| |
| 6000 B.C. |
|
Cannabis
seeds used for food in China. |
| 4000 B.C. |
|
Textiles made
of hemp are used in China. |
| 2727
B.C. |
|
First
recorded use of cannabis as medicine in Chinese pharmacopoeia. In every part of
the world humankind has used cannabis for a wide variety of health
problems. |
| 1500 B.C. |
|
Cannabis
cultivated in China for food and fiber. |
| 1500 B.C. |
|
Scythians
cultivate cannabis and use it to weave fine hemp cloth. (Sumach 1975)
|
| 1200-800 B.C. |
|
Cannabis is
mentioned in the Hindu sacred text Atharvaveda (Science of Charms) as "Sacred
Grass", one of the five sacred plants of India. It is used medicinally and
ritually as an offering to Shiva. |
| 700-600 B.C. |
|
The
Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, an ancient Persian religious text of several hundred
volumes, and said to have been written by Zarathustra (Zoroaster), refers to
bhang as Zoroaster's "good narcotic" (Vendidad or The Law Against
Demons). |
| 700-300 B.C. |
|
Scythian
tribes leave cannabis seeds as offerings in royal tombs.
|
| 500 B.C. |
|
Scythian
couple die and are buried with two small tents covering censers. Attached to
one tent stick was a decorated leather pouch containing wild cannabis seeds.
This closely matches the stories told by Herodotus. The gravesite, discovered
in the late 1940s, was in Pazryk, northwest of the Tien Shan Mountains in
modern-day Kazakhstan. |
| 500 B.C. |
|
Hemp is
introduced into Northern Europe by the Scythians. An urn containing leaves and
seeds of the cannabis plant, unearthed near Berlin, is dated to about this
time. |
| 500-100 B.C. |
|
Hemp spreads
throughout northern Europe. |
| 430 B.C. |
|
Herodotus
reports on both ritual and recreational use of cannabis by the Scythians
(Herodotus The Histories 430 B.C. trans. G. Rawlinson).
|
| 100 B.C.-0 |
|
The
psychotropic properties of cannabis are mentioned in the newly compiled herbal
Pen Ts'ao Ching which is attributed to an emperor c. 2700 B.C.
|
| 0-100 A.D. |
|
Construction
of Samaritan gold and glass paste stash box for storing hashish, coriander, or
salt, buried in Siberian tomb. |
| 70 A.D. |
|
Dioscorides
mentions the use of cannabis as a Roman medicament.
|
| 170 A.D. |
|
Galen (Roman)
alludes to the psychoactivity of cannabis seed confections.
|
| 500-600 A.D. |
|
The Jewish
Talmud mentions the euphoriant properties of cannabis. (Abel 1980)
|
| 900-1000 A.D. |
|
Scholars
debate the pros and cons of eating hashish. Use spreads throughout
Arabia. |
| 1090-1256 A.D. |
|
In Khorasan,
Persia, Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain, recruits followers to
commit assassinations...legends develop around their supposed use of hashish.
These legends are some of the earliest written tales of the discovery of the
inebriating powers of cannabis and the supposed use of hashish. 1256 Alamut
falls. |
| 1200s |
|
Cannabis is
introduced in Egypt during the reign of the Ayyubid dynasty on the occasion of
the flooding of Egypt by mystic devotees coming from Syria. (M.K. Hussein 1957
- Soueif 1972) |
| Early 1200s |
|
Hashish
smoking very popular throughout the Middle East.
|
| 1155-1221 |
|
Persian
legend of the Sufi master Sheik Haidar's of Khorasan's personal discovery of
cannabis and its subsequent spread to Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria. Another
of the earliest written narratives of the use of cannabis as an
inebriant. |
| 1300s |
|
The oldest
monograph on hashish, Zahr al-'arish fi tahrim al-hashish, was written. It has
since been lost. |
| 1300s |
|
Ibn al-Baytar
of Spain provides a description of psychoactive cannabis.
