Hashish History -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6000 B.C. Cannabis seeds used for food in China 2000 B.C. - 1400 B.C. Cannabis mentioned in the Atharvaveda (Science of Charms) as "sacred grass". Refered to as bhang or bhanga. The legend of Shiva, Lord of Bhang. (link) 1500 B.C. Cannabis cultivated in China for food and fiber, but not hashish 1500 B.C. Scythians cultivate Cannabis and weave fine hemp cloth from it. (Sumach 1975) 700 B.C. - 600 B.C. The Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, an ancient Persian religious text of several hundred volumes, and said to have been written by Zarathustra (Zoroaster), refers to bhang as Zoroaster's "good narcotic" (Vendidad or The Law Against Demons) (link to zoroaster evidence? texts?) 700 B.C. - 300 B.C. Scythian tribes leave Cannabis seeds as offerings in royal tombs 500 B.C. Scythian couple die and are buried (at grave site in Pazryk, nothwest of the Tien Shan Mountains in modern-day Khazakstan) with two small tents covering censors. Attached to one tent stick was a decorated leather pouch containing wild Cannabis seeds. Unknown whether this was for purely ritual or also intoxicating use of Cannabis. (link to info about the discovery?) 430 B.C. Herodotus reports on both ritual and recreation use of Cannabis by the Scythians (Herodotus The Histories 430 B.C. trans. G. Rawlinson) (link) 100 B.C. - 0 A.D. The Pen Ts'ao mentions Cannabis for medical use 0 A.D. - 100 A.D. Construction of Samartian gold and glass paste stash box for storing hashish, coriander, or salt, buried in Siberian tomb 70 A.D. Dioscorides mentions the use of Cannabis as a medicament (Roman) 170 A.D. Galen alludes to the psychoactiity of Cannabis seed confections (Roman) 500 A.D. - 600 A.D. The Jewish Talmud mentions the euphoriant properties of Cannabis (Abel 1980) 900 A.D. - 1000 A.D. Scholars debate the pros and cons of eating hashish. Use spreads throughout Arabia 1090 A.D. - 1256 A.D. In Khorasan, Persia, Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain, recruits followers to commit assassinations...legends develop around their supposed use of hashish. These legends are some of the earliest written tales of the discovery of the inebriating powers of Cannabis and the supposed use of Hashish. 1256 Alamut falls (links) 1155 A.D. - 1221 A.D. Persian legend of the Sufi master Sheik Haidar's of Khorasan's personal discovery of Cannabis and it's subsequent spread to Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria. Another of the ealiest written narratives of the use of Cannabis as an inebriant. (link) Early 12th Century Hashish smoking very popular throughout the Middle East. 12th Century A.D. Cannabis introduced in Egypt during the reign of the Ayyubid dynasty on the occasion of the flooding of Egypt by mystic devotees coming from Syria (M.K. Hussein 1957 - Soueif 1972) 1231 A.D. Hashish introduced to Iraq in the reign of Caliph Mustansir (Rosenthal 1971) 1271 A.D. -1295 A.D. Journeys of Marco Polo in which he gives second-hand reports of the story of Hasan ibn al-Sabbah and his "assassins" using hashish. (link) 13th Century A.D. The oldest monograph on hashish, Zahr al-'arish fi tahrim al-hashish, was written. It has since been lost. 13th Century A.D. Ibn al-Baytar of Spain provides a description of psychaoctive Cannabis 1378 A.D. Ottoman Emir Soudoun Scheikhouni issues one of the first edicts against the eating of hashish. (link) 1526 A.D. Babur Nama, first emperor and founder of Mughal Empire learned of hashish in Afghanistan. mid 16th Century A.D. The epic poem, Benk u Bode, by the poet Mohammed Ebn Soleiman Foruli of Baghdad, deals allegorically with a dialectical battle between wine and hashish. 17th Century A.D. Use of hashish, alcohol, and opium spreads among the population of occupied Constantinople Late 17th Century A.D. Hashish becomes a major trade item between Central Asia and South Asia 1798 Napoleon discovers that much of the Egyptian lower class habitually uses hashish (Kimmens 1977). He declares a total prohibition. Soldiers returning to France bring the tradition with them. 19th Century A.D. Hashish production expands from Russian Turkestan into Yarkand in Chinese Turkestan 1809 Antoine Sylvestre de Sacy, a leading Arabist, reveals the etymology of the words "assassin" and "hashishin" 1840 In America, medicinal preparations with a Cannabis base are available. Hashish available in Persian pharmacies. 1843 Le Club des Hachichins, or Hashish Eater's Club, established in Paris after 1850 Hashish appears in Greece 1856 British tax ganja and charas trade in India c 1875 Cultivation for hashish introduced to Greece 1870 - 1880 First reports of hashish smoking on Greek mainland 1877 Kerr reports on Indian ganja and charas trade. 1890 Greek Department of Interior prohibits importance, cultivation and use of hashish. since 1890 Hashish made illegal in Turkey 1893-1894 The India Hemp Drugs Commission Report is issued. (link to schaffer) 1893-1894 70,000 to 80,000 kg of hashish legally imported into India from Central Asia each year. Early 20th Century Hashish smoking very popular throughout the Middle East. 1920 Metaxus dictators in Greece crack down on hashish smoking. 1920s Hashish smuggled into Egypt from Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Central Asia 1926 Lebanese hashish production peaks after World War I until prohibited in 1926 1920's - 1930s High-quality hashish produced in Turkey near Greek border 1930 Yarkand region of Chinese Turkestan exports 91,471 kg of hashish legally into the Northwest Frontier and Punjab regions of India 1930s Legal taxed imports of hashish continue into India from Central Asia 1934-1935 Chinese government moves to end all Cannabis cultivation in Yarkand and charas traffic from Yarkand. Both licit and illicit hashish production become illegal in Chinese Turkestan. 1938 Supply of hashish from chinese Turkestan nearly ceases. 1940s Greek hashish smoking tradition fades. 