| 6000 B.C. |
Cannabis seeds used for food in China |
| 2000 B.C. - 1400 B.C. |
Cannabis mentioned in the Atharvaveda
(Science of Charms) as "sacred grass". Refered to as bhang or
bhanga. The legend of Shiva, Lord of Bhang. (link) |
| 1500 B.C. |
Cannabis cultivated in China for food and fiber,
but not hashish |
| 1500 B.C. |
Scythians cultivate Cannabis and weave fine hemp
cloth from it. (Sumach 1975) |
| 700 B.C. - 600 B.C. |
The Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, an ancient Persian
religious text of several hundred volumes, and said to have been written
by Zarathustra (Zoroaster), refers to bhang as Zoroaster's "good
narcotic" (Vendidad or The Law Against Demons) (link
to zoroaster evidence? texts?) |
| 700 B.C. - 300 B.C. |
Scythian tribes leave Cannabis seeds as offerings
in royal tombs |
| 500 B.C. |
Scythian couple die and are buried (at grave site in
Pazryk, nothwest of the Tien Shan Mountains in modern-day Khazakstan)
with two small tents covering censors. Attached to one tent stick was a
decorated leather pouch containing wild Cannabis seeds. Unknown whether
this was for purely ritual or also intoxicating use of Cannabis. (link
to info about the discovery?) |
| 430 B.C. |
Herodotus reports on both ritual and recreation use of Cannabis
by the Scythians (Herodotus The Histories 430 B.C. trans. G.
Rawlinson) (link)
|
| 100 B.C. - 0 A.D. |
The Pen Ts'ao mentions Cannabis for medical use |
| 0 A.D. - 100 A.D. |
Construction of Samartian gold and glass paste stash box
for storing hashish, coriander, or salt, buried in Siberian tomb |
| 70 A.D. |
Dioscorides mentions the use of Cannabis as a medicament
(Roman) |
| 170 A.D. |
Galen alludes to the psychoactiity of Cannabis seed
confections (Roman) |
| 500 A.D. - 600 A.D. |
The Jewish Talmud mentions the euphoriant properties of Cannabis
(Abel 1980) |
| 900 A.D. - 1000 A.D. |
Scholars debate the pros and cons of eating hashish. Use
spreads throughout Arabia |
| 1090 A.D. - 1256 A.D. |
In Khorasan, Persia, Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, the Old Man of
the Mountain, recruits followers to commit assassinations...legends
develop around their supposed use of hashish. These legends are some of
the earliest written tales of the discovery of the inebriating powers of
Cannabis and the supposed use of Hashish. 1256 Alamut falls
(links) |
| 1155 A.D. - 1221 A.D. |
Persian legend of the Sufi master Sheik Haidar's of
Khorasan's personal discovery of Cannabis and it's subsequent
spread to Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria. Another of the ealiest written
narratives of the use of Cannabis as an inebriant. (link) |
| Early 12th Century |
Hashish smoking very popular throughout the Middle East. |
| 12th Century A.D. |
Cannabis introduced in Egypt during the reign of the
Ayyubid dynasty on the occasion of the flooding of Egypt by mystic
devotees coming from Syria (M.K. Hussein 1957 - Soueif 1972) |
| 1231 A.D. |
Hashish introduced to Iraq in the reign of Caliph
Mustansir (Rosenthal 1971) |
| 1271 A.D. -1295 A.D. |
Journeys of Marco Polo in which he gives second-hand
reports of the story of Hasan ibn al-Sabbah and his
"assassins" using hashish. (link) |
| 13th Century A.D. |
The oldest monograph on hashish, Zahr al-'arish fi
tahrim al-hashish, was written. It has since been lost. |
| 13th Century A.D. |
Ibn al-Baytar of Spain provides a description of
psychaoctive Cannabis |
| 1378 A.D. |
Ottoman Emir Soudoun Scheikhouni issues one of the first
edicts against the eating of hashish. (link) |
| 1526 A.D. |
Babur Nama, first emperor and founder of Mughal Empire
learned of hashish in Afghanistan. |
| mid 16th Century A.D. |
The epic poem, Benk u Bode, by the poet Mohammed Ebn
Soleiman Foruli of Baghdad, deals allegorically with a dialectical
battle between wine and hashish. |
| 17th Century A.D. |
Use of hashish, alcohol, and opium spreads among the
population of occupied Constantinople |
| Late 17th Century A.D. |
Hashish becomes a major trade item between Central Asia
and South Asia |
| 1798 |
Napoleon discovers that much of the Egyptian lower class
habitually uses hashish (Kimmens 1977). He declares a total prohibition.
