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The history of cannabis in China

and its influence on western medicine

By Anna KlausPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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It is the medical history of cannabis in China that has had the greatest influence on Western medicine. The Chinese enjoyed a living and complicated tradition of cannabis use for thousands of years, perhaps even longer. Cannabis was used as a tonic for stomach problems, to treat glaucoma and malaria, and to reduce or even eliminate headaches and fever. There are many reports on the benefits of the medical use of cannabis for daily life.

Later, however, medical use was replaced by more pragmatic cannabis use, which went hand in hand with the increasing supply of cannabis in the Region. Many early Chinese smoked a plant that was smuggled into China as a medicinal and recreational drug. Early reports on this use mention that cannabis was smoked in private homes and even in public places by a large number of people and was also sold on the streets. This very casual use of cannabis in large quantities was in direct contradiction with traditional Chinese beliefs and customs, which demanded that cannabis be administered only in the privacy of the home and that it be taken only by the truly sick.

But in the West, the history of cannabis in China, which had the greatest influence on Western medicine, is the famous story of the so-called "medical cannabis" use in the 19th century. This use of cannabis for the treatment of cancer and epilepsy cannot be denied. Even today, cannabis is often prescribed to treat nausea, pain and muscle spasms associated with cancer chemotherapy. In fact, this is probably the most successful drug developed in the history of cannabis in China.

Photo by Add Weed on Unsplash

In the United States, however, the use of cannabis was much more difficult to prove. Most American doctors would not dream of prescribing cannabis for anything other than severe pain or chronic depression and anorexia nervosa. There are many stories of extreme abuse by patients and some others who have been treated with highly effective narcotics, but in most cases it is simply medically impossible for anyone other than those with an incurable disease to use cannabis.

The use of cannabis in China has even been traced back to the fall of the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor tried to eliminate all competition with opium. Marijuana was banned and cannabis was made a sacrament, something to be consumed on special occasions. When China became a communist country, the Communist Party issued a strict ban on cannabis. The full extent of the ban is still not clear, but it could extend to the outermost regions of China and beyond.

Photo by Add Weed on Unsplash

Despite the ban, there are some Chinese doctors who have used cannabis for medical purposes and report great success with it. It may be that the difficulty in obtaining high quality, pure cannabis, or that Chinese cannabis use is completely different from Western cannabis use and that the Western medical community has not really grasped the medical value of cannabis.

So it seems that although cannabis has a centuries-old history in China, it is a relatively recent history in the West. The history of cannabis in China has had more influence on Western medicine than any other history of cannabis. As a result, many westerners use cannabis for medical purposes that they would never consider without this history. And indeed, one of the best things about cannabis for medical purposes is that it can be obtained legally and easily anywhere in the world.

You can also benefit from legal non- intoxicating cannabidiol to increase your well-being. However, before you buy CBD Oil you should think about its origin and manufacture, we can only recommend CBDS FINEST from Germany, where full spectrum oils are sold with 100% information from nature.

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About the Creator

Anna Klaus

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