The history of Cannabis within the U.S. indigenous community.

[Dankvinci]

Good morning everyone,
I'm not even sure where to post this discussion so I'll leave it here. I've personally been researching the history of Cannabis. And whenever I
try to investigate Cannabis use within indigenous tribes in the U.S.A. there isn't much information on the subject. I understand the plant is not native to the U.S.
so, it had to be introduced to the natives by the Europeans. Some article info I've come across states that indigenous tribes do not believe in the use of cannabis.
if anything, they ended up growing it only for hemp supplies. And, they're smoking practices were only done with tobacco. It really seems odd to me that something like Cannabis which would be a perfect tool to delve into the spirit world wouldn't be embraced. While The introduction and use of alcohol destroyed a nation!!
One article stated that because the indigenous culture is federally funded that the community doesn't want to throw a wrench in the spokes of their Federal benefits,
so they don't smoke it. The Cherokee tribe claims Cannabis was planted by the star people and Called the plant gatunlati. The word has two meanings. The first
Cannabis, the second Alien. Indigenous cultures are also very superstitious, and they're beliefs could have scared them from Cannabis use. So, if anyone out
there has any info to share on my personal journey into this subject please share!!

 

[cx714]

Well, to start, it sounds as if you’re assuming Native American culture is monolithic.

Before ‘Muricanization, different tribes had different traditions, cosmologies, even modes of production. Basically, each was a culture unto itself. To do your subject(s) justice, you’d instead have to assume each tribal society had its own relationship to cannabis. Are you trying to understand them all?

It really seems odd to me that something like Cannabis which would be a perfect tool to delve into the spirit world wouldn't be embraced.

This statement is a bit problematic. Are you interested in their values or your own?

The introduction and use of alcohol destroyed a nation!!

Again, many nations.

Indigenous cultures are also very superstitious, and they're beliefs could have scared them.

Dude, I’m thinking maybe anthropology isn’t your bag.

 

[Dankvinci]

It's just something I'm personally interested in . Yes I'm aware that alcohol destroyed many peoples lives, I'm just talking about its use within indigenous tribes of the U.S. that's all.

 

[Sativapo]

You're a bit harsh on him even if you're right.
It's not an anthropology phd but personnal curiosity. I understand that there where many different tribes but someone can talk about European culture while Sweden is very different from Greece and Portugal from Latvia.

I suppose they're less into cannabis because they didn't have any and Europeans were far less into cannabis than alcohol when they invaded them... I think cannabis use by europeans/immigrants in America is an end of 19th/20th century thing, after the main genocide, destruction of nativepeople and their culture, alcohol use is much much older.

 

[Dankvinci]

You're a bit harsh on him even if you're right.
It's not an anthropology phd but personnal curiosity. I understand that there where many different tribes but someone can talk about European culture while Sweden is very different from Greece and Portugal from Latvia.

I suppose they're less into cannabis because they didn't have any and Europeans where far less into cannabis than alcohol when they invaded them...

Thanks for sticking up for me, I really don't like writing in forums due to getting critisized for spelling, or wrong phrasing. I'm no expert, and I know
I'm wrong, or uneducated on the subject, that's why I inquired about it.

 

[cx714]

I'm just talking about its use within indigenous tribes of the U.S. that's all.

My point was that the tribes weren’t one nation. Though, ironically, the nation that ousted them currently exists in a semi-permanent state of tribal warfare. Karma, perhaps?

You're a bit harsh on him even if you're right.
It's not an anthropology phd but personnal curiosity.

You’re right.

I apologize for being a bit harsh, @Dankvinci. It’s a peeve of mine when people oversimplifiy “exotic” cultures but the answer isn’t to shoot down honest curiosity.

At the end of the day, we’re all people and deserving of respect. (Please do check your biases as your inquiries proceed, tho!)

 

[Dustin McKief]

From what I've read, (non-hemp, psychoactive) cannabis first entered the USA when Mexicans migrated away from the Revolution beginning around 1910. I don't know when and how it was introduced to native communities, but I would hypothesize it was initially encountered 5-10 years after that in the Southwestern reservations.

 

[Radwin Bodnic]

Cannabis was planted by the star people and Called the plant gatunlati. The word has two meanings. The first
Cannabis, the second Alien. Indigenous cultures are also very superstitious, and they're beliefs could have scared them from Cannabis use.

I think that rituals of the native Americans tribes were based on ancient cultural pharmacopeias.
Ages old traditions doesn't change in a few hundred years. Especially when they are based on indigenous material.

