Although CBD oil and similar products are different from drugs derived from the hemp plant, the increasing legalization of marijuana and hashish is also responsible for the success of other hemp products. Here, the legality and acceptance varies depending on the culture and time.

Hemp in China, India and the Near East

The discovery of the hemp plant as a (medical) drug is probably just as old as the discovery of hemp as a useful plant. Writings about it can be dated in China as early as 3000 years before our era. For example, the emperor Shennong recommended cannabis for constipation and gout.

Also in the Indian cultural space, marijuana and hashish were used thousands of years ago as a remedy and intoxicant. For example, for epilepsy and pain. Sadhus still take the intoxicant today. In addition, the cannabis paste bhang is consumed during the Holi festival and sold freely at stalls during this period.

According to some myths, the god Shiva consumed marijuana and gave it to people as a gift. Also in the Yogasutra – today one of the most important Indian philosophical texts – there is talk of Oshadi, which literally means light or fire bringer. This means either hemp as a medicinal or intoxicating plant, which is to be consumed by the yogi in order to attain miraculous abilities.

From here, knowledge of cannabis use spread to the Near East. Persians and Assyrians used it against depression, arthritis and impotence. The latter also used the plant for incense. Later, due to the prohibition of alcohol, it was not uncommon in Muslim cultures to use the plant not only for medicinal purposes (e.g., against epilepsy) but also as a drug – even though this was mostly illegal.

Hemp in the Occident

The Crusades in particular brought cannabis to Europe, where it was used medicinally, especially in monasteries, for example to treat rheumatism. As an intoxicant, however, it was outlawed and prohibited by the church.

Its medicinal and other uses spread across the continents in the following centuries and thus also reached the USA. There, it was the most widely used analgesic until the end of the 19th century and accounted for about 50 percent of medicines sold in the second half of the same century.

This changed there and in Europe only with the increasing spread of synthetic drugs. A paradigm shift then occurred in the first decades of the 20th century. In Europe, political interests were responsible for the prohibition of cannabis, which came into full effect in Germany in 1929 in the form of the Opium Act.

In the 1930s, economic concerns allegedly led to the stigmatization of cannabis in the USA, with no distinction being made between the useful plant and the intoxicant. According to some voices, certain companies were interested in such a campaign in order to eliminate the cheap and high-quality hemp fiber as competition for their new products.

Relegalization of cannabis

With the illegalization and stigmatization, the processing of hemp as a useful plant also disappeared and only flared up for the last time during the 2nd World War, especially in the USA. This changed only in recent years. After Paraguay was the first country to fully legalize cannabis in 2013, Canada followed in 2017/2018 with a partial legalization.

In addition, other countries such as the Netherlands and some states in the USA have decriminalized or partially, sometimes completely, legalized the use of cannabis. In Germany, cannabis has been permitted again as a medicine since 2017. In addition, there are countries such as Jamaica and India, where consumption is partially tolerated.

The legalization trend not only simplifies the economic conditions so that hemp can once again be increasingly used as a useful plant. It is also changing the image of the plant in society. The rediscovery of hemp in the food, cosmetics and other industries is the result.

With no stop in sight to the increasing legalization, these products and their positive effects will become more and more prevalent on the market. Trees is not excluded from this. In addition to our diverse CBD oils and the soon to be available cosmetics, we will expand our range with some other products in the long run.

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(Re)legalization of cannabis

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