Fact: Humans Used Pot For At Least 9,000 Years [View all]

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http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2013/08/19/fact-humans-used-pot-for-at-least-9000-years/

Fact: Humans Used Pot For At Least 9,000 Years

Posted on August 19, 2013 at 7:53 am by David Downs

2,700 year-old Chinese shaman found with about two pounds of bud

Drug warriors would have you believe marijuana is some mysterious devil plant invented by Mexicans in the 19th Century that humanity is somehow unfamiliar with. In fact, cannabis has been used for at least 9,000 years as a food, fuel, fiber and botanical medicine.

“Humans have cultivated and consumed the flowering tops of the female cannabis plant since virtually the beginning of recorded history,” writes TheAnswerPage.com this week, as part of their ongoing continuing medical education of doctors and the public. The AnswerPage.com is sponsored by The Massachusetts Medical Society, publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Cannabis-based textiles dating to 7,000 B.C. have been recovered in northern China, and the plant’s use as a medicinal and euphoric agent date back nearly as far. In 2008, archeologists in Central Asia discovered over two pounds of cannabis in the 2,700-year-old grave of an ancient mummified shaman. After scientists conducted extensive testing on the material’s potency, they affirmed, “The most probable conclusion … is that [ancient] culture[s] cultivated cannabis for pharmaceutical, psychoactive, and divinatory purposes.”