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History of the Medical Use of Marijuana
The term "marijuana" is derived from the the Portuguese word marigu-ano which means "intoxicant". Since ancient times, we have been using marijuana as a medicine as well as a drug to induce euphoria.
In a Chinese document found recently, use of marijuana as a medicine was recommended as back as 2737 BC. From the time, colonizers settled in North America, marijuana was cultivated as a main crop.
From 1850 until 1942, use of marijuana for medicinal purposes was allowed in United States to ease out the pain and other medical problems during nausea, rheumatism, labor pains and other ailments.
At the same time, it was also misused as an addictive drug. The hippi cult that took the world by storm had a lot of followers who used to get a high inhaling marijuana.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 said that it is a Schedule I drug. This is a distinction given to the drugs that can be easily exploited of purposes other than medical.
It was banned to cultivate marijuana in the 1980s. Reagan and Bush launched a "zero tolerance" attitude towards people found cultivating or in possession of marijuana. Again, in 1990s the abuse of marijuana increased ten folds.
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