The Cannabis Years Documentary : BBC Time Shift

"The Cannabis Years" is a BBC documentary on the history of Cannabis as projected by the mainstream media propaganda heralded by the hilarious 'Reefer Madness' in the late 20's and how this viewpoint quickly changed to social acceptance among the masses as the media came under the influence of the cannabis years ...

This British documentary traces television and the wider media's reactions to cannabis, from the hysterical vilification of the drug in the 1930s, the punitive measures of the stop and search laws and prison sentences for possession, to the more considered debates now taking place and the real possibility of a change in the law. The story is told through programme clips from the BBC archives, newspaper headlines and interviews. It covers the high profile star busts of the 60s and 70s (when people like Tony Curtis, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney were taken to court) major drug hauls, science programmes, youth culture and politics. Comments on pot by Chicho Marx, Norman Mailer, Mick Jagger, Dennis Hopper and Shirley MacLaine among many others.


Cannabis, called dà má (大 麻) in Chinese, is known to have been used in Taiwan for fiber starting about 10,000 years ago. Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for approximately 4,000 years. In the early 3rd century AD, Hua Tuo was the first known person in China to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for administration. Cannabis was prescribed to treat vomiting, plus infectious and parasitic hemorrhaging. Cannabis is one of the 50 "fundamental" herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.

Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use, with evidence dating back to 4,000 B.C.

Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis' psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth.



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3 comments:

Shaman Hawk said...

This is one of the most rediculous chapters in our history. It's not legal because we aren't doing enough as a people. I am up for joining groups and supporting legislation that anyone forwards to me.

Antoine/Jerome said...

Thanks for posting the video. I would recommend watching this video and the documentary, "Grass: A History of Marijuana (You can find it on youtube)." It is interesting to see the differences of how marijuana has been treated in Great Britain and the US. It seems as though the Americans have allowed media and government to dictate their perception of marijuana use, more so than the British.

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Anonymous said...

nice

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