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BRIEF TIMELINE OF CANNABINOID RESEARCH

The Egyptian Goddess of writing, Sheshat, are brimming with cannabis-inspired themes. In many paintings, she’s shown with a star-shaped leaf atop her head and a fibrous rope in her hand. Ancient Egyptians learned through centuries of experience that cannabis was a potent anti-inflammatory.

  • 2800 BC Cannabis was listed in Emperor Shen Nung’s pharmacopoeia.
  • BC Hindu legend holds that Shiva was given the title ‘The Lord of Bhang’ because the cannabis plant was his favourite food.
  • 129-200 AD Galen used cannabis for its therapeutic properties and mood enhancement.
  • 1841 William Brooke O’Shaughnessy introduced cannabis to Western medicine after living in India. He wrote of many therapeutic uses of cannabis, including a case where cannabis stopped convulsions in a child.
  • 1898 Dunstan and Henry isolated cannabinol (CBN).
  • 1936 The film Reefer Madness was released, demonising cannabis as a highly addictive drug that caused mental disorder and violence.
  • 1937 The uses of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes were effectively taxed out of existence in the USA by the Marijuana Tax Act.
  • 1940s Adams and Todd independently isolated cannabidiol (CBD).
  • 1964 Mechoulam (pictured with Dave Allsop) isolated THC from the cannabis plant.
  • 1970 US introduced the Controlled Substance Act that lists cannabis as having ‘no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse’.
  • 1988 Howlett discovered CB1 receptors in the rat brain.
  • 1992 Devane and Mechoulam discovered anandamide.
  • 1993 Discovery of CB2 receptors
  • 1995 Mechoulam and Sugiura independently discovered 2-AG.
  • 1996 California legalised medical cannabis by introducing the Compassionate Use Act.
  • 1999 Endocannabinoids discovered to activate TRPV1 receptors (these are the receptors activated by the spicy compound in chilli)
  • 2007 Endocannabinoids shown to activate GPR55.
  • 2012 CBD shown to alleviate schizophrenia symptoms in patients comparable to a conventional antipsychotic drug.
  • 2016 Australia legalised medical cannabis and its cultivation for medical purposes.
  • 2017 CBD demonstrated to reduce seizures in childhood epilepsy in a placebo-controlled trial