CHRONOLOGY OF CANNABIS

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A Chronology of Cannabis

 

2737 BC

Cannabis referred to as a "superior" herb in the world's first medical text, Shen Nung's Pen Ts'ao, in China

 

1500 BC

Cannabis-smoking Scythians sweep through Europe and Asia, settling and inventing the scythe

 

1400 BC

Cultural and religious use of ganja or cannabis, and charas or hashish (resin) recorded used by Hindus in India

 

600 BC

Zend-Avesta, Indian scripture, speaks of hemp's intoxicating resin

 

500 BC

Gautama Buddha said to have survived by eating hempseed. First botanical drawings of cannabis in Constantinopolitaus

 

450 BC

Herodotus records Scythians and Thracians as consuming cannabis and making fine linens of hemp

 

300 BC

Carthage and Rome struggle for political and commercial power over hemp and spice trade routes in the Mediterranean

 

100 BC

Chinese make paper from hemp and mulberry

 

70 BC

Roman Emperor Nero's surgeon, Dioscorides, praises cannabis for making the stoutest cords and for its medicinal properties

 

30 AD

Jesus teaches: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man (Matthew 15:11).

100 AD

Roman surgeon Dioscorides names the plant cannabis Sativa and describes various medicinal uses

101 AD

Pliny reports of industrial uses and writes a manual on farming hemp

400 AD

Cannabis cultivated for the first time in the UK at Old Buckenham Mere

500 AD

First botanical drawing of hemp in Constantinopolitanus

600 AD

Germans, Franks, Vikings etc all use hemp fibre

800 AD

Mohammed allows cannabis but forbids the use of alcohol

1000 AD

The English word "hempe" first listed in a dictionary. Moslems produce hashish medicine and social use

1150 AD

Moslems use hemp to start Europe's first paper mill. Most of the paper is made from hemp for the next 750 years, including Bibles

1379 AD

Emir Sheikhouni of Joneima prohibits cannabis consumption amongst the poor, destroys the crops, and punishes offenders by pulling out their teeth

1484 AD

Inquisitor Pope Innocent VIII outlaws hashish

1494 AD

Hemp paper industry starts in Englan

1554 AD

The Spanish grow hemp in Peru

1563 AD

English Queen Elizabeth I decrees that land owners with more than 60 acres must grow hemp or be fined 5 pounds

1564 AD

King Philip of Spain orders hemp grown throughout his empire from modern Arhentina to Oregon

1600 AD

Dutch achieve the "Golden Age" through hemp commerce. Explorers find "wilde hempe" in North America

1606 AD

The British take cannabis to Canada for maritime uses

1621 AD

The Anatomy of Melancholy claims cannabis is a treatment for depression

1631 AD

Hemp used as money throughout American colonies

1632 AD

The Pilgrims take cannabis to New England

1637 AD

The General Court at Hartford, Conneticut, orders that all families plant one teaspoon of cannabis seeds

1763 AD

New English Dictionary says cannabis root applied to skin eases inflammation

1776 AD

Declaration of Independence drafted on hemp paper

1791 AD

President Jefferson calls hemp a necessity and urges farmers to grow hemp instead of tobacco

1857 AD

Smith Brothers of Edinburgh market cannabis Indica extracts

1860 AD

First governmental commission study of cannabis and hashish conducted by Ohio State Medical Society. It catalogues the conditions for which cannabis is beneficial: neuralgia, nervous rheumatism, mania, whooping cough, asthma, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, epilepsy, infantile convulsions, palsy, uterine hemorrhage, dysmenorrhea, hysteria, alcohol withdrawal and loss of appetite

1868 AD

The Emir of Egypt makes the possession of cannabis a capital offence

1870 AD

South Africa worried about cannabis use among Indian workers, passes a law forbidding the smoking, use or possession of hemp by Indians

1894 AD

British Indian Hemp drugs Commission studies social use of cannabis and comes out firmly against its prohibition

1910 AD

African-American "reefer" use reported in Jazz Clubs in New Orleans, said to be influencing white people. Mexicans smoking marijuana in Texas

1915 AD

Utah State, then California and Texas outlaw cannabis. Cocaine banned in the USA

1919 AD

Alcohol is prohibited throughout the USA. Cannabis is still legal in most States

1923 AD

South African delegate at League of Nations calls for international controls on cannabis, claiming that it makes mine workers less active. Britain insists on further research

1927 AD

New York outlaws cannabis

1930 AD

Henry Ford makes his motor cars out of hemp with hemp paint and hemp fuel. New machines invented to break hemp, process the fibre and convert the pulp or hurds into paper, plastics etc. 1200 hash bars in New York City. Racist fears of Mexicans, Asians and African-Americans lead the cry for cannabis to be outlawed

1930 AD

Louis Armstrong arrested in Los Angeles for possession of cannabis

1931 AD

Federal Bureau of Narcotics formed with Anslinger at the head. By now 29 US states have banned non-prescription cannabis

1934 AD

Anslinger refers to "ginger-haired niggers" in FBI official circulars

1943 AD

US Military Surgeon magazine declares that smoking cannabis is no more harmful than smoking tobacco

1944 AD

New York Academy of Medicine reports marijuana use does not cause violent behaviour, provoke insanity, lead to addiction or promote opiate usage. Anslinger describes the authors as dangerous and strange