1941 Indian government considers cultivation in Kashmir to fill void of hashish from Chinese Turkestan 1941-1942 Hand-rubbed charas from Nepal is choicest hashish in India during World War II 1945 Legal hashish consumption continues in India 1945-1955 Hashish use in Greece flourishes again 1950s Hashish still smuggled into India from Chinese Central Asia 1950s Moroccan government tacitly allows kif cultivation in Rif Mountains 1966 The Moroccan government attempts to purge kif growers from Rif Mountains 1962 First hashish made in Morocco 1963 Turkish police seize 2.5 tons of hashish 1965 First reports of C. afghanica use for hashish production in northern Afghanistan 1965 Mustafa comes to Ketama in Morocco to make hashish from local kif 1967 "Smash", the first hashish oil appears. Red Lebanese reaches California. late 1960s and early 1970s The Brotherhood popularizes Afghani hashish. early 1970s Lebanese red and blonde hashish of very high-quality exported. The highest quality Turkish hashish from Gaziantep near Syria appears in western Europe. early 1970s Afghani hashish varieties introduced to North America for sinsemilla production. Westerners bring metal sieve cloths to Afghanistan. Law enforcement efforts against hashish begin in Afghanistan 1970 - 1973 Huge fields of Cannabis cultivated for hashish production in Afghanistan. Last years that truly great afghani hashish is available 1973 Nepal bans the Cannabis shops and charas export 1973 Afghan government makes hashish production and sales illegal. Afghani harves is pitifully small. 1976-1977 Quality of Lebanese hashish reaches zenith 1978 Westerners make sieved hashish in Nepal from wild Cannabis late 1970s Increasing manufacture of "modern" Afghani hashish. Cannabis varieties from Afghanistan imported into Kashmir for sieved hashish production. early 1980s Quality of Lebanese hashish declines 1980s Morocco becomes one of, if not the largest, hashish producing and exporting nations 1980s "border" hashish produced in northwestern Pakistan along the Afghan border to avoid Soviet-Afghan war 1983-1984 Small amounts of the last high-uality Turkish hashish appear. 1985 Hashish still produced by Muslims of Kashgar and Yarkland 1986 Most private stashes of pre-war Afghani hashish in Amsterdam, Goa, and America are nearly finished. 1987 Moroccan government cracks down upon Cannabis cultivation in lower eleations of Rif Mountains 1993 Eradication efforts resume in Morocco 1994 Heavy fighting between rival Muslim clans continues to upset hashish trade in Afghanistan 1994 Border hashish still produced in Pakistan 1995 Introduction of hashish-making equipment and appearance of locally produced hashish in Amsterdam coffee shops. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/Inhemp/4chapt9.htm naked body resin collecting. (Clarke p 27) Marijuana, the first twelve thousand years -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atharvaveda- Science of Charms 11:6.15, trans. by Aldrich Five kingdoms of plants, with Soma as their chief, we address: Soma, darbha, bhanga, saha, yava; may free us from distress. Shiva became enraged by some family squabble and went off by himself in the fields. There, the cool shade of a tall marijuana plant brought him a comforting refuge from the torrid rays of the blazing sun. Curious about this plant that sheltered him from the heat of the day, he ate some of its leaves and felt so refreshed that he adopted it as his favorite food, hence his title, the 'Lord of Bhang'. Herodotus Books 1 and 4 (trans. by G. Rawlinson) [1.202] As for the Araxes, it is, according to some accounts, larger, according to others smaller than the Ister (Danube). It has islands in it, many of which are said to be equal in size to Lesbos. The men who inhabit them feed during the summer on roots of all kinds, which they dig out of the ground, while they store up the fruits, which they gather from the trees at the fitting season, to serve them as food in the winter-time. Besides the trees whose fruit they gather for this purpose, they have also a tree which bears the strangest produce. When they are met together in companies they throw some of it upon the fire round which they are sitting, and presently, by the mere smell of the fumes which it gives out in burning, they grow drunk, as the Greeks do with wine. More of the fruit is then thrown on the fire, and, their drunkenness increasing, they often jump up and begin to dance and sing. Such is the account which I have heard of this people. [4.73] Such, then, is the mode in which the kings are buried: as for the people, when any one dies, his nearest of kin lay him upon a waggon and take him round to all his friends in succession: each receives them in turn and entertains them with a banquet, whereat the dead man is served with a portion of all that is set before the others; this is done for forty days, at the end of which time the burial takes place. After the burial, those engaged in it have to purify themselves, which they do in the following way. First they well soap and wash their heads; then, in order to cleanse their bodies, they act as follows: they make a booth by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one another, and stretching around them woollen felts, which they arrange so as to fit as close as possible: inside the booth a dish is placed upon the ground, into which they put a number of red-hot stones, and then add some hemp-seed. [4.74] Hemp grows in Scythia: it is very like flax; only that it is a much coarser and taller plant: some grows wild about the country, some is produced by cultivation: the Thracians make garments of it which closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed, that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think they are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such matters, he will not know of which material they are. [4.75] The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy, and this vapour serves them instead of a water-bath; for they never by any chance wash their bodies with water. Their women make a mixture of cypress, cedar, and frankincense wood, which they pound into a paste upon a rough piece of stone, adding a little water to it. With this substance, which is of a thick consistency, they plaster their faces all over, and indeed their whole bodies. A sweet odour is thereby imparted to them, and when they take off the plaster on the day following, their skin is clean and glossy. Revised by Red on 12/30/03. No...no happy new year. Yes!! Yes Happy New year! Happy New Year!!!