for the practice of marijuana smoking in the United States are still unclear, but many agree that the initial impetus was the emigration of Mexican workers. A large surge in marijuana use was also noted in New Orleans in the early 1920s. Marijuana was shipped down the Mississippi River to river ports, where it was then distributed throughout the country. Marijuana became available in big cities as early as the 1930s, even though black Americans were no more likely to use it than they were to play jazz.

Public opinion about marijuana use was weak during this period, with one notable exception. In 1926, a series of articles were published in two Orleans newspapers. These articles created a "sensation" about the threatening spread of marijuana and attributed some crimes and horrible events to marijuana use. Long-term marijuana use causes aggressiveness similar to delirium tremens, which often leads to serious crimes such as rape and murder. For this reason, marijuana was called the "killer drug." Habitual marijuana use always causes obvious brain damage and sometimes insanity.
The year before, a Louisiana law was passed that imposed a maximum fine of five hundred dollars and or six months in prison for possession or sale of marijuana. However, this law had little effect on the trade and use of marijuana in New Orleans, other than a modest increase in the price of a marijuana cigarette.

Although marijuana was not seen as a major threat to American life, additional government and public action followed over the next decade. The most active was Harry J. Anslinger, who became director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1932. Anslinger called marijuana a major threat to the nation's safety and welfare. He successfully pushed for many states to prohibit the cultivation and use of marijuana. In 1930, only 16 states had marijuana prohibition laws; by 1937, nearly all states had such laws.

Anslinger's efforts culminated in the signing of the Marijuana Tariff Act in 1937. The act did not officially prohibit marijuana. It included a list defining the medical use of marijuana and allowed prescription marijuana to be dispensed with a license tax of $1 per year. However, all other possession or use of marijuana was now illegal. Penalties for breaking the law were much greater than previously: a $2,000 fine, five years' imprisonment, or both. Anslinger's efforts, among other things, were successful in regulating legal marijuana. Thus, over the next year, only 38 doctors paid one dollar for a license to sell marijuana. Subsequently, over the course of several years, the severity of penalties for the sale and possession of marijuana increased, thanks to his efforts. In the 1960s, judges could sentence marijuana smokers and sellers to life in prison. Repeated marijuana sales in Georgia could result in a death sentence. After 1970, penalties for possession and use of marijuana were significantly reduced, with the gradual decriminalization of possession and use of small quantities of the substance.

Over the past century, there have been several comprehensive reports on marijuana use and its effects. One of the earliest was the Indian Hemp Drug Commission report of 1894. The commission that prepared the report included four Englishmen and three Indians. The second report was in 1933 after the Panama Canal War Zone Study, which covered the period 1916-1929. The third and most famous study was the LaGuardia Commission study, published in 1944. Since the conclusions of all three commissions were similar, we will focus on the findings of the LaGuardia Commission.

The Laguardia Commission Report was compiled by the New York Academy of Medicine at the request of New York City Mayor Fiorella Laguardia. The study, the second by the Indian Hemp Drug Commission, was essentially an interdisciplinary effort. It included the coordinated opinions of physicians, physiologists, pharmacologists, and sociologists. The report's central claim was that marijuana use was not particularly dangerous to the user or to society as a whole. The report did not provide evidence for the claim that aggression, violence, or hostility had anything to do with marijuana smoking. Nor did it claim, however, that marijuana did not produce any psychoactive effects. Certain changes in the individual were noted, including, in its more severe forms, "slowing of thought processes and fascination with delirious reality, with periods of laughter and restlessness."

The findings of this report were consistent with those of previously published reports. Subsequent studies also mirrored the basic conclusions. These studies include the 1968 report of Baroness Wooton of the United Kingdom, the 1970 Interim Report of the Delaney Commission of the Canadian Government, and the 1972 First Report of the National Commission on Mental Health and Drug Abuse. Later reports, such as the U.S. Congressional Report on Marijuana and Health (1982) and the Survey of Drug Abuse (1984, the first in a series of triennial congressional reports), both produced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, had no conflicting findings, but they were much more cautious about describing the negative effects of marijuana use.