Soldiers returning to France bring the tradition with them. |
| 19th Century A.D. |
Hashish production expands from Russian Turkestan into
Yarkand in Chinese Turkestan |
| 1809 |
Antoine Sylvestre de Sacy, a leading Arabist, reveals the
etymology of the words "assassin" and "hashishin" |
| 1840 |
In America, medicinal preparations with a Cannabis base
are available. Hashish available in Persian pharmacies. |
| 1843 |
Le Club des Hachichins, or Hashish Eater's Club,
established in Paris |
| after 1850 |
Hashish appears in Greece |
| 1856 |
British tax ganja and charas trade in India |
| c 1875 |
Cultivation for hashish introduced to Greece |
| 1870 - 1880 |
First reports of hashish smoking on Greek mainland |
| 1877 |
Kerr reports on Indian ganja and charas trade. |
| 1890 |
Greek Department of Interior prohibits importance,
cultivation and use of hashish. |
| since 1890 |
Hashish made illegal in Turkey |
| 1893-1894 |
The India Hemp Drugs Commission Report is issued. (link to
schaffer) |
| 1893-1894 |
70,000 to 80,000 kg of hashish legally imported into India
from Central Asia each year. |
| Early 20th Century |
Hashish smoking very popular throughout the Middle East. |
| 1920 |
Metaxus dictators in Greece crack down on hashish smoking. |
| 1920s |
Hashish smuggled into Egypt from Greece, Syria, Lebanon,
Turkey, and Central Asia |
| 1926 |
Lebanese hashish production peaks after World War I until
prohibited in 1926 |
| 1920's - 1930s |
High-quality hashish produced in Turkey near Greek border |
| 1930 |
Yarkand region of Chinese Turkestan exports 91,471 kg of
hashish legally into the Northwest Frontier and Punjab regions of India |
| 1930s |
Legal taxed imports of hashish continue into India from
Central Asia |
| 1934-1935 |
Chinese government moves to end all Cannabis cultivation
in Yarkand and charas traffic from Yarkand. Both licit and illicit
hashish production become illegal in Chinese Turkestan. |
| 1938 |
Supply of hashish from chinese Turkestan nearly ceases. |
| 1940s |
Greek hashish smoking tradition fades. |
| 1941 |
Indian government considers cultivation in Kashmir to fill
void of hashish from Chinese Turkestan |
| 1941-1942 |
Hand-rubbed charas from Nepal is choicest hashish in India
during World War II |
| 1945 |
Legal hashish consumption continues in India |
| 1945-1955 |
Hashish use in Greece flourishes again |
| 1950s |
Hashish still smuggled into India from Chinese Central
Asia |
| 1950s |
Moroccan government tacitly allows kif cultivation in Rif
Mountains |
| 1966 |
The Moroccan government attempts to purge kif growers from
Rif Mountains |
| 1962 |
First hashish made in Morocco |
| 1963 |
Turkish police seize 2.5 tons of hashish |
| 1965 |
First reports of C. afghanica use for hashish production
in northern Afghanistan |
| 1965 |
Mustafa comes to Ketama in Morocco to make hashish from
local kif |
| 1967 |
"Smash", the first hashish oil appears. Red
Lebanese reaches California. |
| late 1960s and early 1970s |
The Brotherhood popularizes Afghani hashish. |
| early 1970s |
Lebanese red and blonde hashish of very high-quality
exported. The highest quality Turkish hashish from Gaziantep near Syria
appears in western Europe. |
| early 1970s |
Afghani hashish varieties introduced to North America for
sinsemilla production. Westerners bring metal sieve cloths to
Afghanistan. Law enforcement efforts against hashish begin in
Afghanistan |
| 1970 - 1973 |
Huge fields of Cannabis cultivated for hashish production
in Afghanistan. Last years that truly great Afghani hashish is available |
| 1973 |
Nepal bans the Cannabis shops and charas export |
| 1973 |
Afghan government makes hashish production and sales
illegal. Afghani harvest is pitifully small. |
| 1976-1977 |
Quality of Lebanese hashish reaches zenith |
| 1978 |
Westerners make sieved hashish in Nepal from wild Cannabis |
| late 1970s |
Increasing manufacture of "modern" Afghani
hashish. Cannabis varieties from Afghanistan imported into Kashmir for
sieved hashish production. |
| early 1980s |
Quality of Lebanese hashish declines |
| 1980s |
Morocco becomes one of, if not the largest, hashish
producing and exporting nations |
| 1980s |
"border" hashish produced in northwestern
Pakistan along the Afghan border to avoid Soviet-Afghan war |
| 1983-1984 |
Small amounts of the last high-uality Turkish hashish
appear. |
| 1985 |
Hashish still produced by Muslims of Kashgar and Yarkland |
| 1986 |
Most private stashes of pre-war Afghani hashish in
Amsterdam, Goa, and America are nearly finished. |
| 1987 |
Moroccan government cracks down upon Cannabis cultivation
in lower eleations of Rif Mountains |
| 1993 |
Eradication efforts resume in Morocco |
| 1994 |
Heavy fighting between rival Muslim clans continues to
upset hashish trade in Afghanistan |
| 1994 |
Border hashish still produced in Pakistan |
| 1995 |
Introduction of hashish-making equipment and appearance of
locally produced hashish in Amsterdam coffee shops. |
