These days CBD is just about everywhere you look, from health foods stores to online retailers, gas stations and everything in between. If you’re like many Americans, you may never have heard of CBD five years ago. With decades of cannabis prohibition in our past, some are lead to assume the potentially therapeutic benefits of CBD are a modern discovery, but that’s far from the case. Let’s take a look at the history of CBD and cannabis through the ages and how we ended up with a booming and brand new CBD market in its 2021 infancy.
Early Cannabinoid Use and Research
Some of the earliest documented use of a cannabis-derived therapeutic use dates all the way back to 2737 BC. Chinese Emperor Sheng Nung is thought to have used a cannabis-infused tea to aid in a number of ailments [1]. Queen Victoria is believed to have used a CBD rich cannabis plant to alleviate menstrual pain during her reign from 1876-1901 [2]. In 1830, Irish researcher and physician William B. O’Shaughnessy published one of the first studies on cannabis plants therapeutic effects [3]. Throughout world history cannabis has been used as a naturally therapeutic resource, but with the rise of modern medicine, the start of prohibition and lack of scientific research, cannabis was never recognized as a legitimate medicinal source.
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