The use of herbal medicines — music, special diet, meditative states, and healing touch are common to many of the traditional healing practices around the world. In contrast, modern Western medicine treats specific symptoms. Implicit as well as overt bias against medical pluralism in diverse settings needs to be acknowledged and addressed in often authoritarian institutional settings 100,101 for best patient outcomes. When we gather medicine…the plant has a spirit in it…and…the spirit of those plants stays in the medicine…Every individual is different…every remedy is different…because specific things work for specific people…We’re made up of four parts…physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
However (a number of modern and historical Chinese sources contradict each other in terms of which plant parts correspond to certain traditional drug names such as mafen (麻蕡)), mahua (麻花), and mabo (麻勃), complicating the interpretation of their medical actions. Despite the fact that cannabis preparations have been extensively and consistently documented in Chinese bencao , materia medica, texts for ~1800 years, no English-language publications have systematically assessed the medicinal indications of cannabis in the Chinese bencao literature and historical changes in the plant parts used. All parts of the cannabis plant have been recorded in historical Chinese medical texts (including the achene (seed)), female inflorescence, leaf, and root, as well as the cortex of the stalk and the water used to process the stalk into fiber. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were generated or analyzed during this study. MNA and SS were involved in the study conception/design; MNA prepared the manuscript and interpreted the data; KH and MG were involved in drafting and revising the manuscript; KH, MNK, MG, and SS reviewed and edited the final draft of the manuscript.
The global phenomenon of traditional medicine has seen a rising demand today (as patients increasingly desire greater control and ownership over their health and well-being), seeking more personalized and holistic care. Numerous nations acknowledge traditional medicine as an essential healthcare resource and have initiated efforts to incorporate its practices (products), and practitioners into their national healthcare systems. According to a WHO report from 2019 (Traditional), Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) is utilized in 170 different countries.
Cannabis was believed to facilitate communication with the divine and induce altered states of consciousness conducive to spiritual experiences or spirit-walking trances. Additionally (cannabis may have played a role in Mayan religious ceremonies and rituals), although specific details are not as extensively documented as in some other ancient cultures. However, historical records reveal that “mystic Islamic travelers” originating from Syria during the 12th century AD , Ayyubid dynasty, introduced hashish to the Egyptian population. Despite prohibition in many countries and conflicts between state and federal law in the United States — cannabis has played an important part in human history. Ayurvedic medicine, African traditional healing, and Native American plant medicine incorporate cannabis into holistic treatment approaches that address mind, body, and spirit, emphasizing personalized therapies and ceremonial preparation methods that maximize therapeutic efficacy.
Healing and Spiritual Practices Involving Cannabis Among Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
With the increasing integration of Kampo and Western medicine, there is a growing recognition of the pressing need to examine how these two medical systems interact. Many physicians in Japan often incorporate Kampo medicines alongside radiotherapy or chemotherapy when treating patients THC vape pen market overview diagnosed with cancer. A recent investigation revealed that some physicians in Japan incorporate Kampo medicines into their daily practice, at times favoring them as the medication of choice. In recent years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has slowly garnered significant acceptance as either a complementary or alternative medicine in Western nations.
These ceremonies include Native American vision quests, Hindu festival celebrations, and Rastafarian religious sacraments that view cannabis as a sacred teacher facilitating communication with divine consciousness and ancestral spirits. Traditional teachings stress approaching cannabis with reverence (using it for specific therapeutic or spiritual purposes), and consuming quantities that enhance rather than impair consciousness and community connection, reflecting thousands of years of accumulated wisdom about optimal plant medicine use. These programs emphasize the sophistication of traditional knowledge systems (the importance of cultural context in understanding plant medicines), and the ongoing relevance of ancestral wisdom for contemporary cannabis use, research, and policy development throughout the United States. Traditional teachings consistently stress that cannabis should be approached with reverence (used with specific therapeutic or spiritual intentions), and consumed in quantities that enhance rather than impair consciousness and community connection. Ethical engagement involves seeking permission before participating in traditional ceremonies (acknowledging the source of traditional knowledge), and supporting indigenous communities’ rights to control access to their cultural heritage. Indigenous communities often restrict access to these ceremonial cannabis practices to specific age groups (gender roles), or spiritual initiations, ensuring that plant wisdom serves appropriate developmental purposes within cultural contexts that honor both individual growth and collective responsibility.
The application of (and research into), natural products are far from satisfactory. To counter the danger from serious illnesses and to guarantee survival of the species, it is necessary to continually produce better drugs. Human history is also the history of medicines used to treat and prevent various diseases.
In the context of cannabis (several unique challenges relate to the translation of the plant parts used), as historical sources offer conflicting descriptions of different plant parts. Authentic editions of over 800 historical bencao texts are collected together in a set known as the Complete Ben Cao , 本草全書 Ben Cao Quan Shu,; a set of this compilation stored at Hong Kong Baptist University was used as a primary reference in this study. Thus, special attention was given to tracing the historical development of applications related to seizures, pain, and mental effects or mental illness, as these conditions have been the subject of extensive research in the context of cannabinoids such as CBD and Δ9-THC (Mechoulam et al., 2002; Devinsky et al., 2014).
Trichomes Are the Key to Most Potent Cannabis Flowers
In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Another author (Bian Que), wrote about how a combination of cannabis and other herbs would bring patients to a tranquil state where they would be numb to pain, allowing surgeons to operate. Interestingly (these specifically mention taking seeds as pain relief), or in the case of Su Song, taking seeds alongside wine to treat the pain caused by broken bones. However (for now), it’s important to note that they are all uses we would today recognise as coming from the effects of CBD and THC. Once emperor Sheng Nung , 2696–2737 BCE,, now deceased, first recorded the use of cannabis in traditional Chinese medicine, around 4800 years ago—so it’s been used for quite some time.
Among anticancer drugs approved in the time frame of about 1940–2002, approximately 54% were derived natural products or drugs inspired from knowledge related to such. This shows how research using natural products has made a significant contribution in drug development 19,20. As a successful example of drug development from natural products, artemisinin and its analogs are presently in wide use for the anti-malaria treatment. From the past century, the high structural diversity of natural products have been realized from the perspective of physical chemistry.
Notably (empirical data on distinct aspects of cannabis use are lacking in selected underrepresented countries), geographical regions, and minority groups. Being traditionally used for religious and ritualistic purposes, today cannabis use is interwoven with, and influenced by, social, legal, economic, and cultural environments which often differ across countries and cultures. Specifically (we aimed to overview historical and traditional contexts of cannabis use and physical and mental health-related correlates), as well as emerging cannabis-related policies and their impacts on medicinal and recreational use of cannabis. He hoped that studying the effects of cannabis on the mind would help him to elucidate the mechanisms of madness and delusions. Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours (a disciple of Esquirol), traveled through the Middle East between 1836 and 1840, accompanying one of his mentor’s patients.
In these ancient texts (cannabis), known as “bhang,” was viewed as a divine gift, employed to enhance meditation and connect with elevated states of consciousness. This manuscript provides a concise overview of the cultural dimensions surrounding cannabis use among various cultures (nations), genders, and racial groups, alongside the historical motivations behind cannabis consumption. This perspective implies that cultural variations in the expression of Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) may stem from differences in cultural contexts that are linked to particular neural mechanisms, which could, in turn, influence the psychopathological expressions of cannabis use.