 

[Dankvinci]

I think that rituals of the native Americans tribes were based on ancient cultural pharmacopeias.
Ages old traditions doesn't change in a few hundred years. Especially when they are based on indigenous material.

Ah, I can get behind this!! an aspect I wasn't thinking about.

 

[Canna Chameleon]

Feels odd to paste a DEA link here, but:

THE ORIGINS OF CANNABIS​

The oldest known written record on cannabis use comes from the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in 2727 B.C. Ancient Greeks and Romans were also familiar with cannabis, while in the Middle East use spread throughout the Islamic empire to North Africa. In 1545 cannabis spread to the Western Hemisphere where Spaniards imported it to Chile for its use as fiber. In North America cannabis, in the form of hemp, was grown on many plantations for use in rope, clothing, and paper.


and here is another good source

Weed Reaches North America​

The use of marijuana goes back about as far as recorded human history, but the plant actually made its way to North America by way of Jamestown settlers in 1611. For generations, hemp was used to make necessities like ropes, clothing, and sails; it was so valuable that it was even considered legal tender in certain states. In 1762, the Virginia Assembly required farmers to grow it—and penalized those that didn’t.

In the 1830s, Irish physician William O’Shaughnessy learned of the medicinal properties of cannabis while in India and ultimately popularized its use in the Western world. Cannabis was added to the US Pharmacopeia in the 1850s, with pharmacies openly selling it and using it in a wide range of medicines.

 

[Anandaman]

I want to preface this by saying that I am not an expert on this so will very happily defer to; and be corrected by, someone who knows more. At the risk of being wrong, it’s my speculation that:
-the nuances of historically marginalized communities/societies are probably not that well understood
-cannabis is an agricultural crop, it would probably be hard to produce a significant supply in a nomadic society. I don’t want to generalize (famous last words) but it’s my understanding that a significant number of the nations on the plains were nomadic. It’s also my understanding that a significant number of nations that may have been more agrarian were forced to relocate or just outright killed so that would have made cultivating cannabis not a top priority (weed before food? I doubt it).
-lastly, it is also my understanding that drug type cannabis found its way north from Mexico, where it had been cultivated in remote Indigenous communities away from the colonizing authorities who would persecute its cultivation and use.

But what do I know? I’m just a Canadian who has read a few books from the library.

 

[rizlafreak]

2 studies suggest, it originated in east asia.
Hemp was used in medieval europe, long before it was imported to america.
Emperor karl the great, wrote a command to the farmers to produce more hemp in 800AD.
a lot of stuff was made of it... much longer in china, where it was cultivated 1,2mio years ago.

Was it used by indigenous people of america? I doubt they ever saw a weed plant before
the portugese imported it from india... I guess that the spiritually open minded native american people would have used it
for spiritual purposes more than just tobacco and other plants without strong psychoactive effect like
weed.

Cannabis in Asia: its center of origin and early cultivation, based on a synthesis of subfossil pollen and archaeobotanical studies - Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

Biogeographers assign the Cannabis centre of origin to “Central Asia”, mostly based on wild-type plant distribution data. We sought greater precision by adding new data: 155 fossil pollen studies (FPSs) in Asia. Many FPSs assign pollen of either Cannabis or Humulus (C–H) to collective names...

link.springer.com

Latitudinal Adaptation and Genetic Insights Into the Origins of Cannabis sativa L - PMC

Cannabis is one of the most important industrial crops distributed worldwide. However, the phylogeographic structure and domestication knowledge of this crop remains poorly understood. In this study, sequence variations of five chloroplast DNA ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[staircase slight of hand]

The Cherokee tribe claims Cannabis was planted by the star people and Called the plant gatunlati. The word has two meanings. The first
Cannabis, the second Alien.

Just a heads up, these claims all come from one person (this guy: https://abeymanagement.wixsite.com/amir/bio), and they’re… well, there’s no way to phrase this delicately: they’re bullshit. Do some reading on Bey and come to your own conclusions if you’d like, but he 100% doesn’t speak for any native community (aside from the “Cheaseaquah Nation”, which he claims to be the chief of, despite it not existing).

Pro-tip: if a Black American has the last name of Bey and has some non-standard ideas about history that they’d like to share with you, it’s a good time to put on your media-literacy-101 hat. Further context: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorish_Science_Temple_of_America

 

[vapirtoo]

Tibet, people, Tibet. IMHO