The path or "stepping stone" theory is a theory of drug use that holds that the use of legal and illegal drugs leads to predictable consequences. The theory gained particular attention during the 1960s and 1970s debates over the Bureau of Narcotics, arguing that marijuana use is the first step toward heroin addiction. However, some studies have shown that the vast majority of marijuana users do not become heroin users.

However, using one substance does lead to the next. One of the first studies on the subject found that alcohol use among high school students was a necessary stepping stone between drug abstinence and marijuana use. This study was supported by another, from the New York State Research Institute, which found that high school students typically used drugs in this order: alcohol, marijuana, and then "hard drugs" (such as cocaine, crack, other hallucinogens, and heroin). More recent studies have found that crack users almost always had marijuana use before.

There are two things to remember. First, and perhaps most importantly, not everyone who drinks alcohol will smoke marijuana after drinking alcohol, and they usually don't stop drinking alcohol, and both substances may be part of their "repertoire."

As psychoactive substances, marijuana and hashish are taken in many ways. For example, it has been found that several centuries ago these substances were taken in liquid or food form. In addition, the psychoactive effects of marijuana can be experienced by chewing marijuana leaves. However, the main way of consuming cannabis remains smoking, usually in the form of a cigarette or "joint." Inhaling the smoke from a marijuana cigarette is the most effective way to absorb marijuana and the cannabinoids it contains.

The first chemical analysis of cannabis was probably undertaken in 1821. Since then, cannabis has been found to be a complex plant. It contains more than 400 chemical elements. About 60 of these, called cannabinoids, are unique to cannabis. Continued research is likely to uncover new substances and compounds in cannabis.

Despite years of research, it was not until 1964 that the main psychoactive element of cannabis was isolated. This substance was called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, but is better known as D-9-THC. Research has shown that the THC cannabinoid accounts for the vast majority of marijuana's known psychoactive effects. THC is the main psychoactive element of cannabis, but other cannabinoids such as cannabidiol and cannabinol may be biologically active and may produce the effects of THC. However, they are not psychoactive in themselves.

Cannabis can vary greatly in potency. Marijuana smoked in the United States today is much stronger than it was even a decade ago, for example. It has increased in potency by 13-15% (often in sinsimila, a strong seedless form of marijuana) and sometimes by as much as 30%. Similar differences and increases in average potency have been seen in hashish. A third form of cannabis, hash oil, is a concentrated liquid extract made from cannabis plants using solvents. This oil, which has been available on the street for years, is stronger than the hemp leaves from which it is extracted, or hashish. It is thought to contain up to 60% cannabinoids.

Absorption of cannabinoids depends primarily on the method of administration. The fastest and most effective absorption of marijuana occurs when smoked. Inhaling marijuana results in absorption directly through the lungs, and the effects of cannabinoids begin to manifest within minutes. Blood plasma studies show that the highest concentration is observed after 30-60 minutes. The effects of the drug are felt for about two to four hours.

The amount of cannabinoids that accumulate during smoking can be determined by several factors. One of the most important constants is the potency of the cannabis smoked. Only half of the cannabinoids that are possible in marijuana can be found in marijuana smoke, and the amount absorbed into the blood will be correspondingly lower. Another factor is the amount of time the smoke lingers in the lungs; the longer the smoke lingers in the lungs, the more time there is for the THC to be absorbed. Another factor that influences perception is the number of people smoking the joint. A large number of smokers greatly reduces the amount of marijuana per person.

Eating marijuana is absorbed much more slowly and is less effective. In this case, marijuana is absorbed to a greater extent by the gastrointestinal tract, with the highest plasma levels occurring two to three hours after ingestion. An important difference between this method and smoking marijuana is that the blood in the oral cavity that absorbs marijuana passes through the liver before it reaches the brain. The liver clears most of the THC from the plasma, so less of it reaches the brain. However, the effects of the drug ingested can be experienced over a long period of time, approximately four to six hours. It has been found that the dose taken this way must be three times greater than that smoked to achieve the same effect.

