The history of cannabis is almost as unique and complex as the plant itself. Throughout history there have been times where this miracle plant has been hailed as holy medicine and times where it has been demonized along with those who use it. Luckily for us, we live and work in a day where it is legal and the market is thriving. No longer do you have to hide away in a friend's basement to smoke some mid grade weed that you had to spend hours trying to find. Instead you can walk into shops like our own, and really enjoy the experience and education surrounding cannabis. With the convenience we are so blessed to have, we can not let ourselves forget the struggles that came for years before us to make this possible.
So where did cannabis get its start? According to scientific documents, the discovery of Mary Jane dates back to 2,800 BC in China. In this year, Emperor Shen Nung had come across a plant in the hillside that he deemed a modern day medical miracle. He quickly added it to his pharmacopeia (an official publication, containing a list of medicinal drugs with their effects and directions for their use) and started using it in his day to day practice. Looking further into his notes, he specified that cannabis was great at treating the ails of arthritis, depression, inflammation, pain, lack of appetite and asthma. Though Shen’s writings are the first known documentation of the discovery of cannabis, it has since been proven that similar findings were happening in Hindu, Roman and Greek literature.
Cannabis was thriving in Europe and Asia but there was yet to be much movement in North America until 1841. This was the year William Brooke O’Shaughnessy packed up some flowers and seeds and took the voyage across the sea to the US. When he arrived in the settlement, he spent countless hours studying the medicinal effects it had on epilepsy in children. During this period when he was seeing such positive results, William dove deeper into the molecular structure of the plant. With diligent work, in 1848, he was able to isolate and extract CBN from the plant. He noted in his findings the sedative side effects of this cannabinoid and how he thought it would be life changing for a restful night. Little did he know how impactful this discovery would be!
Through all the positive studies, it was unavoidable to have some naysayers. There were people of every culture enjoying cannabis and during this time the hemp industry was starting to bloom. Hemp created a sustainable, strong and cheap building material that was slowly putting pressure on the lumber industry. As a looming threat that would have dismantled the industry that the Americans were founded on, certain groups had to create a narrative that was not only false but poisonous. What was this thorn in the side you may ask? REEFER MADNESS.
Reefer Madness was a propaganda film created in 1936 depicting Marijuana users as rabid, feral and uncivilized creatures whose only goal after smoking was to rape, murder, steal and cause unadulterated mayhem in the city. They implied cannabis would turn you into an entranced zombie who would hallucinate to the point of creating chaos anywhere you went. Hailed by the Conservative Christian creators as a film about demonic drugs taking over our country, it gained popularity fast. We can look back and chuckle about how absurd the whole movie was but the impact it caused created a new multi-decade battle we had to fight in the US called The War On Drugs.
Harry Anslinger was the next key player in the world of weed and his legacy is as tarnished as a resin covered pipe. Crooked as a bent over willow tree, he started his career with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. A self proclaimed believer in the Reefer Madness agenda, his goal was to put a stop to cannabis use in the United States along with criminalizing those who did not abide. During his time working in various offices, he always showed great de-test for the many immigrants who came into the US from Mexico after the revolution in 1910. Many of those who moved to the United States were farmers and a vast majority were cannabis consumers. Besides bringing many growing tips and tricks to our country, they also helped coin the term marijuana that became known world wide. Once Anslinger realized the connection between the two things he had vendettas against (immigrants and cannabis) he decided to start his mission to imprison and oppress minorities by creating strict consumption laws.
Harry asked for help from 50 scientists to study marijuana and its effects in hopes he could have some hard evidence of its dangers. Out of all who spent a year researching and conducting experiments, only one of the fifty claimed to note some negatives with consumption. All others deemed cannabis safe and medicinally valuable. Did he use the opinion of the 49 highly educated scientists? Of course not! It did not fit his agenda. With his sketchy evidence from one source, he brought the information in front of congress and laws were made. This was the tipping point of innocent people of color being arrested and incarcerated over what was once hailed as a miracle cure.
Years flew by and the new normal had set in. That was until the 60’s and 70’s when the pushback resurfaced. Many young adults were dealing with conflicting feelings on the Vietnam War and were in search of reform on all levels. These peace loving hippies were creating the counterculture movement that would start the process of breaking down the glass walls of weed. From free love to psychedelics to cannabis, young people were making a stand to the US government. They did not want war, they wanted freedom on their home soil and beyond.
The late president Kennedy heard the cries of young American’s and delegated a team to re-study marijuana and the truth about its effects. He believed that there might have been pieces missing of this narrative that could change the way we in this country looked at weed. Sadly, after his death, the administration stopped the pursuit of looking for the green truth.
Following the Camelot era, we had another rough player join the history of cannabis - Richard Nixon. In 1970, he passed the Substance Control Act which categorized drugs together under different labels which ranked them from harmful and felonious to safe and legal. Cannabis was placed in the highest level ranking of dangers right alongside heroin and LSD. Per Nixon, cannabis contained no medicinal value and no purpose. This allowed possession and intoxication charges from police officers to carry maximum penalties.
In 1986, when the Regan administration took over, he furthered Nixon’s ideals by creating the Anti-Drug Abuse act which carried a minimum sentence for all cannabis related charges along with hefty fines. This was the first of many extreme restrictions that continued to take aim at people of color and those lower on the economic scale. Under this law, he amended a 3 strike rule. What does that mean you may ask? If a person was to accrue 3 cannabis charges, of any kind, they would be subject to life in prison with no chance of parole. There have been many documented cases of citizens getting 3 minor charges (possession of a gram or a filled pipe) and having to sit in the state penitentiary for the rest of their days. Could you imagine in the times we live in now, going to prison for life over three grams of cannabis? It is almost unfathomable in 2024 as legal shops sell hundreds of pounds per week. Yet many non-violent offenders spent their whole lives in a prison cell over these laws. Regan creating such a tough structure also caused a huge problem with overpopulation in prisons that we still deal with to this day. From 1980 to 2010 there were over 2 Million non-violent cannabis crimes that resulted in prison sentences. That number is astronomical and proof that the Reefer Madness agenda was very successful.
Luckily, the story of the plant we know and love is slowly coming to a happy ending! In 1996 California became the first state to legalize cannabis for medical use and over the years they evolved to adult recreational use. Now in 2024 over 24 states have fully legalized cannabis consumption, retail dispensaries and laws have been softened that once cycled innocent people in and out of the system. There are smoking festivals, events, trade shows, podcasts and so much more! Cannabis has become a fun and creative space to work in that has been equally as lucrative. In 2023 alone, the State of Michigan created revenue from cannabis that topped 290.3 million dollars. With such high profits, there have been many great changes in school grants, infrastructure repairs and so much more that would not have been previously possible. They have shown a drop in violent crime, no increase in motor vehicle accidents and a dramatic drop in alcohol use since legalization has occurred. The positives have been on going and slowly it feels as if the reefer madness cloud is slowly dissipating over our great country.
As members of an industry growing exponentially, I implore you to hold tight to the history of Cannabis and continue to do more research. There were so many other life changing events that helped shape the green world we are living in and frankly that knowledge is power. The more we educate our communities and change the narrative of what weed is and what it is not, the quicker we will see federal legalization. The only thing mad about reefer, is the amount of benefits it has and it is our mission to share that joy with others.
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