|
| 1300s |
|
Arab traders
bring cannabis to the Mozambique coast of Africa.
|
| 1231 |
|
Hashish
introduced to Iraq in the reign of Caliph Mustansir. (Rosenthal 1971)
|
| 1271-1295 |
|
Journeys of
Marco Polo in which he gives second-hand reports of the story of Hasan ibn
al-Sabbah and his "assassins" using hashish. First time reports of cannabis
have been brought to the attention of Europe. |
| 1378 |
|
Ottoman Emir
Soudoun Scheikhouni issues one of the first edicts against the eating of
hashish. |
| 1526 |
|
Babur Nama,
first emperor and founder of Mughal Empire learned of hashish in
Afghanistan. |
| mid 1600s |
|
The epic
poem, Benk u Bode, by the poet Mohammed Ebn Soleiman Foruli of Baghdad,
deals allegorically with a dialectical battle between wine and hashish.
|
| 1700s |
|
Use of
hashish, alcohol, and opium spreads among the population of occupied
Constantinople. |
| Late 1700s |
|
Hashish
becomes a major trade item between Central Asia and South Asia.
|
| 1798 |
|
Napoleon
discovers that much of the Egyptian lower class habitually uses hashish
(Kimmens 1977). He declares a total prohibition. Soldiers returning to France
bring the tradition with them. |
| 1900s |
|
Hashish
production expands from Russian Turkestan into Yarkand in Chinese
Turkestan. |
| 1809 |
|
Antoine
Sylvestre de Sacy, a leading Arabist, reveals the etymology of the words
"assassin" and "hashishin". |
| 1840 |
|
In America,
medicinal preparations with a cannabis base are available. Hashish available in
Persian pharmacies. |
| 1843 |
|
Le Club des
Hachichins, or Hashish Eater's Club, established in Paris.
|
| after 1850 |
|
Hashish
appears in Greece. |
| 1856 |
|
British tax
ganja and charas trade in India. |
| 1870-1880 |
|
First reports
of hashish smoking on Greek mainland. |
| c. 1875 |
|
Cultivation
for hashish introduced to Greece. |
| 1877 |
|
Kerr reports
on Indian ganja and charas trade. |
| 1890 |
|
Greek
Department of Interior prohibits importance, cultivation and use of
hashish. |
| 1890 |
|
Hashish made
illegal in Turkey. |
| 1893-1894 |
|
The India
Hemp Drugs Commission Report is issued. |
| 1893-1894 |
|
70,000 to
80,000 kg of hashish legally imported into India from Central Asia each
year. |
| Early 2000s |
|
Hashish
smoking very popular throughout the Middle East.
|
| 1915-1927 |
|
Cannabis
begins to be prohibited for nonmedical use in the U.S., especially in SW
states...California (1915), Texas (1919), Louisiana (1924), and New York
(1927). |
| 1920 |
|
Metaxus
dictators in Greece crack down on hashish smoking.
|
| 1920s |
|
Hashish
smuggled into Egypt from Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Central
Asia. |
| 1926 |
|
Lebanese
hashish production peaks after World War I until prohibited in 1926.
|
| 1928 |
|
Recreational
use of cannabis is banned in Britain. |
| 1920s-1930s |
|
High-quality
hashish produced in Turkey near Greek border. |
| 1930 |
|
Yarkand
region of Chinese Turkestan exports 91,471 kg of hashish legally into the
Northwest Frontier and Punjab regions of India. |
| 1930s |
|
Legal taxed
imports of hashish continue into India from Central Asia.
|
| 1934-1935 |
|
Chinese
government moves to end all cannabis cultivation in Yarkand. Both licit and
illicit hashish production become illegal in Chinese Turkestan.
|
| 1937 |
|
Cannabis made
federally illegal in the U.S. with the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act.
