The Green Medicine: A 19th Century Medical Marijuana Compendium

By Scott Zagoria

Throughout the 19th century, both physicians and natural practitioners widely prescribed cannabis extract for their patients. It is expected that this work will prove interesting and/or valuable to pain sufferers, medical practitioners, chronics -- and anyone else who is interested in the history of marijuana.From the Afterword: US citizens awoke to a new drug war on January 1st, 1907 with the inception of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Subsequently state-wide criminalization was introduced in California (1915), Texas (1919), Louisiana (1924), and New York (1927). Meanwhile, recreational usage was banned throughout Britain in 1928 although 'legal' taxed importation of hashish continued into India from Central Asia; however, in 1925 the Geneva Convention on Opium and Other Drugs had already essentially criminalized cannabis use in any of the signatory nations. In an effort to preclude the proclivities of their own minority populous, China declared in 1934 that all cannabis cultivation and charas production in Yarkand (currently part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) and Chinese Turkestan were henceforth illegal. The American public was then treated to wide-scale distribution of 'Reefer Madness' soon after which the Marihuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 thus making it illegal to buy, sell, trade, or even to present cannabis as a gift without first paying a transfer tax. Apparently this legislation was declared unconstitutional in 1969 (U.S. vs Timothy Leary). In Appendix A the commentaries of various early 20th century medical experts reflecting support and/or opposition to the prior half-century of unrestricted cannabis experimentation have been presented, while Appendix B contains the full-text of the report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission published in 1893/4, which comprises the single most coherent assessment to date concerning national medical cannabis policy.]"In the use of this drug in the form of cigarettes, it should be remembered that in order to obtain a marked effect the smoke should be inhaled into the chest and blown out through the nose. In this way a prolonged contact with a raucous surface is obtained, and, therefore, more of the active principle is absorbed. The cigarettes should be used from two to four times daily, sometime after meals, and preferably in a close room. Under the preceding conditions, the remedy is very active, never failing if the preparation be genuine. It is often the case that a patient is relieved of asthma or an attack of dyspnoea before a whole cigarette has been smoked. Those subject to asthma should smoke a cigarette, morning and evening, on damp days, or on those occasions on which they have, from experience, reason to dread a seizure.""Open indulgence in the drug is no longer possible. The stuff is confiscated wherever detected; and the imprisonment last year of hundreds of traffickers in it has had a deterrent effect. Large quantities, however, are smuggled over the Libyan Desert, and buried in the sand until a favorable opportunity is afforded for conveying it into Egypt by means of camels. The bedouins are charged with most of the guilt of these proceedings; and no traveller who sees a long line of camels in any part of the Khedive's dominions can feel sure that one among them is not bearing upon its back a consignment of hashish.""One brilliant light, seemed superior to all; this was evidently produced by a piece of coal in the fireplace, for when it was extinguished, the light disappeared with it. On drinking a glass of lemonade, the baths of the Seine rose up in view, where with difficulty he was saved from drowning. A thousand fantastic visions floated across the mind during the three hours of its influence, and there was a mixture of sensations such as only are felt in a dream."This coffee table size (208 pp., large format) volume provides approximately 75 full-text 19th century medical marijuana articles for modern readers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1441407766
• ISBN13: 9781441407764
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.5" x 8.5"