THE HISTORY OF MARIGUANA IN MEDICINE FROM ANTIGUITY
Despite the general perception of the “innovative” use of this bush during the first part of the 21st century, evidence on marijuana management dates back to 29,000 years ago in severe settlements in eastern Europe and accompanied progressof the first human societies in the changes that occurred after the time of the Pleistocene;receiving the attribute of the oldest cultivated fiber plant that is known, this for its uses in the creation of baskets, fabrics, textiles and fishing nets. However, its medicinal use is documented until 2700 to.C. In the Chinese Empire, through the Shennung Pen Tsáo Ching manuscript by Emperor Chen Nung referring to the application of C. sativa to reduce menstrual pain, malaria, constipation and other diseases. In addition, other empires such as the Assyrians, the Egyptians (Papyrus Ebers, 1550 BC), the Hindus (Atharvaveda, 1200-800 AC), the Persians, the Greeks (Herodotus in 440 BC) and the Romans (Godkurides, 100 DC; Galen, 170 dc) reported the use of their recreational, medicinal properties and for the manufacture of fishing nets, strings, textiles and even paper. However, it was William Brooke O´shaughnessy and Jacques Joseph Moreau who made the first modern descriptions about the therapeutic properties of cannabis and that allowed the introduction of the plant in 1830’s to modern western society, respectively. Moreau, is considered the modern father of psychopharmacology after having reported the use of moderate doses of cannabis for the treatment of patients with mental illnesses, insomnia, headache and as an appetite suppressor at the Bicetre hospital, in France. After its introduction to the West, in Paris its recreational application began through the Hashish-Eater Club at the Pimodan Hotel and where famous poets and writers such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Baudelaire, Honoré de Balzac, Théophile Gautier and the painter FerdinandBoissard experienced their psychotropic properties.
In America, marijuana consumption began south in the 16th century due to the importation of seeds probably from Angola to Brazil and its main use was of character.
In the scientific field were Giovanni Polli, Carlo Erba, Raffaele Valieri who reported the use of C. sativa for the management of migraine, neuralgia, insomnia, hysteria, asthma, pulmonary emphysema and goiter. Therefore, the period between the second part of the nineteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth century was called the Golden Age for cannabis in medicine. Reforming for his time, in 1899 the pharmacologist Walter Ernest Dixon pointed out the rapid and constant pharmacological effect of inhaled cannabis. However, due to the economic interests of British government in India, the Indian hemp drug commission was established, publishing its report in 1894 and established that ‘the occasional use of hemp in moderate doses can be beneficial and medicinally. But excessive use can be very harmful, although in many chronic consumers the injury is not clearly marked ”. However, in 1912 United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal agreed to the first international drug control treaties on opium and coca in response to the growing criticism at that time about that time aboutThe trade of these products. Subsequently, in 1925 the agreement in Ginevra was signed by Egypt, USA and China for the restriction of cannabis in medicines and by 1941 the cannabis was eliminated by the pharmacopoeia of the United States and by the national form, forcing the American Medical Associationto prohibit all studies on the medical use of cannabis.
Despite the legal restrictions in some countries, there were Yehiel Gaoni and Raphael Mechoulam who began a new era in cannabis investigation after identifying for the first time the main cannabinoids of marijuana in 1964. Subsequently, with the description of the receivers for cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system in 1990, the biological effect of phytocannabinoids and their pharmacological properties began to better understand each other.
Finally, the first part of the 21st century has been characterized by the changes in the policies of the states on the use of marijuana for its well -documented therapeutic application, decriminalizing or even legalizing it for recreational purposes, as in Uruguay and in the states of Washington,Colorado, Oregon and Alaska in the United States.
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