|
| 1938 |
|
Supply of
hashish from chinese Turkestan nearly ceases. |
| 1940s |
|
Greek hashish
smoking tradition fades. |
| 1941 |
|
Indian
government considers cultivation in Kashmir to fill void of hashish from
Chinese Turkestan. |
| 1941-1942 |
|
Hand-rubbed
charas from Nepal is choicest hashish in India during World War II.
|
| 1945 |
|
Legal hashish
consumption continues in India. |
| 1945-1955 |
|
Hashish use
in Greece flourishes again. |
| 1950s |
|
Hashish still
smuggled into India from Chinese Central Asia. |
| 1950s |
|
Moroccan
government tacitly allows kif cultivation in Rif Mountains.
|
| 1962 |
|
First hashish
made in Morocco. |
| 1963 |
|
Turkish
police seize 2.5 tons of hashish. |
| 1965 |
|
First reports
of C. Afghanica use for hashish production in northern
Afghanistan. |
| 1965 |
|
Mustafa comes
to Ketama in Morocco to make hashish from local kif.
|
| 1966 |
|
The Moroccan
government attempts to purge kif growers from Rif Mountains.
|
| 1967 |
|
"Smash", the
first hashish oil appears. Red Lebanese reaches California.
|
| Late 1960s-Early
1970s |
|
The
Brotherhood popularizes Afghani hashish. |
| 1970-1973 |
|
Huge fields
of cannabis cultivated for hashish production in Afghanistan. Last year's that
truly great Afghani hashish is available.
|
| Oct 27, 1970 |
|
The
Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act is passed. Part II of this
is the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) which defines a scheduling system for
drugs and places most of the known hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, psilocin,
mescaline, peyote, cannabis) in Schedule I. |
| 1972 |
|
The
Nixon-appointed Shafer Commission urged use of cannabis be re-legalized, but
their recommendation was ignored. Medical research continues.
|
| Early 1970s |
|
Lebanese red
and blonde hashish of very high quality exported. The highest quality Turkish
hashish from Gaziantep near Syria appears in western Europe.
|
| Early 1970s |
|
Afghani
hashish varieties introduced to North America for sinsemilla production.
Westerners bring metal sieve cloths to Afghanistan. Law enforcement efforts
against hashish begin in Afghanistan. |
| 1973 |
|
Nepal bans
the cannabis shops and charas (hand-rolled hash) export.
|
| 1973 |
|
Afghan
government makes hashish production and sales illegal. Afghani harvest is
pitifully small. |
| 1975 |
|
FDA
establishes Compassionate Use program for medical marijuana.
|
| 1976-1977 |
|
Quality of
Lebanese hashish reaches zenith. |
| 1978 |
|
Westerners
make sieved hashish in Nepal from wild cannabis.
|
| Late 1970s |
|
Increasing
manufacture of "modern" Afghani hashish. cannabis varieties from Afghanistan
imported into Kashmir for sieved hashish production.
|
| 1980s |
|
Morocco
becomes one of, if not the largest, hashish producing and exporting
nations. |
| 1980s |
|
"Border"
hashish produced in northwestern Pakistan along the Afghan border to avoid
Soviet-Afghan war. |
| 1985 |
|
Hashish still
produced by Muslims of Kashgar and Yarkland (NW China).
|
| 1986 |
|
Most private
stashes of pre-war Afghani hashish in Amsterdam, Goa, and America are nearly
finished. |
| 1987 |
|
Moroccan
government cracks down upon cannabis cultivation in lower elevations of Rif
Mountains. |
| 1988 |
|
DEA
administrative law Judge Francis Young finds after thorough hearings that
marijuana has clearly established medical use and should be reclassified as a
prescriptive drug. |
| 1993 |
|
Cannabis
eradication efforts resume in Morocco. |
| 1994 |
|
Heavy
fighting between rival Muslim clans continues to upset hashish trade in
Afghanistan. |
| 1994 |
|
Border
hashish still produced in Pakistan. |
| 1995 |
|
Introduction
of hashish-making equipment and appearance of locally produced hashish in
Amsterdam coffee shops. |
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