Perhaps it’s time to start asking the tough questions. What’s in our medicine? The answers are confusing, using words and ingredients that are difficult to spell, pronounce and understand. Marijuana is a natural plant medicine that is pretty cut and dry as far as what’s in it and where it comes from.

One of the first mass produced drugs was aspirin. It began to be manufactured starting in the late 1890s, and by 1925 pharmacies quickly took over the role of apothecaries, which usually carried numerous marijuana products. Early pharmacies carried on the practice and sold marijuana as medicine. Drug development and manufacturing can only be traced as far back as the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although 130 years seems like a long time, the history and ingredients of pharmaceuticals is young compared to the age of marijuana use and the thousands of years of research and documentation that records it as medicinal.

The use of the cannabis plant can be traced back to primitive times, about 8000 BCE, according to the article, “10,000-Year History of Marijuana use in the World”, published in Ancient Holistic Health. During archeological digs in ancient villages in Taiwan, rope and twine made from hemp were used in making pottery. In 6000 BCE cannabis seeds and its oil were used as food throughout China. According to the same article, the first recorded use of cannabis as a medicine dates back to 2737 BCE. An ancient Chinese legend states that the father of Chinese medicine, Emperor Shen Nung, discovered the three mainstays to Chinese medicine: marijuana, ginseng and ephedra. The history of medicinal marijuana has a long and worldwide presence.

Throughout the ages, marijuana has been used medicinally, dating back to prerecorded times.

The Rh-Ya is one of the oldest medicinal references and was discovered in the 15th century BCE. It outlines a number of medical properties and uses for marijuana. It was used as an anesthetic, a treatment for eye problems (glaucoma), inflammation, gout, rheumatism and malaria. Marijuana has been used as a medicine longer than it’s been illegal.

Understanding the research, development and manufacturing of marijuana isn’t too difficult of a task. Plants can be traced back to the seeds that were used to grow the plant. It can be traced back to the actual farm where it was grown, and the plants used for medicinal purposes can be traced back to the harvest and packaging date.

There are no secret ingredients added to the medicine produced by marijuana. It’s safe, natural and is becoming a powerhouse as an alternative treatment. It grows wild in places around the world, and according to an interview with Carl Sagan in 1977, modern civilization only came to be because of agriculture. It wasn’t until humans began to cultivate crops in 10,000 BCE that civilizations sprang up. Sagan proposed that the marijuana plant was the very first cultivated plant.

Marijuana is grown like most fruits, vegetables and other crops, and it can be compared to farm-to-table products, which are known to be the best for health and well-being. Why has it taken so long to bring this product back into the medicine cabinet? It’s all about education and getting people to understand the ancient history of one of the planet’s most popular plants.