
The human memory is woefully short. Though cannabis has only been legal in a handful of states for less than a decade, it seems that the process of cannabis legalization has been happening for a lifetime. After all, many stoners and 420-enthusiasts are happy to point out that it is only within the past century that cannabis was prohibited — that for most of the human history cannabis has been a plant beloved by most cultures around the world.
In truth, cannabis has always been a controversial plant. Though widespread legal prohibition is indeed relatively new, the sentiment that created it isn’t novel in the slightest. Modern cannabis bans are not irregular; in fact, they are the natural culmination of a long history of anti-cannabis feeling. Looking at the whole history of the war on weed, activists can do more to push cannabis legalization forward into a new era of acceptance.
Ancient Laws About Cannabis
Almost as soon as humankind began farming cannabis — almost as soon as humans discovered its psychoactive properties — people began to moralize about its consumption. The Ancient Chinese were the first civilization to write about cannabis, and they were likely among the first to cultivate the crop to a significant degree. Yet, around 600 BCE, Taoists gaining power around the empire outright rejected any substance that causes intoxication. Plenty of Taoists viewed cannabis as an anti-social drug, one that only uncultured shamans would use to feel loony.
Early Muslim societies also had a complex relationship with cannabis. Though many Arabic texts call weed the “bush of understanding,” the Qur’an prohibits intoxicants, which traditional theologians believe to include cannabis. Many upper-class Muslims throughout the Middle East began pushing for cannabis prohibition as early as the 7th century — not necessarily out of fear of the drug’s immorality but more likely to ensure that their workforce remained active and alert.
Cannabis in the Middle Ages
Using a different reading of the Qur’an, Sufi Muslims adopted cannabis as a critical tool for reaching enlightenment. Accordingly, Sufis around the Middle East grew vast cannabis farms, to the dismay of followers of more mainstream Islam. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Egyptians became afraid of the Sufis, and they systematically destroyed their cannabis crops. When Sufis made deals with Egyptian farmers along the Nile to grow cannabis, the Egyptian military imposed martial law and imprisoned any farmers (Sufi or Egyptian) found to be growing weed.
In the Middle Ages, Christianity also developed an antagonistic view of cannabis. Throughout Europe, pagans used the drug for various medicinal and spiritual applications, so Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull banning cannabis during his first year of the papacy. As a result, those found growing and using weed for any purpose were persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, and killed, many of them labeled Satanists to excuse their treatment.
Colonial Cannabis Sentiment
During the time of colonial expansion, cannabis had gained new value — not as a psychoactive substance but as a valuable crop used in the creation of textiles. Many early colonies in North America would not have survived had they not invested in cultivating hemp, which they could use or sell for the creation of rope or fabric for clothing and ships’ sails.
Yet, even as cannabis was an indispensable cash crop, it was vilified elsewhere in the colonial world. As early as 1550, the Spanish governor of Mexico strove to limit cannabis farming because the native workers were using the plant to get high. Likewise, in South Africa, the ruling white South Africans attempted to eliminate cannabis use by indentured Indian farmworkers because the hash was seen as a threat to civil order.
Across Africa, psychoactive cannabis was used as a spiritual tool for centuries by native groups, but colonial Europeans worked to end those practices. The Portuguese considered cannabis use a destructive vice that could reduce the value of their enslaved Africans, so they prohibited cannabis cultivation in their African colonies — areas which would become Zambia and Angola. Nevertheless, enslaved Africans brought cannabis with them to the New World, which transformed much of Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Southern U.S. into lush cannabis farmland.
Cannabis Around the World
The modern widespread cannabis prohibition began primarily with white British and white American fears of the cultural practices of people of color. Britain strove to limit or eliminate the use of hashish in their colonies in the Middle East, fearing the drug’s ability to create social unrest in local populations. Meanwhile, Americans were seeing a greater influx of immigrants from the Middle East and Latin America who smoked cannabis recreationally. Fearing the immigrants’ impact on the job market, states passed cannabis bans hoping to control or scare away these communities of color.
Fortunately, these prohibitions are starting to lift once again. Slowly but surely, many nations are reducing their cannabis restrictions and even passing recreational regulations. Today, of-age adults can purchase weed at a Boston dispensary without fear of criminal punishment, and entire nations like Canada, Mexico, and Uruguay are allowing residents and visitors to buy and consume cannabis.
The war on weed isn’t a new phenomenon; it has been going on since humans first domesticated the drug. Fortunately, as science helps us understand what cannabis can do for our bodies and minds, the morality associated with cannabis use is falling away, and more people can get access to the safe, fun, and beneficial substance.