A Brief History of Cannabis in Western Medicine

Cannabis is (nearly) as old as time. 

Fossil records have determined that the plant sprang up sometime in the middle of the Oligocene epoch, 34-23 million years ago, on the Tibetan Plateau, a region that is now home to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. One or more Neolithic groups likely domesticated it, and it traveled throughout Asia and into Europe by the Bronze Ages. 

Cannabis has been recognized for its medicinal properties almost as long as people have been using it. The first definitive reference to cannabis as medicine dates back to 2800 BCE, when the Emperor of China and Father of Chinese Medicine, Shen Nung, listed it in his pharmacopoeia. People in India, Assyria, Greece, and Rome also used cannabis to treat conditions like arthritis, asthma, and depression.

Despite millennia of use, many people are still wary of cannabis and its role in modern medicine. In the United States, New Mexico recognized marijuana as a legitimate medical treatment for cancer patients in 1978, and California became the first state to legalize it for broader medical purposes in 1996. The recency of these changes has led many to believe that it has only had a role in Western medicine for the last five decades. 

But that’s not the full story. For years before cannabis was deemed an illegal substance, it was regularly dispensed for a wide variety of ailments in settings that would be familiar to many. Don’t believe us? Keep reading for a brief history of cannabis in Western medicine.

The O’Shaughnessy Effect

In 1833, a 24-year-old Irishman, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, arrived in India. O’Shaunghnessy, an assistant physician in the East India Trading Company, actively pursued a wide range of interests and conducted extensive research. One area he invested a lot of time in was the study of cannabis and its medicinal properties. 

He found that the plant, when administered in correct doses, could help with the pain of rheumatism and could negate some of the more troubling effects of conditions like rabies and cholera. Indian locals already knew it to be true, but his research confirmed it and gave the findings a new air of legitimacy by publishing them in journals familiar to Western medicine. Many doctors in America and Europe, encouraged by O’Shanughessy’s research and findings, began to slowly introduce cannabis-based treatments to their own patients. 

Shortly thereafter, in 1851, cannabis was included in the 3rd edition of the United States Pharmacopeia, the official compendium of medicinal drug information. This inclusion meant that cannabis had a widely recognized medicinal value through the 19th century, and the United States Pharmacopeial Convention formally condoned its use in treatments for various diseases. 

Cannabis Goes Mainstream

Fifteen years later, in 1865, cannabis had gone from niche treatment to common antidote, frequently appearing in The Dispensatory of the United States of America, a comprehensive guide to medicinal drugs for pharmacists. The book suggested preparing cannabis as a tincture and using it in place of opium, as the two produced similar results, but cannabis had far fewer negative side effects. 

The Dispensatory recommended using cannabis to treat a long list of disorders, like “neuralgia, gout, rheumatism, tetanus, hydrophobia, epidemic cholera, convulsions, chorea, hysteria, mental depression, delirium tremens, insanity, and uterine haemorrhage.”

Major pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis (owned by Pfizer), and Squibb (of Bristol-Myers Squibb) all sold cannabis-based drugs in the early 1900s. And according to Forbes, “almost 6% of all manufactured drugs at the turn of the century contained cannabis in one form or another.” Meaning that cannabis wasn’t just a niche ingredient, sold only by alternative healers, but something widely available on the commercial market.

READ: The Turbulent History of the Hemp Plant

Morphine and the Pure Food and Drug Act

Tides began to turn for cannabis following the Civil War, thanks to an uptick in morphine addictions. This was supercharged by the invention of the hypodermic needle and syringe during that time, allowing for fast-acting, injectable delivery of morphine – causing an explosion of opioid abuse by the end of the 19th century.

Morphine played a major role in early pain medications and was widely used during the Civil War to treat injured soldiers. As a result, thousands of soldiers developed addictions. At the time, society lacked compassion toward addiction and often dismissed it as a “moral deficiency.” Eventually, however, doctors acknowledged the growing crisis and recognized that morphine—once believed to be safe and non-addictive—was the root cause.

In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, requiring that medicines containing intoxicants, like morphine, be labeled as such. The passing of the act also led to the creation of the Federal Drug Administration, the government agency that would eventually classify cannabis as a Schedule I substance.

The Pure Food and Drug Act also inspired people to take a more critical look at other “intoxicating” ingredients like cannabis. Opinions on the substance began to shift from safe and permissible to wary, marking the beginning of the end of medical marijuana.

The Downfall of Medical Marijuana

In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, which stopped the use of cannabis as a recreational drug by regulating its importation, distribution, cultivation, and possession. But the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics at the time, Harry Anslinger, pushed for more.

His efforts eventually led to the Boggs Act of 1951 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956, both of which increased the regulations around cannabis. In 1970, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act, classifying cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic and making it federally illegal for medical or recreational use.

It wasn’t until the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s that the medical community reconsidered cannabis again for medicinal uses. As it stands right now, the FDA has officially approved one cannabis-derived product and three synthetic cannabis-related products for medical use. The medications are only available with a prescription, and are not yet widely used, but their approval seems to indicate that the federal government’s attitudes towards medical cannabis are changing yet again. 

These medications aren’t trailblazers, like the hype surrounding them may lead you to believe, but a return to our roots.