Cannabis History 101: Western & European Cannabis History
by Jeff Eckenrode, Chief Operations Officer
Quick Answer: Cannabis was widely used in Western medicine from 1839 until US prohibition in 1937. Sir William O'Shaughnessy introduced cannabis tinctures to Victorian England after observing its use in India. Major drug companies like Eli Lilly sold it in the US. It fell out of favor due to dosing challenges — a problem modern tinctures have now solved!
Throughout time, cannabis has and still remains to be a popular and essential therapeutic for people across the globe.
Not only did ancient people use cannabis to get high, cannabis also has a long history of use as a fiber, a food, and a medicine dating as far back as 5,000 years ago in Asia (Don’t believe us? Then check out our previous blog about it!).
But how did cannabis come to be used in the Western world?
In the West, cannabis was used throughout Europe and North America as a household tonic until its prohibition in 1937 in the United States.
However, alongside the advent of modern religion, Westerners began to view plant substances with suspicion.
In an effort to break the human bond with “magic” plants that typified pagan religions, elders in the Catholic Church branded plant users as pagans, sorcerers, or witches.
Throughout their occupation in Latin America, Spanish Conquistadors massacred hordes of native peoples for using psilocybin, peyote, datura, morning glory, salvia, and ayahuasca, in addition to cannabis.
Although cannabis was well known throughout Asia at the time, it wasn’t until Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy (an Irish inventor and physician) reported on its use during his time working in the hospitals of Calcutta, India in 1839 that Europeans became aware of it.
Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy.
While in India, O’Shaughnessy developed a fascination with Indian botanical medicines, chief among them a tincture made of cannabis indica.
O’Shaughnessy was curious about the ways Eastern cultures in hot, crowded regions used botanicals prophylactically to prevent diseases before they struck and then to treat them once they had. He conducted the very first animal studies on cannabis and noted that it visibly and effectively eased the pain of muscle spasms caused by rabies, tetanus, and cholera.
Today, historians attribute O’Shaughnessy with the introduction of cannabis tinctures to Victorian England.
And after O’Shaughnessy brought cannabis back to England, other physicians and small companies began to produce their own cannabis elixir to sell privately and in general stores.
In the very first issue of The Lancet, Queen Victoria’s physician discusses tincture of cannabis in the treatment of dysmenorrhea. In this issue, he also states: “When pure and administered carefully, [cannabis indica] is one of the most valuable medicines we possess.”
In the following 60 years, over 100 medical papers were written about this “wonder drug” that treated some old-fashioned sounding illnesses (including neuralgia and melancholy) and many others that are still with us today, including sleeplessness, nausea, and neuropathy.
In the US, physicians also made their own cannabis tinctures and sold them out of their offices, as did other drug companies including Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, and Squibb.
Surprisingly, one of the major issues with this all-purpose plant tonic was not related to its efficacy. Rather, accurate dosing became a problem for cannabis tonics.
When cannabis is swallowed, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours for the effects to come on, so patients never knew if they had taken enough.
Too large of a dose could cause harrowing anxiety. However, most doctors at the time worried about prescribing too little.
Until the early 1900s, the conditions for which cannabis indica was most often prescribed were pain and insomnia. But in 1898, Bayer synthesized aspirin from birch bark; shortly thereafter the first barbiturates were also produced as pills.
Today we take for granted the inexpensive manufacturing of precisely dosed, easy-to-swallow medications, but the invention of pills and capsules that could be measured in milligrams was revolutionary at the time!
Tincture of cannabis indica, which varied in strength depending on the crop from which it was derived and was difficult to dose, suddenly seemed very old-fashioned to consumers. As a result, its use as a palliative treatment declined significantly.
Today, modern cannabis tinctures are far more consistent and much easier to dose than they were in the 19th and 20th centuries. And we carry a wide range of oil and alcohol-based tinctures at Hashtag Redmond, Hashtag Seattle and Hashtag Everett. Check out our menus to learn more about their ingredients and uses!
Where can I find Cannabis products?
Whether you’re shopping online or in Redmond, we’re here to help you find what you need, when you need it. That includes cannabis products like flower, pre-rolls, vapes, concentrates, edibles, beverages and more!
Click on our online menu link below to see our current availability.
FAQ Western & European Cannabis History
When did cannabis first become used as medicine in the Western world?
The modern Western introduction of cannabis as medicine is credited to Sir William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, an Irish physician who observed its therapeutic use in India in 1839. He conducted the first animal studies on cannabis and documented how it effectively eased pain from muscle spasms caused by rabies, tetanus, and cholera. When he brought cannabis tinctures back to Victorian England, it sparked a wave of medical interest that transformed cannabis into one of the most widely prescribed medicines of the 19th century.
Did Queen Victoria really use cannabis?
Sort of — her physician certainly recommended it! In the first issue of The Lancet, Queen Victoria's personal physician wrote about using cannabis tincture to treat dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain), calling it "one of the most valuable medicines we possess" when pure and properly administered. Whether Victoria personally used it is debated, but the royal endorsement of cannabis as medicine helped establish its legitimacy in Victorian England and fueled widespread use throughout Europe and North America.
Which major pharmaceutical companies sold cannabis in the United States?
Several household-name drug companies manufactured and sold cannabis tinctures in the late 1800s and early 1900s — including Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, and Squibb. US physicians also made their own tinctures and sold them directly from their offices. Cannabis was a legitimate, mainstream pharmaceutical product for decades before its prohibition. It's a remarkable piece of history that most people are unaware of today!
Why did cannabis fall out of use as medicine in the early 1900s?
The decline came down to a practical problem — dosing. Cannabis tinctures varied significantly in potency depending on the crop they came from, and because edible cannabis can take 30 minutes to 2 hours to take effect, patients could never be sure if they'd taken enough. This uncertainty led to accidental overdoses of anxiety-inducing intensity. When aspirin was synthesized from birch bark in 1898 and the first precisely dosed barbiturate pills followed shortly after, cannabis tinctures simply seemed old-fashioned by comparison.
Why was cannabis prohibited in the United States in 1937?
The prohibition of cannabis in 1937 came after decades of political, racial, and economic pressures rather than scientific or medical reasoning. Cannabis had been used safely as medicine for decades, and there was no scientific consensus calling for its ban. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 effectively criminalized it regardless, largely ignoring the medical community's objections. This is a significant and often overlooked part of cannabis history — prohibition was a political decision, not a medical one.
How are modern cannabis tinctures different from Victorian-era cannabis medicines?
Vastly improved! The biggest problem with 19th-century cannabis tinctures was inconsistent potency — strength varied from batch to batch depending on the source plant, making accurate dosing nearly impossible. Modern cannabis tinctures benefit from standardized extraction processes, third-party lab testing, and precise milligram labeling. Today you can choose an exact CBD-to-THC ratio and know exactly what you're getting in every dose — a level of consistency that Victorian physicians could only dream of!