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Why Was Cannabis Banned Worldwide?

Subscriber Question about History

Ben Caplan, MD's avatar
Ben Caplan, MD
Jul 10, 2024
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A question came in: “If cannabis is so healthy and good, why has the world been oriented so sharply AGAINST it?!”

History, according to some, is a jumbled mess handed down by our ancestors, packed with different interpretations and conflicting stories. Traditional media and the internet’s love for drama and clickbait make it all too easy for anyone with a keyboard to twist historical facts. In this environment, cannabis has become an easy target for tall tales and misinformation, leading to the marginalization of an industry that has long struggled to show its true, more positive nature.

A Look Back in History

Opposition to cannabis has existed throughout the time when cannabis has been with us, so as long as we have recorded history. A farther-reaching opposition something that looked like a global ban really started taking shape in the early 20th century, with a big push (downward) from the US. Before that, humans had widely used cannabis for medicinal purposes and as an ingredient in…

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