Ganja, weed, broccoli, marijuana, bud, mary jane — whatever you call your friendly neighborhood cannabis, it’s actually got a stranger and longer history than you likely knew. The PR this plant gets nowadays seems to be a lot of glittery bongs and rainbows, but it has been used to heal stomach aches to anesthetic use throughout history. Between the 1850’s and 1930’s you could have picked some up along with other over the counter medicines at your local farmacy.
It’s likely that our country has spent more time with legal weed than without. Weed tends to show up in the news for a few common reasons, drug bust, social movements, and medicinal findings. But here’s a fun weed theory you might not hear about in the news today, some believe weed use dates back to Homer days.
The identity of a drug called nepenthe was spoken of in Homer’s Odyssey. Which is a famous epic and tragic tale of the Trojan War. The nepenthe drugs is described as one that banishes sorrows. Helen of Troy, she who launched a thousand ships, takes the nepenthe for herself and serves it to her guests to brighten their spirits.
This has been debated time and time again. Various ideas have been presented as to what the “nepenthe” really was. It’s possible that Homer made this drug up on his own, but it’s a fun theory that the people back in 1200 BC were token it up.