1944 AD

Anslinger threatens doctors who carry out cannabis research with imprisonment

1948 AD

Anslinger now says cannabis users are peaceful and that cannabis could be used during a communist invasion, to weaken American will to fight

1948 AD

Hollywood star Robert Mitchum arrested for cannabis

1952 AD

First UK cannabis arrest at Number 11 Club, Soho, London

1961 AD

UN Treaty 406 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs seeks to outlaw cannabis use and cannabis cultivation worldwide and eradicate cannabis smoking within 30 years (by 1991). USA representative is Anslinger

1962 AD

President Kennedy sacks Anslinger. Kennedy using cannabis as a pain relief

1966 AD

Donovan becomes first UK celebrity to be busted for cannabis

1967 AD

3,000 people hold a 'smoke-in' in Hyde Park. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones are arrested and imprisoned for cannabis. This prompts a Times editorial 'Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?’ The convictions are quashed on appeal. In the UK 2,393 persons arrested for cannabis offences

1968 AD

John Lennon arrested for cannabis possession

1968 AD

UK Government Wootton Report recommends cannabis possession should not be an offence. "Having reviewed all the material available to us we find ourselves in agreement with the conclusion reached by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission appointed by the Government of India (1893-94) and the New York Mayor's Committee (1944 - LaGuardia) that the long-term consumption of cannabis in moderate doses has no harmful effects."

1969 AD

George Harrison arrested for cannabis

1971 AD

British Misuse of Drugs Act classifies cannabis as a Class B drug with stiff sentencing. This bans the medical use of cannabis

1973 AD

UN Convention of Psychotropic Substances: cannabis is a narcotic

1975 AD

Alaska legalises cannabis for personal use. Limit on amount is one ounce

1976 AD

Holland adopts tolerant attitude to cannabis and many coffee shops and youth centres allowed to sell cannabis

1980 AD

Paul McCartney arrested for cannabis and spends 10 days in prison in Japan

1983 AD

In the UK over 20,000 convictions for possession

1983 AD

The USA government (Reagan / Bush) orders American Universities to destroy all 1966-76 research work on cannabis

1988 AD

UK 23,229 people arrested for cannabis offences

1990 AD

Alaska recriminalises cannabis possession

1991 AD

UK 40,000 people arrested for cannabis

1991 AD

'Mr. Marijuana', Howard Marks, arrested, taken from Spain to USA, and given 25 years imprisonment for trafficking in cannabis

1992 AD

USA over 340,000 arrests for cannabis

1992 AD

USA President Clinton admits he smoked cannabis but did not inhale. Howard Marks admits that he smoked cannabis but never exhaled

1992 AD

USA Jim Montgomery, a paraplegic who smoked cannabis to relieve muscle spasm, busted for two ounces of marijuana in Oklahoma, arrested and sentenced to life plus 16 years

1993 AD

22 British MP's call for the establishment of a Royal Commission

1993 AD

44 British MP's call for a Royal Commission

1993 AD

55 British MP's call for cannabis to be recognised and allowed for treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

1993 AD

Over 72,000 UK citizens arrested for cannabis offences

1995 AD

Clare Short MP (Labour) calls for a Royal Commission on Cannabis and is reprimanded by her party bosses. (October)

1996 AD

George Howarth MP (Labour) says his party do not want a Royal Commission because it might conclude that cannabis should be legalised which a Labour Government would not do anyway

1997 AD

July: The British Medical Association (BMA) recommends the provision of medicinal cannabis in the UK

1997 AD

November 5: EU Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties suggests that soft drugs should be legalised

1997 AD

December 20: British Home Secretary, Jack Straw (Labour) is told by the Daily Mirror that his son, William, sold 10 pounds worth of cannabis to a reporter Dawn Alford. Straw immediately escorts his own son to a police station to turn himself in. The lad is cautioned several weeks later

1998 AD

June 12: The UK Government has granted a license to grow and possess cannabis for the purposes of medical trials, to Dr Geoffrey Guy of GW Pharmaceuticals. Electrified razor-wire fences, security cameras and guard dogs guard the crop at a secret location in southeast England

1998 AD

A group of Welsh Cannabis Smokers headed by Chris Rawley lays prosecution papers upon Jack Straw, Tony Blair, Lord Bingham, a Crown Court Judge and Tenby Magistrates, in the process of a public prosecution for crimes against humanity and peace, and crimes against children, for upholding an illegal prohibition of cannabis

1998 AD

December 24: Prince Charles tells a sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis that he has heard that cannabis can help.

1999 AD

February 23: UK: 55-year-old arthritis sufferer jailed for one year for using cannabis to relieve his pain

2000 AD

UK: MS Sufferer Cleared Of Cannabis Charge

2000 AD

October 20: UK: Cannabis Less Harmful Than Aspirin, Says Scientist: The Independent

2001 AD

22 March: UK: Lords Urge Legal Use Of Cannabis

2001 AD

1 July: UK: Drug Czar Recants: Cannabis Use Does Not Lead To Heroin

2001 AD

5 July: UK: In One Part Of London, Police Turn Blind Eye To Marijuana To Target Harder Crime

2001 AD

15 October: First UK Coffeeshop, Dutch Experience opens in Stockport, Manchester