Ancient Medicine

One of the things that strikes me about medical cannabis is that it is—to quote an old song—“a many-splendored thing.” No matter what your condition, no matter what your ailment, no matter what symptom or disease is affecting your quality of life, there’s a form of cannabis for it. For many patients, smoking flowers is the go-to medicating method. For others who can’t or don’t want to inhale smoke there are edibles. Those who want to keep cannabis’ psychoactive properties at bay can turn to topical creams or perhaps CBD-rich strains that are high in body relief, low in head change.

But what about patients who are seriously suffering from heavy-duty ills and conditions, such as neuropathic pain or that down-to-the-bone pain from cancer and/or chemo? What then? Patients who need to reach for the big guns also have something to turn to, something that, when all is said and done, has been around for centuries actually: concentrates, glorious concentrates.

You see, while budder, wax, oil, shatter and other forms of concentrates seem to have exploded in popularity in our community over the past couple of years . . . really, they are all just new forms of ancient medicine. Hash (or hashish) is the original concentrate . . . or to put it another way, concentrates are the refined, new-school versions of the stuff Nepalese workers have been hand rubbing for centuries. Yes, I said “centuries.” We started with temple balls . . . now we have globs and dabs. In fact, the history of hash being used for medicinal (as well as recreational) use goes back to at least the 3rd millennium BC, according to some scholars.

Don’t assume that the popularity of concentrates is something new—it’s not. Consider this: During the 1840s in Paris, a group of writers, aesthetes, poets and similar types would gather to experiment with hashish. And the group was far from shy when it named itself—what else—The Club of Hashish-Eaters (these guys were ingesting edibles!). French writer Charles Baudelaire wrote a book in 1860 that detailed his experiences with hashish. American writer Fitz Hugh Ludlow, in 1857, wrote The Hasheesh Eater. In the U.S., roughly between the 1860s and early 1900s, legal hashish smoking parlors (a Turkish influence) became the rage. At one point, hashish was so revered in Arab lands, that one poet lavishly praised its fabulous properties:

. . . its intoxicating aroma

conveying to you by way of your nostrils

its exhilarating effect.

No wine or tonic could generate

Such a heavenly sensation.

“Heavenly sensation.” I like that. We’ve come a long way, concentrates . . . but in a sense, we’re right back where it all started, no? For patients, concentrates (which are just another form of MMJ, remember), offers us relief, healing and the quality of life that no wine or tonic could generate.

Enjoy our 710 Issue!!!!