Marijuana Medicine: A World Tour of the Healing and Visionary Powers of Cannabis

by Christian Rätsch

A comprehensive survey of the therapeutic, historical, and cultural uses of cannabis in traditions around the world.

• The most complete visual record of cannabis culture ever published.

• Christian Ratsch is one of the world's foremost ethnopharmacologists and is the current president of the German Society for Ethnomedicine.

Marijuana Medicine explores the role of hemp in medicinal systems spanning the globe. Cannabis has accompanied the development of human culture from its very beginnings and can be found in the healing traditions of cultures throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Even today it is an important part of many Asian healing in Ayurveda cannabis is praised for its tonic and aphrodisiac qualities and in traditional Chinese medicine it is cited as a superb antidepressant. It also remains a significant part of the healing and visionary traditions of Latin American curanderos and Brazilian, Nepalese, and Indian folk medicine. Modern research has confirmed the effectiveness of marijuana's application in treating such diseases as asthma and glaucoma. Christian Ratsch profiles the medicinal, historical, and cultural uses of cannabis in each of these societies and medical systems, providing remedies and recipes for those interested in how cannabis can be used to treat specific conditions.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2001

Reviews

[Gh0zt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marijuana Medicina is an extensive account of the use of Cannabis sativa throughout the world. It discusses the many diverse ethnic groups who have used this plant for an enormous amount of different uses in medicine. Hemp has been cultivated for 7,000 years, making it one of mankinds oldest cultivated plants. This book details the use of marijuana in prehistoric shamans, Ancient China, Japanese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Indian and Nepalese folk medicine, Tibetan medicine, Southeast Asian medicine, Russian folk medicine, Southwest Asian medicine, its use among the Scythians, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the Islamic-Arabic medical doctrines, in Germanic medicine, as well as the medicine of German mystic/medicine-woman Hildegard. There is also information for its use among the fathers of botany, in alchemy, folk medicine, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, its role in Rasta, Native American medicine, its role in Curanderismo (Native Mexican and South-American folk medicine), and Brazilian folk medicine. It discusses hemp in homeopathy, modern self-medication, and its status in Western scientific medicine.

For a plant that is demonized it has certainly made quite a positive impression on the majority of the world for the past seven thousand years. Like all books by Christian Ratsch this one is filled with interesting and rare images, plant preperations, and quotes.

A must have for any ethnobotanist, herbalist, shaman, or anyone interested in the history of marijuana.

[ar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Proved to me that Cannabis use is even more ubiquitous than I thought, throughout time and around the world. Also confirmed that the synergy between it and other plant medicines cannot be understated and is also ubiquitous- something I don't see as much in the western cannabis crowd. From kratom to nicotine to datura to ashwagandha, people have been mixing their bud with other psychoactive plants since the first days of its use. More of a short reference book, it has a chapter on every region cannabis has been used. There's a bit of bias here though, and its a bit outdated, but definitely worth a look.

[Guillermo]

Borrowed this one from Adam...