Using peak plasma THC levels to determine the effects of cannabis can be misleading because psychoactive cannabinoids, being lipids, dissolve rapidly in water. In contrast, cannabinoids are dark, viscous, oily substances. Plasma THC levels are greatly reduced as THC is distributed throughout the tissues of various organs, particularly those composed of fatty materials. Organ examinations after cannabis ingestion show THC concentrations in the brain, lungs, kidneys, and liver. Thus, even when blood THC levels are zero, THC levels in other organs can vary greatly. Also, THC can cross the placenta and reach the fetus.

As noted above, THC is distributed through the blood and is found in various organs. THC is eventually broken down into other, less active products. Although this occurs primarily in the liver, metabolism can also occur in other organs. The products of THC metabolism are slowly excreted through urine and skin secretions. About half of the THC remains in the body for about a week and is excreted after a few days. Some THC products that are able to remain in the body's system can be detected after thirty days by urine analysis.

Although cannabis can produce a variety of effects, as noted above, marijuana users primarily use marijuana in the hopes of experiencing psychological effects, some of which are universally experienced, while others are more individual. The psychological effects experienced by a marijuana user can be divided into three main categories: behavioral, cognitive, and emotional.

Some of the effects of cannabis described by marijuana users are learned gradually. The first step is purely mechanical, during which the smoker learns to inhale the smoke and hold it in the lungs for maximum perception and absorption. The second step is to learn how to perceive the effects of cannabis. These effects can be both physiological and psychological. The final stage is to determine the most pleasant ones. This is supported by the fact that experienced smokers are more sensitive to the effects of cannabis than beginners.

The most common behavioral effect is a decrease in psychomotor activity. This effect is determined by the dose: the larger it is, the more noticeable this effect is. General impairment of motor activity is pervasive, and is characterized as a state of relaxation and calm. The only exception to this rule is speech, since smoking marijuana produces rapid speech, detailed conversations, and talkativeness. These effects are most often observed in the initial phase of smoking, followed by more traditional relaxation.

Although feelings of relaxation and well-being are common with cannabis use, some users initially feel aroused. However, users always experience a transition to a state of relaxation soon after. Moreover, in addition to feelings of relaxation, users report heightened sensations. Many smokers, for example, describe heightened sensitivity to touch, vision (especially color perception), hearing, and smell. Finally, other studies show decreased sensitivity to pain after smoking marijuana.

Accompanying the feelings of relaxation and impairment of motor activity is a marked impairment of some areas of psychomotor perception. Dysfunction of motor coordination, perception of external stimuli, and the ability to observe an external object depend on the size of the dose. If these factors are taken together, they will undoubtedly affect, for example, driving a vehicle after using cannabis. Laboratory experiments, including an experiment with a driving simulator, have shown the detrimental effects of cannabis on the abilities and skills of a driver. Some of these impairments in driving skills can be identified. It turned out that a driver under the influence of marijuana shows impairment in concentration and distance judgment, along with impairment in all other driving skills. It is possible that some impairments in driving skills can be explained by an increase in drowsiness, which results in impairment of the perception of peripheral signals. Psychomotor impairments can be caused by cannabis, and these impairments become more evident when solving problems that require thinking and concentration.

The effects of marijuana on sexual behavior and functioning are not fully understood, but it appears that the effects on this area of ​​human activity vary greatly depending on the characteristics of the user. Some report that sexual pleasure after smoking marijuana becomes more intense, rich, while others, on the contrary, report a loss of interest in sex. Those who report an increase in sexual pleasure when using marijuana are probably based on the effect of increased sensory sensitivity that often accompanies marijuana use. The drug itself leads to unknown physiological effects that stimulate sexual desire or perception. However, long-term or intense use of marijuana is associated with impotence in men and sexual dysfunction in women.

Effects that affect thought processes